Ghana: Infrastructure

Extreme weather events have been the cause of major damage to the infrastructure sector in Ghana in the past. A study by Twerefou et al. [25] from 2014, for example, states that within one year, 1016 km of roads were destroyed, 13 bridges collapsed and 442 sewers damaged in the northern region of Ghana in 2007 alone through climate-related events. In general, high temperature can cause roads to develop cracks, while high precipitation rates may create potholes or deepen existing ones. [26]. Transport infrastructure is very vulnerable to extreme weather events and yet very important for social, economic and agricultural livelihoods. Roads allow communities to trade their goods and access healthcare, education, credit, as well as other services, especially in rural and remote areas of Ghana.

Storms, extreme rainfall and floods can also have devastating effects on economic production sites as well as settlements, especially in areas where large populations reside, such as Accra, Kumasi and Tamale. Informal settlements are particularly vulnerable to these events, as structures are generally weak and dwellers have low adaptive capacity to respond to disruptive events. Hydropower generation plants are affected by both droughts and floods, whereas sea level rise is already beginning to erode coastal roads [27]. Overall, climate change will make the life span of infrastructure shorter than planned while maintenance costs will increase significantly to keep them functioning [27], [28].

Figure 13: Projections of at least once per year exposure of major roads to river floods for Ghana for different GHG emissions scenarios.
Figure 14: Projections of at least once per year exposure of urban land area to river floods for Ghana for different GHG emissions scenarios.

Under climate change, extreme weather events are likely to become more frequent, and temperatures are projected to rise. Accordingly, the risk for infrastructure damage in the country is likely to increase. However, precise predictions of the location and extent of exposure are difficult to make. For example, projections of river flood events are subject to substantial modelling uncertainty, largely due to the uncertainty of future projections of precipitation amounts and their spatial distribution, affecting affecting flood occurrence (see also Figure 5). According to this analysis, flood projections show a decrease in exposure for one climate model, no change for another, a slight increase for the third and a strong increase for the fourth. Thus, no reliable estimates on river flood occurrence in the future can be made. While median model trends suggest an approximate doubling of road exposure to floods under RCP6.0 (Figure 13) from 2000 to 2080, the very likely range of model results indicates a possibility of up to a fivefold increase in road exposure to floods by 2080 (from 0.2 % of the national road network exposed in 2000 to 1.1 % in 2080). Also urban land area exposed to floods is projected to increase (Figure 14), with a very likely range of 0–0.6 % of the urban area exposed by 2080 under RCP 6.0.

Twerefou et al. [27] estimate that the future (2020-2100) cost of climate change-related damage on road infrastructure will amount to USD 473 million if no adaptation actions are taken, and USD 678.47 million if pricing in the costs for adaptation efforts in designing and constructing new road infrastructure. They estimate that the highest adaptation costs will incur in the northern region and the lowest in the greater Accra region.

Figure 15: Exposure of GDP in Ghana to heatwaves for different GHG emissions scenario.

With the impact to GDP from heatwaves projected to increase from around 5 % in 2000 to 15 % (RCP2.6) and 20 % (RCP6.0) by the end of the century, it is recommended that policy planners start identifying heat-sensitive economic production sites and activities, and integrating climate adaptation options, such as improved, solar-powered cooling systems or switching of operation times from day to night.

References

[25] D. Twerefou, K. Adjei-Mantey, and N. Strzepek, “The economic impact of climate change on road infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa countries: evidence from Ghana,” 2014.
[26] M. Taylor and M. Philp, “Adapting to climate change-implications for transport infrastructure, transport systems and travel behaviour,” Road Transp. Res., vol. 19, no. 4, 2011.
[27] D. Twerefou, K. Adjei-Mantey, and N. Strzepek, “The economic impact of climate change on road infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa countries: evidence from Ghana,” World Institute for Development Economics Research. Helsinki, Finland, 2014.