2024-07-10 16:34:07
Get real-time updates directly to your device, subscribe now.
Observations and forecasts are two fairly important values in the search for solutions to the problem of rain management, especially during its period of abundance in Conakry and surrounding areas.
This urban space is only expanding beyond the city of Dubréka and Coyah, with in general only the subdivisions of the surfaces without really the other basic and predictive technical precautions in particular in terms of rainwater management whose very high rate is known to all in Conakry. In fine, our technical response works are partly unfavorably disproportionate to the permanent challenges to be met.
Unfortunately, a part of our population is also making this state of affairs worse through anarchic constructions and inappropriate occupations of certain areas such as watercourses and several sanitation works, preventing them from functioning normally.
In view of all of the above, our solution approaches must be both efficient and long-term. These solutions are both technical, institutional and in terms of rooting in our populations the urban culture of a good living environment for all in an urban environment.
In a non-exhaustive manner, the following approaches can contribute to strengthening the capacity for action against devastating rainwater in Greater Conakry:
☆ Mature and clearly materialize a master plan for rainwater sanitation for each urban municipality in Greater Conakry, with consequently types of work which are suitable for each case;
☆ Identify and fully empower the appropriate decision-making services for the execution of tasks and their preservation with the obligation of proven results;
☆ Avoid conflicts of jurisdiction between the different structures that intervene on our public roads (roads, telephones, water supply, businesses, ANASP, territorial administration and especially the housing and urban planning department, etc.). Given their interdependence in actions, their frank collaboration is essential for achieving common objectives of satisfaction for all.
☆ However, the various stakeholders must be able to offer good quality of service, each in their own way;
▪︎ In the case of rainwater drainage (i.e. not just on the roadway), the gutters along our roads must be designed as a whole and to both collect water on the road surface, just as they must also be concerned with evacuating the same type of water at the level of nearby homes;
▪︎ It should also be ensured that all recovered water actually passes through outlets dedicated to its return to nature without any damage.
☆ In particular, housing and urban planning services must be more vigilant in the face of non-standard housing and other illegal occupations of space, such as natural water flow zones in Greater Conakry;
☆ The problem of solid waste management must be effectively addressed both on a technical level and in terms of civic culture at the level of our populations;
☆ In the name of the inevitable interdependence between the services concerned, permanent intersectoral commissions must functionally exist to make the various short, medium and long term programs of the various stakeholders in this urban area much more visible and effective.
By effectively succeeding in the above-mentioned non-exhaustive measures, our roads, our homes and our health will firstly be less affected by the devastating rainwater in Conakry and its surroundings.
Together, let us take up these major challenges that concern us all.
Balla Moussa Konaté, civil engineer