Ghana News
Here is All You Need to Know About President Mahama’s ‘New City’ Plan to Decongest Accra and Fix Flood
A 20-year vision to relocate government, create a green digital metropolis, and break the cycle of perennial flooding
In the aftermath of the June 29, 2026, torrential rains that claimed lives, displaced over 38,800 people, and submerged communities from Circle to Spintex, President John Dramani Mahama has revived an ambitious long-term solution: building a new city outside Accra.
The proposal, a 20-year project, aims to tackle the capital’s persistent flooding by addressing its root cause—overcrowding.
Here is what the plan entails and why it could be Ghana’s most consequential urban intervention in a generation.
1. The Core Logic: Decongestion as Flood Prevention
Experts have long argued that Accra’s flooding is not primarily a rainfall problem but a governance and urban planning failure. The city’s rapid urbanisation has replaced permeable land with concrete, accelerated surface runoff, and obstructed natural waterways. Decades of unchecked development in wetlands and weak enforcement of planning regulations have turned seasonal rains into humanitarian disasters.
President Mahama’s argument is straightforward: as long as everyone—individuals, businesses, and government institutions—continues to crowd into Accra, the city’s drainage systems will remain overwhelmed.
“Ultimately, the other solution will be to decongest Accra,” he stated after his aerial inspection of flood-affected communities. The new city is designed to reduce the population pressure that makes flooding inevitable.
2. The Scale: A City Spanning Three Regions
The proposed new city is not a modest satellite town. It will stretch from the Dawa Industrial Zone, incorporating the Saglemi Housing Estate, through the Bundase Military Range, into the Volta and Eastern regions. President Mahama has previously indicated that the city could span three regions—Greater Accra, Eastern, and Volta—and be situated near the Volta Lake.
The vision includes a railway link and an expressway connecting the new city to Accra, ensuring that it functions as an integrated extension of the capital rather than an isolated outpost. The government will provide essential infrastructure—roads, water, and electricity—to support the growth of the new urban centre.
3. The Vision: A Green, Digital, 24-Hour Metropolis
This is not envisioned as another chaotic, unplanned urban sprawl. The President has described the new city as a meticulously planned “Green Digital City” featuring:
- Modern drainage systems and proper sanitation—”no kiosks and containers in that city”
- Distinct enclaves for industry, residences, offices, commerce, and finance
- Tourist and amusement attractions, industrial parks, and financial services
- 24-hour economy operations, maximising productivity and economic opportunities
The city is designed to attract investment, create jobs, and serve as a model for sustainable urbanization in Ghana. Feasibility studies and design work are set to commence, with budgetary provisions already being made for the initial phases.
4. The Mechanism: Relocating Government and Creating a New Growth Centre
The strategy operates on two tracks. First, major government departments and institutions will be relocated out of Accra. This will reduce the concentration of public sector activity in the capital and ease pressure on infrastructure.
Second, a new growth centre will be created where people can live, work, and build—instead of everyone competing for scarce space in Accra. Once the land is demarcated, individuals and businesses will be able to acquire plots and begin construction. The government will provide the roads, water, and electricity to make the new city viable.
President Mahama has emphasized that much of the investment will come from the private sector and through public-private partnerships, suggesting a mixed-financing model rather than sole reliance on state coffers.
5. The Challenge: A 20-Year Horizon in a Nation Seeking Instant Relief
The most significant hurdle is the timeline. President Mahama has been candid: this is a 20-year project.
“They are still working on the designs,” he acknowledged. For the thousands of displaced families and communities submerged by the June 29 floods, 20 years offers little immediate comfort.
Critics will question whether the political will and financial commitment can be sustained across multiple administrations. Previous large-scale projects—including the Saglemi Housing Estate, which is now incorporated into this new vision—have faced delays, cost overruns, and allegations of mismanagement. The NPP has already called on President Mahama to take responsibility for the country’s recurring flooding challenges, signalling that the plan will face intense political scrutiny.
