Several communities within Ejisu and Akyawkrom would have to endure staying in darkness for a while as the eight pylons supplying them power have fallen.
Eight pylons belonging to the electricity company of Ghana transmitting power to substations, including Ejisu, Fawoade, Agona, Effiduase, Bekwai, Awiankwanta, Manso Nkwanta, Jacobu, Samfo-Aduam, Mampong, and their environs, were brought down during Monday’s heavy downpour.
Officials of the power distribution company suspect some unknown persons deliberately vandalized the high-tension tower by removing the bolts and nuts from the bases, leading to the 8 pylons falling to the ground.
The incident has caused power outages in the aforementioned substation areas.
In an interview, the General Manager of Ashanti South Sub-Transmission, Peter Kofi Fletcher, said the 8 towers would cost ECG US$1.2 million before they could be fixed.
According to him, some of the affected areas have been supplied with power but left
with some few areas due to the low voltage of transmission.
He added that the case has been reported to the police for investigation, and no arrest has been made so far.
He said 8 fallen towers serving Ejisu and its environs will take them not less than a month to fix, but the other line serving Bekwai and its environs will not take less than two days.
“When we got closer, I realised that at the base, a lot of boats and nuts have been removed, and some of the members have also been removed. These are structures for which everything is calculated.
“The members, the design, the thickness, even the boat—that’s what our people came to meet. For now, when it happens, the first option is to transfer loads. So we have alternatives with which we’re able to feed the Agona, Mampong, and its environment. Our customers are continuously affected, but quite a few are affected. We can put some on, but some have to be off because it’s a capacity issue. As far as I know, even if you are still up to channel Chrome, you will notice that the voltage is very poor. To save the customers’ equipment, we have to put the customers off. However, we have been doing other configurations to make sure that the voltage that will come to channel Chrome will be improved, and then we can give them the supply,” he said.
Mr. Fletcher appealed to the public to safeguard the towers and report any wrongdoing to the ECG office.
“This is vandalism. It was intentionally done. Boats were removed. Members were removed. The reason, the purpose, we can’t tell. We are mobilizing to report this case to the police. If anything is suspected, we can’t tell. For this tower line construction, a kilometre can cost us about $200,000. For a kilometre of construction, about six kilometres. So, $200,000 times six. You are looking at millions of dollars to bring this,” he said.
By Enock Baffoe|AkomaFM|Kumasi
