The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has raised alarm over the growing threat illegal mining, or galamsey, poses to the country’s power infrastructure.
Frank Otchere, Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Engineering and Operations at GRIDCo, described the situation as “near disaster” during a working visit by Parliament’s Energy Committee on Thursday September 25.
According to Otchere, illegal miners have increasingly been operating dangerously close to high-voltage transmission towers, especially in areas cleared for power line maintenance — known as right-of-way zones.
“Now the right-of-way clearing becomes lucrative to galamseyers. In a number of areas, we go and see that overnight people come and do their galamseying activities and it is very close to our towers,” he said.
He explained that these towers, while appearing to be simple steel structures, are engineered with precise foundations based on the terrain. Encroachment from mining activities can weaken these foundations, threatening the stability of the entire power transmission network.
“There are some towers that we have had to rush in to do some intermediary reinforcements,” he noted.
Even more worrying, Otchere revealed that GRIDCo maintenance teams have come under attack in certain areas, with staff being shot at by armed individuals while attempting to carry out routine inspections and repairs.
“There are some areas that even when our maintenance teams are going, they get shot at and some of them have had to run away,” he said.
The Deputy CEO warned that GRIDCo alone can no longer manage the threat and called for urgent support from national security forces to protect the country’s critical energy infrastructure.
“We are getting to a point where GRIDCo alone cannot manage. We need support from all the forces to be able to do that,” he appealed.
Source: CNR
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