The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), Ing Ebenezer Kofi Essienyi has lamented the calamitous dangers of illegal mining (galamsey) on its circuit connections and operations.
According to him, the greed of these galamsey operators knows no limit and could cost the country significantly in its economic development if not stopped.
In a recent Ministerial Press Briefing at the Ministry of Information, Ing. Kofi Essienyi condemned such illegal operations and warns of dire consequences against culprits found guilty.
“Galamsey operators know no bounds and go all the way chasing the resources they want forgetting the point that the towers there are for our collective good. We have had situations where because of Galamsey we need to relocate our towers just to ensure the reliability of our supplies to consumers. All these come at a cost and they impair our reliability of supply.
We have a typical situation where the foundations or fittings of a tower have been completely exposed. We needed to find a way to quickly address this and all these are additional costs to our business. The dangers would have been encumbering if we didn’t know on time,” he said.
The GRIDCo Boss further advised against encroachment and settlement around operational towers as he described such decisions as “extremely dangerous”. He indicated that such acts do not only impede operators in their line of work but also pose as risky to lives and properties.
“Those who encroach on our right of way and stay under the lines either to do business or to settle permanently is a real challenge and extremely dangerous. We need to bring ourselves to mind of the dangers we stay there and the risk associated with a tower collapsing or a conductor falling and also impeding us when we need to do some works on our lines. I want the media to take this serious and help us communicate with the public to avoid such areas,” he added.
Ing. Ebenezer Kofi Essienyi however disclosed that GRIDCo has established the “Right to Way Task Force” to monitor its towers across the country.
By: Jude Tackie
