The Ministry of Local Government on Wednesday, distributed 19 drones to 17 district assemblies, the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GRCC), and the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) for flood and sanitation surveillance.
The drones were provided under the World Bank-funded Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project aimed at improving flood preparedness along the Odaw River basin.
At a meeting to present the items, the GARID project coordinator, Dr Kwadwo Ohene Sarfo, cautioned assemblies against using the drones for unintended purposes, saying that they are highly advanced equipment and expensive, without revealing how much they cost.
“The drones are supposed to support the Assembly to be monitoring the waste hotspots. We are cautioning the Assembly that these drones are very expensive. They are not the ones that you ordinarily see around for programmes like weddings and funerals. So we are cautioning the Assembly not to allow staff, appointees, friends and whoever to utilise the drones for these kinds of social events,” he said.
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The assemblies also received over GH¢8 million to improve drainage infrastructure under the same GARID project.
In Africa, countries like Malawi and the Gambia have used drone technology to manage the risk of natural disasters such as floods. According to the UN agency, Unicef, the incorporation of drones in flood modelling significantly enhanced disaster management capabilities and the prospect of safeguarding communities in Malwawi from the destructive impact of floods.
Ghana had previously used drones to distribute medical supplies such as vaccines. Using them now for flood and sanitation monitoring is its first.