There is also the question of enforcement. Even as the new city takes shape, Accra’s population will continue to grow. Without strict land-use regulations and enforcement in the capital, the new city may simply become an additional urban centre rather than a true decongestion solution.
6. The Significance: Breaking the Cycle of Reaction
Perhaps the most important aspect of this proposal is its departure from Ghana’s traditional crisis-response approach. For years, governments have reacted to floods with relief packages, drain-clearing exercises, and temporary measures—only for the next heavy rain to bring the same devastation.
President Mahama has explicitly acknowledged this failure: “This time should be different,” he said, calling for a collective commitment to addressing the root causes of flooding in the capital. The new city represents an admission that patching up Accra’s drainage system is no longer sufficient—the city itself has reached its limits.
If successful, the plan could reposition Ghana as a leader in sustainable urban planning in West Africa. If it fails, it will join a long list of ambitious but unrealised visions for Accra’s future.
What This Means for Ghanaians
For flood victims: The GHS 300 million relief package addresses immediate needs, but the new city offers no short-term solace.
For Accra residents: The plan promises eventual relief from congestion, flooding, and the daily grind of urban chaos.
For investors: The new city presents opportunities in real estate, infrastructure, and green technology—if the government delivers on its promises.
For taxpayers: The project will require significant public investment and private-sector partnership, with all the risks that entails.
For future generations: This is a legacy project—one that will shape Ghana’s urban landscape for decades to come.
President Mahama’s revived new city plan is the most ambitious attempt yet to solve Accra’s flooding crisis by addressing its root cause: a city that has simply become too crowded for its own infrastructure.
The vision is bold, the timeline is long, and the challenges are immense. But after decades of cyclical devastation, Ghanaians may finally be having a conversation about lasting solutions rather than temporary fixes.
The government has launched a major military-led operation to reclaim the Lafa water retention basin at Mallam, deploying the 48 Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces in a high-stakes effort to break the cycle of perennial flooding that has devastated communities in Mallam, Weija, Blue Lagoon, Dansoman and surrounding areas for years.
The intervention, which involves breaking up tonnes of compacted solid waste and dredging heavily silted sediment from the basin, comes nearly two months after torrential rains on June 29 triggered catastrophic flooding across the Greater Accra Region.
The exercise is being coordinated by the Post-Flood Mitigation Task Force, led by the Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Operations, Mr Stan Xoese Dogbe.
“We are dealing with decades of deliberate dumping,” said Ing. Richard Kofi Amekor, Head of Drainage at the Ghana Hydrological Authority. “Solid waste, boulders and laterite have been tipped into this basin for years. The reservoir is so heavily silted that rainwater could not flow into it naturally, causing backflow that swamped Blue Lagoon, the Mallam-Gbawe corridor and parts of Dansoman.”
According to Ing. Amekor, the Lafa stream originates from Mallam-Gbawe Zero and passes through Santa Maria, Atieku, Pallas Town, Alhaji Tabora and McCarthy Hill before draining into the basin and eventually into the sea. But the obstruction of the basin turned the watercourse into a death trap during the June downpour.
The military engineers face an arduous task. Brigadier General Richard Kinney, Commander of the 14 Engineer Brigade, revealed that the waste had been capped with laterite over the years to create land for illegal sale and development, making excavation particularly difficult.
“Our immediate task is to loosen the compacted material before removal. To minimise traffic disruptions, all haulage of excavated debris will be undertaken at night to the designated landfill site at Nsawam,” Brig. Gen. Kinney stated. He added that the entire dredging and evacuation exercise is expected to take several months.
Beyond the dredging, officials are calling for a more permanent solution: the demolition of all illegal structures erected within the water retention area. Ing. Amekor noted that buildings constructed inside the basin have substantially reduced its storage capacity.
“Once the illegal structures are removed, the Hydrological Authority will work with the Weija-Gbawe Municipal Assembly to secure the banks and ensure continuous monitoring,” he said, warning that restoration of the basin will significantly reduce flooding impacts, though it may not eliminate flooding entirely due to the area’s topography and upstream runoff.
