By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
As part of the flood mitigation efforts in the capital, the Freetown City Council (FCC) has commenced clearing garbage-filled gutters to help tackle flooding during the rainy season.
The exercise which is to cost some 1.5 billion old Leones is said to be carried out simultaneously in different areas in the city.
In an interview with Politico while cleaning gutters around Sanders Street, the Supervisor for the flood mitigation exercise, Amos Amara Koroma noted that the cleaning is a result of the massive waste in the gutters that normally cause flooding in the city which has prompted the council to come up with a solution to tackle the problem before the rains intensify.
He said the exercise is not only targeting a particular area but all flood-prone areas and other streets stocked with garbage in the city daily. He assured of the effectiveness of the exercise and that they will continue doing it until the problem of flooding becomes a thing of the past in the city.
Koroma pointed out that they have held a series of meetings to put mechanisms in place to address the garbage issue in the city, saying that once those mechanisms are enacted, anyone caught throwing garbage on the streets or gutters will face the full penalty of the law.
Chairman of the Environmental Management and Climate Change Committee at FCC, Councilor Unisa Kamara explained that the flood mitigation exercise has started since Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer was first elected in 2018, believing that if the city is free of flooding, drainages should be properly taken care of.
“Freetonians have this notion that drainages are meant to throw rubbish in, failing to realize that they are meant for the free flow of water,” he said.
Councilor Kamara recalled that Aki-Sawyer in 2018 provided tricycles to ten youth groups and circulated them all over the city to help collect garbage in various communities.
He said they are now challenged with the tricycles due to their lifespan but assured that they are developing an Application (App) wherein if someone needs a service provider to collect garbage, the person will just access it and order for the service provider. He added that those who can’t use social media will provide phone numbers to call service providers.
He advised residents of Freetown to refrain from littering the gutters so that the council would save money for other projects instead of always paying for clearing garbage.
The Sierra Leone Meteorological Agency (SLMeT) in their latest forecast for this year’s rainy season noted Freetown to be part of areas in the country that will witness torrential rains which may lead to urban-induced flooding despite the low rainfall that he forecasted to be recorded across the country.
The agency’s Deputy Director General Gabriel Kpaka therefore recommended the avoidance of residing in flood-prone areas, clearing sewer channels to facilitate evacuation of rainwater, monitoring dam water levels, and maintaining dams where necessary.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (08/05/2024)
