Aboadze (W/R) Nov 10, GNA - The West African Gas Pipeline Project, scheduled to begin initial 190 million cubic feet gas supply per a day to customers in the four participation countries in 2005 would have efficient safety systems to ensure incident and injury free operation. Mr. Kofi Asante Okai, the External Affairs Manager of the project, said manual safety shutdown and control and monitoring systems that could also be remotely manipulated, should allay the fears of the public about the dangers associated with gas.

He gave the assurance at a day's stakeholders' seminar at Aboadze near Takoradi on Monday on some of the measures being taken by the project to ensure the safety of both workers and communities that would be in its operational areas.

Chiefs and other opinion leaders from Aboadze, Abuesi, Shama and nearby communities, environmentalists and workers of some government departments attended the seminar.

Similar seminars have been held in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo and in Accra.

Mr Okai said the four participating West African countries and their external partners in March 2004 would take final investment decision. After the work on the 681-kilometre pipeline of which 569 would be laid on the seabed, is estimated to cost about 500 million dollars. The construction would take between 18 and 24 months to complete. He said adequate and prompt compensation would be offered to people whose lands and other properties would be affected during the construction of the pipeline.

Annual revenue that would be earned by the participating countries is estimated at 600 million cedis.

Ghana, which has 16.5 per cent shares in the project, is expected to pay a share capital of about 75 million dollars.