Physical Features

Location and size

Ningo-Prampram district covers a total land area of about 622.2 square kilometers. The district is located about 15 km to the east of Tema and about 40 km from Accra, the capital of Ghana. The district is bounded in the north by Shai-Osudoku district, south by the Gulf of Guinea, in the east by the Ada East district and to the west by Kpone-Katamanso district. The district’s proximity to Tema and Accra makes it easy for community members to have access to many social facilities and infrastructure, such as, good roads, water, hospitals and electricity. The district also serves as a dormitory for workers in many industries in Tema and Accra metropolis.

Relief and drainage

The district forms the central portion of the Accra plains. The relief is generally gentle and undulating, a low plain with heights not exceeding 70 meters. The plains are punctuated in isolated areas by a few prominent inselbergs, isolated hills, outliers and knolls scattered erratically over the area.

Ancient igneous rocks underlie the major part of the district. Strongly metamorphosed ancient sediments occur along the western boundary. There are also important areas of relatively young unconsolidated sediments in the south and southeast. Dahomeyan gneiss and schist’s occupy most of the plains proper. Basic gneiss forms a number of large inselbergs (isolated rocky hills) in the north and center of the belt. Small rock outcrops are also common in the north close to the inselbergs but are rare in the south and southeast.

The general pattern of drainage in the Ningo-Prampram district is dendritic with most of the streams taking their source from the Akwapim range which also serves as a watershed and flows in a northwest to southwest directions into lagoons on the coast.

Flowing over a fairly low terrain, most of the streams have carved wide valleys for themselves which are left dry for most parts of the year. The very seasonal nature of most of the streams caused by high temperatures and equally high insulation levels have encouraged the creation of a number of artificial dams and ponds of varying size, used for irrigation and for the watering of livestock. Prominent among these is the Dawhenya dam on the Dekyidor stream which provides ample water for irrigation farming, particularly, rice and vegetables.

 Climate

The south-eastern coastal plain of Ghana, which encompasses the Ningo-Prampram district, is one of the hottest and driest parts of the country. Temperatures are however subjected to occasional and minimal moderating influences along the coast and altitudinal influences affected by the Akwapim range in the northwest. Temperatures are appreciably high for most parts of the year with the highest during the main dry season (November – March) and lowest during the short dry season (July – August). The maximum temperature is 40 0 C.

The most complete absence of cloud cover for most parts of the year gives way to very high rates of evaporation which leaves most parts of the district dry and with parched soils.

The combined effects of high temperatures and high insulation levels, on the other hand, are of invaluable asset to the salt-making industry, as they account for the high and rapid rates of stalinization and crystallization crucial for the winning of salt. They also provide enormous potentials for solar power development.

Rainfall is generally very low with most of the rains being very erratic in coming mostly between September and November. The mean annual rainfall increases from 762.5 milliliters in the coast to 1,220 milliliters in the northern parts of the district.