A burnt-exposed high tension cable at Tema industrial area behind the Tema Oil Refinery, an area within the Tema Community, a suburb of Accra is gradually becoming a death trap to companies and locals.

The base of the pole has been over-exposed as a result of continuous burns. The heedless activities of the trespassers often lead to intermittent power cuts in the community.

The high tension cables have caught fire four consecutive times this year alone and have rendered many parts of the City without electricity.
The first burn happened on 23rd January, 2019; the second happened on 25th February, 2019, the third and fourth happened on 19th July and 16th August, 2019 respectively.

Close sources tell the SVTV Africa team that, the Electricity Company of Ghana seems to be heedless about the situation since the high tension has been abandoned for a long time, probably waiting for the worst to happen before taking action.

Some concerns locals said, the burning of electricity cables and poles is dangerous to human lives since the situation could result in the loss of revenue which could have been directed into improving the value and reliability of the distribution network.

What resulted in the several burns of the cables is unknown but the company have to work around the clock to clamp down on perpetrators of such activities.

Burnt poles

In 2017, The Electricity Company of Ghana lost 78 high tension and 49 low tension poles across the 10 operational districts in the central region, particularly in the Saltpond, Cape Coast, Assin Fosu and the Kasoa North districts.

In 2016, The Central Regional office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) spent GH¢94,671.24 to replace burnt electric poles.

As at the time of filing this report, all efforts to get ECG or GRIDCO to rectify the situation has proven futile but the team at SVTV Africa is still working on to speak to the ECG see the measures the company is putting up to resolve the situation.