About a quarter of Ashanti Region could be without electricity if … ECG warns
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Ashanti Region has described the situation as a “security threat”
A quarter of the Ashanti Region could be without electricity if immediate action is not taken to remove encroachers from transmission sites, the managing director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the region, Ing David Asamoah has said.
He said the situation is seriously affecting the operations of the power company and has warned of a looming water and power crisis if nothing is done immediately to forestall the challenges.
Speaking with Asaase News’s Ashanti regional correspondent, Jonathan Ofori, Asamoah said, “We have seen that people have encroached our network; our substations, lines, cables. People have built and are even cooking on our cables…these are not the normal voltage. They are 11000 voltages, 33000 voltages and so on…”
“For instance in Adoato, that’s the one that gives us water in the entire Ashanti Region. So if that cable fails then it means that there will be no water for Ashanti Region and about a quarter of Ashanti could be without power,” he said
He added, “So that is the reality on the ground. There could be no water and electricity.”
Listen to Asaase News’s Jonathan Ofori in the audio below:
Meanwhile, Grace Garshong, the communication manager of the ECG in the Ashanti has said the situation is not very pleasant describing it as a “security threat”.
Speaking with Beatrice Adu on the Big Bulletin on Thursday (9 June) Garshong said some residents have “occupied our substations and our lines and it is very dangerous. So we had to sensitise them so they know that it is a security threat to them…”
She said the encroachers have been given up till the end of this month (June) for them to vacate the areas.
“We’ve given them till the end of the month and we’ve said that if they move, we’ll move in and demolish.”
“Laxity must stop”
However, Nana Yaw Akwada, the founder and executive director of the Bureau of Public Safety has said the laxity at which these transmission companies are working on addressing the situation is not tenable.
Speaking on the Big Bulletin, Akwada said “This phenomenon has been known to these two entities (ECG and GRIDCo) for a long time… they have themselves to blame…we sit down and allow people to encroach such facilities and to make matters worse we give them time to vacate those places. It is unheard of anywhere.”
“People are endangering their lives. In a country where it is a crime to commit suicide, we see people putting their lives and that of their families settling under these grids and when we see this we have the audacity and the laxity to say we are giving them time to vacate.
“In the first place, it should never have happened. So we would want to advise them that they [ECG and GRIDCo) should move in and remove these encroachers as soon as possible. They must create that sense of urgency in the minds of the public…”
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