Brigadier General Forster Okae-Yeboah, Director General of Joint Operations of the Ghana Armed Forces and Coordinator of the Flood Mitigation Works, confirmed that the Mallam operation is part of a wider, nationwide offensive. Similar dredging works are ongoing at Oyarifa, East Legon and the Kpeshie Lagoon, while work will begin next week around the Kpeshie-Laboma Beach enclave to reopen the channel linking the lagoon to the sea.
“Government has fulfilled its commitment by providing funding and equipment for this exercise, but we appeal to the private sector to support this nationwide initiative,” Brig. Gen. Okae-Yeboah said.
He stressed that military action alone would not solve Ghana’s flooding crisis without sustained public cooperation.
“Residents must stop dumping refuse into the basin and encroachers must vacate immediately. Only by protecting our waterways can we protect lives and property,” he admonished.
Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson is calling for a shift in Ghana’s economic relationship with China, arguing that the country needs investment in factories, technology and local industries rather than a trade structure dominated by the export of raw materials.
Forson made the case as Ghana and China opened the Fifth Session of the Ghana–China Joint Commission on Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation, where he urged both countries to embrace a new approach centred on value addition, industrial investment, technology transfer and job creation.
While China remains Ghana’s largest trading partner, Forson said the structure of that relationship must evolve to ensure more of the wealth generated from Ghanaian resources remains within the country.
“Ghana’s priority is to process more of what we produce and export more value-added goods, including processed cocoa, to China,” Forson said.
His message amounted to a broader call for investment that helps Ghana build its productive capacity at home.
“We are also seeking investments that build factories, transfer technology, support Ghanaian businesses, train our people and create sustainable jobs,” he added.
A trade relationship marked by imbalance
The call comes as trade between Ghana and China continues to grow. Bilateral trade reached a record $14.1 billion in 2025, representing a 19.3% increase from the previous year.
But the figures also highlight a longstanding imbalance. In 2024, China exported about $9.844 billion worth of goods to Ghana, compared with roughly $1.992 billion in Ghanaian exports to China.
China’s exports have included machinery, electrical equipment, textiles and steel, while Ghana’s exports have largely consisted of commodities such as crude oil, manganese ore and cocoa beans.
Forson’s argument is that Ghana must move further up the value chain — processing its own resources and agricultural products before they leave the country rather than importing higher-value finished goods.
For a country whose economy has long relied heavily on commodity exports, the push for domestic processing could also mean more opportunities for manufacturing and employment.
China opens its market — but can Ghana capitalize?
The renewed focus on industrialisation comes as China expands market access for African exporters. Beginning May 1, 2026, China extended zero-tariff treatment to products from 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations, including Ghana.
The policy could create new opportunities for Ghanaian businesses, but expanded access alone may not solve the country’s trade imbalance if Ghana continues to export primarily unprocessed materials.
Forson’s remarks suggest Ghana is seeking to pair greater access to the Chinese market with investments that can strengthen domestic supply chains and help local companies produce more finished goods.
At the continental level, the challenge is similarly pronounced. Trade between China and Africa reached a record $348.05 billion in 2025, but Chinese exports substantially exceeded imports from African countries, leaving the continent with a significant trade deficit.
Ghana seeks investment beyond extraction
Chinese investment is already spread across several sectors of Ghana’s economy, including mining, energy, manufacturing and construction. But as Ghana pursues broader economic transformation, officials are increasingly stressing investments that bring technology, skills and long-term industrial capacity alongside capital.
Chinese Assistant Minister for Commerce Zhang Li acknowledged Ghana’s economic recovery and expressed China’s commitment to deepening cooperation, including through industrialisation and economic transformation.
For Forson, however, the message was clear: Ghana’s future trade strategy cannot simply be about selling more raw materials abroad.
It must also be about building the factories and industries capable of turning Ghanaian resources into higher-value products — and creating sustainable jobs in the process.
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Mahama Intervenes to Save Adamus Mine
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