Parliament has approved a loan facility of 150 million dollars from the World Bank intended to fund the ongoing Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) project, which aims to address flooding issues in the capital.
The loan was approved despite the opposition from the minority caucus.
The minority group contended that an earlier loan facility of 200 million dollars, which was approved for the GARID project, had been mishandled by the government. This was the reason for their hesitation to support the approval of the new loan.
Nevertheless, after a headcount vote that favoured the majority caucus, the House gave its approval for the loan facility.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Bedzrah, a member of the Works and Housing Committee, expressed his concerns, stating, “If the whole Odaw [river] has not been drained for two years and $200 million has been allocated and the Odaw river has not been drained or desilted or dredged I don’t see why we need additional 150million again.