The Ghana Institute of Planning (GIP) says Ghana does not need another flood strategy to solve Accra’s perennial flooding crisis.
The institute maintains that what it needs is the political will and institutional discipline to implement the plans it already has.
GIP, in its latest policy position on the recent flooding, argued that the country has spent years developing comprehensive planning frameworks capable of reducing flood risks, but poor implementation has allowed illegal developments to choke waterways, destroy wetlands and occupy floodplains, leaving thousands of residents exposed whenever heavy rains fall.
According to the Institute, policy is not the missing piece. Ghana already has established planning instruments, including the National Spatial Development Framework, the GAMA Strategic Plan, and the Greater Accra Spatial Development Framework.
However, the failure to faithfully enforce these plans has enabled continued encroachment on environmentally sensitive areas, worsening flooding across the capital.
Rather than drafting fresh policies after every disaster, GIP says authorities should focus on enforcing existing planning laws and implementing approved spatial plans before more lives, homes and businesses are put at risk.
To reverse the trend, the Institute proposed a package of immediate, medium- and long-term measures centred on protecting waterways and wetlands from further encroachment by removing structures built within floodplains, drainage channels and other environmentally sensitive zones.
It also called for the restoration of both natural and engineered drainage systems through large-scale dredging of rivers, rehabilitation of wetlands, expansion of drainage infrastructure, and the preparation of a comprehensive Greater Accra Drainage Master Plan.
Beyond physical infrastructure, GIP stressed the need to strengthen planning and development control by rigorously enforcing planning regulations, preventing illegal developments and ensuring statutory spatial plans guide urban growth.
The Institute further recommended greater investment in climate-resilient infrastructure, including flood retention ponds, urban water storage systems, green infrastructure and other nature-based solutions capable of absorbing excess stormwater while reducing pressure on conventional drainage networks.
Finally, it urged authorities to strengthen flood preparedness and institutional capacity by deploying smart flood-monitoring technologies, improving early warning systems, enhancing waste management, sustaining public education campaigns, and providing dedicated financing and stronger coordination among agencies responsible for flood management.
The Institute called on government, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, planning authorities, emergency agencies, development partners, the private sector and citizens to work together to implement these recommendations with urgency and consistency.
For GIP, flood resilience cannot be built through emergency relief after every downpour. It will only come when Ghana consistently implements the plans it has already painstakingly developed.
