Ahead of Rainy Season
By Assan Bah
Ahead of this year’s rainy season, government officials led by the Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources (MECCNAR), together with the Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure, and the Executive Director of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) and officials from the National Roads Authority (NRA), among other stakeholders, have embarked on a tour of flood-prone areas. They visited the Jabang estate; BrikamaNjambai; Abuko; SankungSillah; Bond Road Pumping Station; Banjul Jollof Town; and the Kotu Bridge.
The tour is meant to assess flood hotspot areas identified by officials of the NDMA, which needs immediate intervention from the authorities.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the tour, Mrs. Rohey John Manjang, the Minister of the Environment said this year’s rainy season is predicted to be ‘above normal’ and said there is need to make appropriate mitigation measures, particularly in flood-prone areas.
“This year, the most challenging part is there will be above-normal rains. It is therefore important that we come out and see how prepared we are for the rainy season,” she said, assuring the government’s commitment to ensuring that the infrastructure at hand can withstand the amount of expected rainfall.
“Despite climate change challenges, we also need to change our attitudes towards the environment. Most of the water canals or sewages were clean-up last year but almost all of them have now been turned into dump sites by residents of the respective communities,’’ she said.
She however raised concerns about the dumping of waste in some of the open gutters and said “some of the squatters or garages that we instructed to move last year from those areas, are still there and sometimes dumping their wastes in the drainages which in turn, block the flow of water.’’
She said illegal waste dumping is one of the main factors hindering the flow of water, and causing flooding in some areas.
While commending the WACA project for complementing the government’s efforts in mitigating climate change disasters, the environment minister called on everyone to take responsibility in ensuring that the Gambia is climate-friendly.
On Jabang-Estate which has in recent years become one of the most flood-prone areas, Mrs. Manjang said due to the water retention ponds that were made in the said estate, they were able to mitigate flooding in the area during last year’s rainy season. Although the construction of these ponds was not welcomed by some residents of the community, she said it has mitigated flooding in the area during last year’s rainy season. She said the reason was that the ponds are neither secure nor safe for the children of the residents because a child was reported to have drowned in one of the ponds last October while swimming with friends.
When asked what was delaying the completion of the project which started last year, the Minister said: “The project is delayed because of funding. Climate Change has also put another burden on our economy, and we therefore need to prioritize and take it gradually. Our wish is to ensure that we build efficient and reliable structures, but our resources are limited.’’
She continued to say, “We do not want a single life to be lost because of disaster or government’s lack of intervention.’’
She called on parents to take care of their children, while the project is ongoing.
Still on the Jabang project, Sanna Dahaba, the Executive Director of NDMA said: “I understand that Social Security has submitted a plan to the Department of Physical Planning which is yet to be approved. That is why some of the works could not be completed.’’
Speaking on the tour, the NDMA director said disaster management should be everybody’s business and urged everyone to take responsibility for disaster mitigation.
“The main challenge of the government is compliance and enforcement. Even though the government has a responsibility, the population also has similar responsibilities and needs to fulfill them. The community therefore needs to take responsibility to reduce disaster vulnerability in the country,’’ Dahaba said.
Among the delegation were officials from the West Africa Coastal Area Management Program (WACA). Mr. Masanneh Landing Ceesay, M&E Specialist of the project told reporters that the initiative is currently being implemented in nine West African countries and they are intending to make coastal communities resilient to climate change. He said their focus in the Gambia is the Kotu stream.
“Part of our short-term intervention is the thorough cleaning (de-silting) of the streams from Sunset Hotel to Nema-Kunku,” Mr. Ceesay said.
