Some residents of Kpone and Tema in the Greater Accra Region, seem to have thrown caution to the wind and have defiantly encroached on the right-of-way of the West African Gas Pipeline Company’s Regulatory and Metering station in Tema.
The encroachment, deep onto the company’s emergency buffer, threatens the underground pipelines and could pose serious danger in the event of an explosion.
A tour of the area revealed structures around the facility with new structures springing up in broad daylight, while some persons were also molding blocks to start their building projects in the right-of-way.
Portions of the right-of-way have also been turned into a refuse dump site where encroachers on daily basis dump refuse.
This situation compelled the company to organize a day’s annual stakeholders forum which seeks to bring together some members of the community, officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and both the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, and the Tema Development Corporation, as well as personnel from the fire service to educate the squatters on the dangers involved in encroaching very close to such a facility.
The Senior Relations Manager for the West African Gas Pipelines, Kofi Mensah, noted that unlike Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Natural Gas does not have a unique smell which could easily be detected whenever there is a leakage so it was dangerous for residents to encroach close into their buffer zone.
He said encroachments had reached crisis proportions, in spite of they educating residents on the risk associated with such lawlessness.
“Gas operations are dangerous if the rules are not followed. There is a need to protect the West African Gas Pipeline from any further encroachment since any damage on this pipeline could be dire to the company and the country as a whole. The last time there was a damage on any of such pipes, in excess of 20 million dollars was spent in repair works alone.”
Mr. Mensah said the company chose a dialogue approach in addressing the problem, since it believes residents would advise themselves upon knowing the dangers involved in their actions.
“Natural Gas can not be seen or felt, but they are dangerous so there is the need for us to let the people know the dangers they pose themselves to. Any spark near a faulty pipeline would result in a serious damage that even the fire service cannot quench.”
“It is important that all the illegal structures move out of the right of way to safeguard such a national asset to avert any future damage.”
Questioned on whether the encroachment would in any way affect the supply of Gas to some thermal plants, he said “there was no way this encroachment could affect the flow of gas. This is strictly encroachment issues and must be addressed immediately.”
Some residents who spoke to Citi News said they would be grateful if WAPCO could secure them permanent accommodation so they could relocate from the right-of- way of the pipelines.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)