Dr Nii Moi Thompson, the Board Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), has explained the perennial flooding crisis facing the Greater Accra Region.
According to Dr Thompson, the persistent flooding challenges are due to the absence of an effective and coordinated national development strategy.
He explained that the capital’s recurring flood disasters are largely driven by unplanned urban growth.
Dr Thompson details that, based on the 2021 population, Greater Accra, which has the smallest land area in Ghana, is now the most populous region.
On Tuesday, June 9, addressing the Economy and Development Committee of Parliament on the 2024 National Annual Progress Report, Dr Nii Moi Thompson detailed, “Based on the 2021 population, Greater Accra, even though it is the smallest region in terms of land area, 1.4%, is now the most populous region of the 16. So that’s like the perfect storm where every contradiction you can imagine has been put in this little space. And those are the consequences we see: the flooding, the collapsing buildings, and everything.
“You cannot put the bulk of your population in the smallest land area. Population density like 1,680 versus 300 for the region. And so we are perfectly aware of these structural distortions that are actually getting worse,” he said.
He added, “Don’t listen to the propaganda of the past, where people rejected long-term planning. There’s not a single country out there that doesn’t have a long-term plan. They all do. I always tell them the United States has a 100-year plan for creating jobs, from 1950 to 2050. And they have the institutions for that. And we will come back to you with that request in terms of finishing the consolidated national development plan.
He added, “It will consolidate four existing plans that have never been implemented in the last 10 years. The 40-Year Plan, Ghana Beyond Aid, Ghana at 100, and Vision 2057.
“These were all prepared in the last 10 years. None were implemented. Within the same period, China had China 2025. And they went ahead rapidly and transformed their fortunes.”
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Intelligence Centre, Kwadwo Twum Boafo, explaining the flooding situation in Accra, has said structures like Villagio should never have been built.
According to Kwadwo Twum Boafo, the site where Villagio used to be located was a whole was a wetland, but was later filled with laterite for structures to be built on the wetland.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana, Kwadwo Twum Boafo, explained, “So I’ll give you a prime example. Villagio should never have been built. Because if you are old enough to remember, that whole place was marsh. When I say marshland, I mean a wetland.
And the runoff from the Akuapim Hills used to go there. Then we allowed somebody to come and surcharge the soil when I say surcharge the soil, fill that marsh with laterite so that he could build that structure.”
“So what simply happens now is every time it rains, the runoff… You can’t cheat the runoff. It will still come, and it will flood that side of Accra.”
“Do a simple experiment. Put water in this cup here and put this bottle inside it and see what happens… there’ll be an overflow.”
Kwadwo Twum Boafo further added, “Our relationship with natural greenery areas like the Korle Lagoon is terrible. Who made the decision to turn the Korle Lagoon into a [drain]? … Because you put cement on the embankments, so it’s not semi-permeable anymore. God does not do anything just like that”.
He explains natural drainage, salinity, and osmosis in lagoons, noting that concreting them creates barriers.
He further explained, “We have allowed people to build in wetlands. Go to the Ramsar sites… some of our best people were willing Ramsar sites to their relatives.”
Kwadwo Twum Boafo further explained that the whole of Holland was under the water table, but they were able to engineer the country properly to allow the drainage systems to work.
“Anybody who has been to Holland… Netherlands means the lowlands. The whole of Holland is under the water table. But what happens, they have engineered that country properly to allow for the drainage systems to work”, he added.
A vehicle was trapped after a section of a bridge at Pantang-Borla Junction collapsed following rains#GHNow pic.twitter.com/M9iLpY6Rze
— GHnow (@ghnow_) June 7, 2026
Santa Maria Antieku is heavily flooded right now following the rains.
— GHnow (@ghnow_) June 7, 2026
Credit: Street of Accra #GHNow pic.twitter.com/A9lTOWn8sM
