Alajo at a stretch

On a bid to select an appropriate site between the Lafa basin - Santa Maria and the Korle Basin –Alajo, we did a site visit to Alajo. We started with a quick walk on a bridge over the Korle Lagoon downstream the Odaw River passing through Alajo. The Entire city congested along the banks of the Odaw River dumps its waste into the same, which in turn empties its contents into the Korle lagoon passing it on to the sea. The Lagoon is filled with waste and black contaminated water, spreading an Omni-present stench. The banks of the lagoon are filled with solid waste and litter, marking an edge as waste fields. From here we made our way up north parallel the river passing through its banks on the western side. This part is now under serious activity for an ecological restoration project by the government to make the lagoon a green zone is the heart of the city. This restoration project seems to be a tall call owing the reason that the lagoon has been announced as an ecologically dead zone, and the whole river-lagoon system being the only main source of waste drainage for most of the city. Nevertheless the people in the government are quite sure of its possibilities. Then we reached Alajo, which is a low raise, lateral spreading old settlement which is mostly populated with temporary structures like Kiosks around solid buildings, sitting right on the banks of the Odow river. During rainy season swelling of the river caused huge flooding in the past as high as 1 to 1.5m as per local inhabitants, but as of now this problem seems to be solved by the dredging of the river and construction of a huge drain with concrete banks to retain the soil and to make huge spill ways for the flood water. We walked along the banks of the drain which is now the collection pit of all waste from the community making it a sewage drain. We went across the area cutting through small allies and sign boards put up by AMA marking in-appropriate built up structures. As it is in all places we went, we meet a lot of curious and friendly people who were ready to talk to us, answer our queries and greet us with great joy. Talking to them we found out that the flooding problem has been solved by the drain as of now. With certitude of clarity we start our analysis, with primary focus on past flood plains that have been rectified recently by the provision of huge open drains, which is leading to even more densification of the urban fabric, which may in future lead to the past problems.