Author(s)

K. Adu-Boateng & B. M. Oppong

Abstract

Ghana experienced heavy rains between August and September, 2007. In addition to the heavy rains experienced in the country, the Government of Burkina Faso also opened the Bagre dam in that country. Some parts of the three Northern regions (Upper West, Upper East and Northern) were affected by flash floods. The World Bank focused mainly on the reconstruction of public infrastructure and capacity building of relevant stakeholders that were involved in the reconstruction activities through the Northern Floods Reconstruction Programme (NFRP) under the Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP), funded by the World Bank and Agence Francaise De Development (AFD). The amount involved in the programme was $6,500,000.00 from the World Bank-IDA and $ 1,300,000.00 from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) through the Northern Region Poverty Reduction Programme (NORPREP). However, the overall cost of public infrastructure was estimated at $125,000,000.00. The overall management of the programme was done by the World Bank. The paper seeks to present the key features of the programme in terms of design, strategy, implementation and monitoring. It attempts to address how: (i) Local Government structures in Ghana’s decentralization system were used in the implementation of the programme; (ii) an empirical formula developed to allocate the limited funds for the reconstruction activities; (iii) effective procurement methods employed without violating the World Bank and Ghana Government procurement procedures; (iv) the use and involvement of existing Institutions; and (v) the use of Rapid Result Approach (RRA) (where damaged infrastructure were reconstructed within 100 days). Keywords: post disaster, public infrastructure, reconstruction activities, local government structures, procurement methods, rapid results approach.

Keywords

post disaster, public infrastructure, reconstruction activities, local government structures, procurement methods, rapid results approach