WACA: More details about upcoming works in Togo

Infrastructure

Thursday, 21 July 2022 15:34

WACA: More details about upcoming works in Togo

(Togo First) - At its heart, the West Africa Coastal Areas Management Program (WACA) aims to protect coasts in several West African countries.

In Togo, for example, the goal of this World Bank program is to mitigate or stop natural erosion along the country’s coast. This is as the phenomenon is accelerated by the soil type, a low and flat topography, heavy rains and floods, and human activity such as the port of Lomé.

The distance covered by the program in Togo spans 42 km, going from Agbodrafo (around 30 km west of Lomé) to Grand Popo (in Benin).

Building and rehabilitating groins

As part of the WACA, protective groins will be rehabilitated and built between these two points. Beaches will be replenished with breakwaters as well.

“Our contract to protect the coast, from Agbodrafo to Grand Popo (Benin), is jointly carried out by Togo and Benin. In the first phase, we plan to rehabilitate six existing groins in Aneho and extend them by 10 m at least. The breakwater will also be rehabilitated and extended by 200 m,” Cesar Eusebio, a coast engineer involved in the project told Togo First.

“Between basins (the space separating two groins), we will refill the beach with sand taken from the open sea, very far from the coast. A sand dyke is also planned to protect houses along the coast from flooding,” the expert added.

Nine months of work

From Agbodrafo to Kpeme, seven rock groins should be laid, with a length of 65 m to 75 m. Moreover, the rehabilitated groins will be filled with sand.

In Aneho, a breakwater will be set up at the sea mouth to prevent tempest and unusually strong waves from flooding nearby houses.

A 20-year lifespan

The constructions should last 20 years, according to Franz Thomassen, project chief at Boskalis, the Dutch firm that secured the contract covering Togo and Benin. The works are monitored by INROS-LACKNER and are set to end between October 2022 and June 2023.

"We will use the "good season" of the sea for the construction of longitudinal groins in Aného, it will be between October 2022 and June 2022. During this period, we will work on the constructions in the open sea," Thomassen told Togo First.

“Ahead of the 'good season' we are doing the preliminary work, that is reinforcing sites where the riprap (ed. note: used for the work in the open sea) will be stored and we started this preliminary work in June 2022,” he added.

Togo and Benin have already spent €63 million on this project, with the support of their partners.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

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