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By Nailatu Iddrisu, Tema
The Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Abu Jinapor, has given encroachers and businesses operating under electricity transmission pylons a one-month ultimatum to vacate the areas or face forced eviction and confiscation of their properties.
The directive, according to the Minister, is necessary to protect lives and property and safeguard critical electricity transmission infrastructure from further damage.
Mr Jinapor issued the ultimatum during an official inspection of a damaged transmission tower at Ashaiman-Middle East on Thursday.
The tower was reportedly damaged following an explosion involving a tanker that was being welded near the transmission structure. The blast is said to have sent a metal fragment more than 300 metres into the tower.
The Minister said the incident had compromised the structural integrity of the tower, which carries two critical transmission circuits supplying electricity from the Volta Substation in Tema to the Achimota Substation in Accra.
He warned that a collapse of the damaged tower could trigger the collapse of adjoining towers, potentially causing widespread disruption to electricity supply in parts of Accra.
Mr Jinapor expressed concern that despite repeated appeals for people occupying transmission-line rights-of-way to vacate, illegal activities continued unabated.
He said the government would therefore adopt stronger measures to enforce the law.
“Where persuasion fails, force must be applied legally,” the Minister stated.
He said once the one-month deadline expires, the government would collaborate with the Police, Military, National Security, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, as well as other relevant stakeholders, to clear the affected areas.
Mr Jinapor further warned that items left behind during the exercise would be confiscated and auctioned in accordance with the law.
He also cautioned companies and individuals using areas beneath power pylons as car parks, describing the practice as illegal and dangerous.
According to him, the directive applies not only to transmission-line corridors but also to areas around pylons, transformer sites and other critical energy infrastructure across the country.
Damaged tower
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), Frank Otchere, said the incident occurred on July 10 at about 3 p.m., when the company received a report that a tanker had exploded and damaged one of its transmission towers.
He said preliminary investigations indicated that welding work was being carried out on the tanker when it exploded, sending its back plate into the transmission tower and damaging one of its legs.
Mr Otchere explained that the affected structure was a double-circuit tower carrying two critical transmission lines supplying electricity to a large part of Accra.
He said its immediate replacement was therefore necessary to avert a potentially serious threat to the stability of the transmission network.
GRIDCo, he said, had retrieved an identical spare tower from its stores and was currently assembling it ahead of the replacement exercise.
According to Mr Otchere, the replacement process, which would ordinarily take about two days, had been redesigned to take approximately 12 hours in an effort to minimise disruption to electricity supply.
He, however, cautioned that the exercise could temporarily affect power supply in some parts of Accra because the affected transmission lines would have to be taken out of service.
GRIDCo, he said, was undertaking simulations and deploying additional manpower, two cranes and extended working hours to minimise the impact on consumers.
Mr Jinapor appealed to the public to cooperate with the evacuation exercise, stressing that the safety of people living and working around high-voltage transmission lines must take precedence over economic activities.
He urged all persons and businesses occupying transmission rights-of-way to use the one-month window to voluntarily vacate the areas before enforcement action begins.
