The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) yesterday said Abuja’s drainage infrastructure was adequate to handle heavy rainfall, but human activities have continued to undermine its effectiveness and worsen flooding in the city.
The Acting Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Richard Dauda, said this while inspecting drainage infrastructure and ongoing desilting operations along the Airport Expressway.
Dauda said the heavy rainfall recorded in the city two days earlier was consistent with meteorologists’ warnings, adding that the Abuja Master Plan recognised the city’s flood-prone areas.
He said the drainage infrastructure across the city was designed to cope with the volume of stormwater generated by heavy downpours.
‘Some downpours are a bit unusual, but the Abuja Master Plan itself recognises that this is a flood plain, so there will be some flood points from time to time. But the infrastructure provided is sufficient to drain this water,’ he said.
According to him, the drainage system’s capacity was being compromised by refuse dumping, silt, vegetation and other forms of human interference.
He said debris washed from surrounding communities, including polythene bags, often ended up in drainage channels and blocked culvert outlets.
‘The culvert here has been filled with debris and overgrown grasses. Some debris washed from the neighbourhood ends up in the drain. People drop their waste in the drain, and it ends up at the outlets of these culverts. Once the outlets are constricted, the volume of water they are designed to drain may not be achieved,’ he said.
Dauda said illegal construction and vandalism of drainage infrastructure were also affecting the system’s functionality. He cited a waterway carrying stormwater from Galadima Roundabout, where a developer had constricted the channel downstream of the Airport Expressway by building retaining walls, reducing the volume of water the channel can carry and causing backflow and flooding.
‘What needs to be done is to remove the structure the developer has put there so we can have adequate discharge volume and stream channel width,’ he added.
The FCDA boss also blamed the theft of gully inlet covers, which are designed to sieve debris before it enters drainage channels, for leaving the system vulnerable to blockage.
‘When these gully inlet covers are stolen, the inlets are no longer sieved, and all debris goes straight into the drains,’ Dauda said.
He said the FCDA was considering replacing stolen covers with non-recyclable materials, unlike steel and cast iron, to discourage further theft.
The development followed Tuesday’s flash flood on the Airport Expressway, after which FCT Minister Nyesom Wike directed relevant agencies to commence city-wide desilting of drainage channels, covering trapezoidal drains, U-channels and culverts, with new construction where necessary.
Dauda said desilting was already ongoing along the Airport Expressway to restore the drainage system’s capacity ahead of further heavy rainfall. He appealed to residents to stop dumping refuse into drainage channels and waterways, stressing that infrastructure alone would not prevent flooding if residents continued to undermine the system.