Your Excellency,
Warm greetings from the people of the Anlo enclave, especially those living along the vulnerable stretch of the coast from Blekusu through Agavedzi, Salakope, Amutsinu, Salakope, Adina to Denu, and beyond.
On behalf of countless residents, coastal dwellers, community leaders, fishermen, fishmongers, youth, children, concerned citizens, and generations yet to be born, I write to you, once again, to express our deepest appreciation to you for awarding the construction of Blekusu Coastal Protection Project Phase 2 to Messrs Amandi Construction Ltd. We acknowledge your firm commitment to protecting lives, properties, and livelihoods along Ghana’s vulnerable coastline – particularly in the Volta Region.
Mr. President, as we mark the 120th day since your historic first visit on March 6, 2025 to the affected communities – a visit that rekindled hope in many despondent hearts – please allow me to respectfully bring to your attention some critical issues that warrant immediate consideration before, during and after the implementation of this laudable project.
Revisiting the Past: Expensive Coastal Protection Works with Poor Socio-economic Returns.
Your Excellency, over the last two decades, Ghana has invested significantly in coastal protection works among which mention could be made of :
– Keta Sea Defence Project – $ 84 million
– Ada Sea Defence Works – $ 183 million
– Dzita Coastal Protection Works – $ 41 million
– Blekusu Phase 1 – $ 40 million
– Other interventions across Axim, Ningo-Prampram, Sakumono, Cape Coast and Elmina
Yet despite these multi-million-dollar investments, the socio-economic conditions of the affected communities remain largely unchanged. Indeed, in many of these areas, the rock revetment structures serve only as physical barriers between the sea and the land – offering little or no comprehensive improvement to livelihoods, local economies, or community well-being.
The fundamental question remains, Mr. President: How can we spend so much to “protect” communities and yet leave them poorer and more deprived than before? This is unacceptable and must change with the Blekusu Phase 2 Project.
2. The Blekusu Phase 2 Project: Let Us Not Repeat the Mistakes of the Past.
His Excellency, we are being informed that about $100 million will be pumped into the Blekusu Phase 2 Coastal Works. This is commendable and long overdue. However, we have serious concerns that, like previous projects, this one is being designed with minimal socio-economic or livelihoods enhancement components, and apparently without robust community engagement or comprehensive social feasibility assessments.
This time, we plead for a complete rethink and redesign of the project’s approach, based on the following principles and global best practices:
Use a Hybrid Engineering Model: Hard and Soft Engineering and Nature-Based Solutions.
Mr. President, let us move beyond merely dumping rocks along the shoreline or into the sea to just “hold back” the sea. Scientific studies and successful international case studies advocate a hybrid solution – one that combines hard engineering (revetments, groynes, breakwaters, etc.) with soft engineering (beach nourishment, sand dunes, mangrove, coconut and beach grass planting) and nature-based interventions such as:
– Land reclamation (to recover the over 300 metres of land lost to the sea in some areas along the coast)
– Beach nourishment or replenishment and reshaping
– Sand dune rehabilitation and wetland restoration
– Sediment management and natural wave energy dispersion.
These solutions are site-specific, sustainable, and environmentally sound, and they have proven effective in regions like the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Senegal, Mauritania, and our neighbours, Togo and Benin of late.
b) Integrate a Comprehensive Socio-Economic and Livelihoods Strategy.
Mr. President, beyond the armour rocks, the Blekusu Phase 2 must come with a deliberate, well thought-through, well-funded, and all inclusive socio-economic package. This must support:
– Community: Provision of a Fish Landing Beach (mini fishing harbour)
– Fishermen: Provision of fishing gears, improved landing sites, cold storage, and other fishing equipment
– Fishmongers and women: Fish smoking gears, smokehouses, storage facilities, market stalls, flexible and interest-free credit schemes
– Youth employment: Skills training and youth entrepreneurship in masonry, carpentry, coastal tourism, aquaculture, marine services and start-up capital for the youth
– Community resilience: Education, development of early warning systems, and relocation and resettlement support for high-risk areas and people.
Your Excellency, let this not be just a sea defence project – let it be a people empowerment, community climate-resilient project.
3. The Togo-Benin Example: A Transboundary Coastal Model with Livelihoods at the Core.
His Excellency, between Togo and Benin, a magnificent transboundary coastal protection project spanning over 40 kilometers has been completed recently under West Africa Coastal Areas Resilience Investment Project (WACA ResIP 1) at a cost of $ 63.48 million – nearly half the cost of what is being spent on Blekusu Phase 2.
What sets the Togo-Benin project apart is not just its engineering sophistication, but the strong integration of socio-economic interventions. It has:
– Resettled and empowered affected communities
– Reclaimed land and restored beaches
– Provided alternative livelihoods to fishers, salt miners, and women
– Built coastal parks and eco-tourism opportunities – Restored hectares of mangroves and replanted lost coconut plantations – Made coastal communities more resilient now than before.
We therefore humbly ask: Why can’t Ghana emulate this model? Why must our coastal sea defence projects continue to fall short in transforming lives by enhancing livelihoods of affected communities in the mist of global best practices?
His Excellency, we note that on his recent visit to the area, the Minister of Works and Housing and Water Resources, Hon. Kenneth Gilbert Adjei has mentioned some “auxiliary facilities” as part of Blekusu Phase 2. These are: – Fish market – Cold storage facility – Fish drying and smoking areas – Car park and lorry Station – Public washrooms -Waste collection system.
However, with all due respect, Mr. President, those facilities fall far short of addressing the real socio-economic challenges faced by these communities. More is needed. Much more.
4. Your Excellency, This Is the Moment to Create a Coastal Legacy.
His Excellency, history has placed this golden opportunity in your hands. You cannot afford to miss it. We believe in your vision, and we applaud your responsiveness. But we now urge you, in the strongest and most respectful terms ever expressed, to go further and higher and do better and bigger than what has been done in the past few decades so far as coastal sea defence works are concerned. We know you can! Yes, you can.
Mr. President, let the Blekusu Phase 2 Project be the beginning of a new era of inclusive coastal management, where coastal protection is not just about rocks and sea walls, but about restoring dignity, pride, prosperity, hope, and great opportunities to Ghana’s forgotten coastal communities.
We look forward to your continued leadership on this matter and the urgent rethink, review and redesign of the project scope to reflect these critical raised concerns.
May God bless you and guide you in your decisions.
Respectfully yours,
Citizen Joel Degue
Concerned Citizen & Environmental Justice Advocate.
Keta, Volta Region, Ghana
+233242502638 / [email protected]
