Tema, Nov. 24, GNA - The management of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in collaboration with the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) on Friday embarked on an exercise to demolish all illegal structures across the street in front of TOR as they posed a threat to the facility. Illegal structures that had sprung around the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport Company (BOST) at the Accra Plains also suffered the same fate.

The structures were erected by food vendors, some of whom started their operations since the inception of TOR in the 1960's and they served as dwelling places for some of them.

The structures were also used as hide-outs for criminal activities by a gang, popularly known as "bele bele" boys who have been secretly siphoning fuel from tankers into jerry cans, thus causing fire in the process.

The exercise was led by the Development Control Officer of the TMA, Mr Isaac Lamptey and carried out by the TMA task force under the supervision of Military and Police personnel.

Speaking to the GNA, Mr Lamptey said the move was aimed at creating an environment to protect the refinery and the BOST from disaster. Captain Edward Kwofie, Manager in-charge of Security Services and Mr. Kingsley Kofi Ditsa, Environmental Services Manager both of TOR had earlier told a press briefing that though the area where the vendors were operating does not belong to TOR, management was concerned about the susceptibility of the plant to fire, which could emanate from their (vendors) illegal activities as they dealt with naked fire. To avert any unforeseen incidents and also bolster safety, management of TOR in March this year constructed a modern parking facility for tankers at a location few metres away from the plant. The park has canteens, rest rooms, as well as offices for Oil Marketing Companies. According to the two officials, the vendors were allocated free spaces at the park, but they continued to sell along the street with some of them erecting illegal mid-shift structures such as garages. The bush around the area has also become a den for drug dealers and for illegal siphoning of fuel, an activity, which caused fire outbreaks in the area early this year, Capt. Kwofie and Mr. Ditsa added. There was also a major fire disaster in 2003, leading to the setting up of a probe, which recommended that vendors operating in the area be cleared. However, they resurfaced weeks after their ejection, the officials said.

Some of the food vendors told the GNA that they were not making good sales at the canteens allocated to them in the parking facility, hence their preference for the old area. Though the vendors had been informed a day before the operation the recalcitrant ones refused to vacate their structures saying they had no where to go, but their structures were pulled down. They however, appealed to the TMA to relocate them to the appropriate area to enable them to earn a living as that was their only source of income.