Tema, April 13, GNA - Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), has called for the construction of a fire station in the north industrial area in Accra for effective fire fighting in the sub area.

He said even though there was a fire station in the South Industrial Area, traffic congestions made it difficult for fire fighters to move quickly to the north in case of a fire outbreak. Mr Oteng-Gyasi made the call, when he and Mr Seth Quao, Tema AGI Chairman visited ALUWORKS Limited to inspect damages caused by last Sunday's fire outbreak and how best AGI could help prevent such incidents.

He stated that, the spate of fire outbreaks in the industries, citing recent fire outbreaks at Poly Products and Fay International called for concern, saying that, the fire outbreak at ALUWORKS was very alarming, since it was one of the most important industries in the Ghanaian economy.

The AGI president further indicated that, Tema being the industrial hub of Ghana, needed a fair share of fire fighting resources, as fire outbreaks in the municipality would lead to great economic disaster, if not efficiently controlled. He said even though the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) was doing its best, to fight fire, other fire stations should collaborate with them to prevent fire outbreaks from destroying a lot of properties. He urged all companies in Tema to have a common fire drill to be able to support one other in time of need, adding that, "it is high time to make it a matter of cause to get more fire hydrants in Tema". Mr Oteng-Gyasi congratulated the management and workers of ALUWORKS for successfully fighting the fire, while thanking the fire stations of the Tema Oil Refinery, Volta Aluminium Company and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, as well as the GNFS for a good work done. Mr Kondagunta Venkataramana, Managing Director of ALUWORKS narrating how the fire occurred, said on Sunday April 09, 2006 at about 0205 hours, when production was going on during the night shift, fire occurred at the cold mill in the plant, he was however not able to tell the estimated cause of damage.

He said the fire, which lasted for fifteen minutes did not spread to other plants, stating however, that, some rubber parts of 150 pipes of oil were damaged; electrical cables on the main stand also were affected, as well as the aluminium sheets on the top of the plant due to the flame shooting up.

Mr Venkataramana stated that, all the control pipes have already been replaced promising to replace the electrical cables by the end of this month to return the plant to normal operations, stating that, production has not been affected by the fire outbreak. 13 April 06