The Volta Regional capital, Ho and the northern part of the region risk being thrown into total black out with the disruption of economic activities if the indiscriminate sand winning activities close to electricity pylons between Sokode and Bame in the Ho Municipality are not checked immediately.
The Volta Regional Director of the ECG, Mr William Hutton-Mensah, expressed this worry when he conducted a team of journalists round to see the menace caused by the activities of the illegal sand winners. During the tour reporters saw that deep pits had been dug very close to the pylons by the sand winners.
Mr Hutton –Mensah noted that sand winning within a radius of 50 square feet radius to the pylons was very dangerous since it could facilitate the collapse of the pylons.
“Should the pylons collapse, it would lead to the disruption of almost all economic activities, including the supply of potable water to Ho and the northern part of the region for some months, he said”.
According to Mr Hutton-Mensah, sand winning had become an economic activity in the area which was being carried out with the collaboration of the land owners who often granted permits to the contractors in the community to win sand.
He, therefore, called on the general public to alert the ECG of any sand winning activities close to the pylons because if such illegal activities were not checked, they would go a long way to disrupt economic activities in the area.
The Volta Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr David Ampah Bennin, warned that it was illegal for chiefs and landowners to grant permits to sand winning contractors without considering the dangers such activities could pose to the pylons.
He gave a promise that the police would make their presence felt in the area if the sand winning activities continued.
He stressed that sand winning contractors needed to obtain licences from the Ho Municipal Assembly to operate so that their activities could be monitored.
He expressed concern about the trend which he attributed to the failure of the landowners to collaborate with the Ho Municipal Assembly before allocating land for winning of sand.
The regional police commander stressed that all illegal contractors who did not have permits would be arrested.
A technician of GRIDCo, Mr Johnson Ilupeju, said most of the sand winning activities took place at odd hours and those who engaged in them were well-armed.
He said “controlling them is very difficult because they work at night and in the early hours of the day”.
As part of measures to control the menace, the Volta Regional branch of the Electricity Company of Ghana, (ECG) has mounted an intensive campaign to check the massive winning of sand under their pylons between Sokode and Bame in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region.
The family head of the land on which the pylons were erected (name withheld) is assisting the police in their investigations.
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