The Kadjebi District Directorate of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has advised the public to stop placing container shops under high-tension electricity lines.
According to District Director Nana Oboako Joseph, the risk of trading beneath such high-tension cables far outweighs any business transaction’s profits.
While speaking to some journalists, Nana Oboako said that due to the weight of the cables, fire outbreaks could occur anytime the wires snap.
“It is a dangerous act of raising structures around or close to high tensions as that could lead to a fire outbreak causing destruction to life and properties.”
He also cautioned that this could be fatal as occupants of these containers will be incinerated.
“Victims could burn beyond recognition due to the thousands of volts carried in these transmission lines,” he said.
Advising the public, the NADMO District Director said the safest place to site a container should be 5.5 meters from the high tension.
He added that the directorate has so far visited Dubonku and Kadjebi Central, among other communities in the district, to sensitise residents on the need to comply with the directive.
The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has also, on a number of occasions, cautioned squatters who put up unauthorised structures under or close to high-tension lines.
In July 2022, GRIDCo demolished some illegal structures built under their lines at La Bawalwshie in Accra.
The company explained that the exercise was necessary to clear the areas where the high tension lines were sited from human activities to prevent any disaster in the future.