Appiatse explosion leaves more than 30,000 residents without power

Last Thursday’s explosion at Appiatse, near Bogoso in the Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality of the Western Region, has left more than 30,000 residents in the Amenfi West, East and Central districts without power supply.

The explosion, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) said, completely destroyed a distribution substation comprising eight High Tension Network, six HT poles including five LV poles, and one transformer and its accessories.

Mr Ebo Sagoe, the District Manager of the ECG, said this when the Managing Director of the Company, Mr Kwame Agyemang-Budu, and his entourage visited the Appiatse site to assess the extent of damage and also commiserate with the bereaved families.

He said the ECG would require over two million Ghana cedis to fully restore power to Appiatse and its neighbouring communities.

The amount would be used to replace burnt transformers, low voltage (LV) and High Voltage (HV) poles and re-install meters to the various houses after re-construction of the community.

When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the scene on Monday, work gangs were removing meters from homes and disconnecting cables on low voltage poles.

However, Mr Agyemang-Budu told the GNA that the exercise would be halted for the security agencies to complete their investigations.

“For security and safety reasons, we have stopped the operations until they are ready then we will resume work to remove the meters to pave the way for the reconstruction,” he said.

He said immediately after the explosion, Management directed engineers from Enchi and Asankragwa to join the Bogoso team to isolate the system, ensure safety protocols and also restore power within 48 hours.

“We are not concerned about the processes of accounting but the safety of the community,” Mr Agyemang-Budu said when asked about the cost the ECG had incurred due to the explosion.

The company was focused on restoring power to Appiatse and other neighbouring communities in the Bogoso enclave and not how to collect bills or arrears from customers, he said.

Mr Agyeman-Budu, however, expressed concern over the theft of meters and other equipment, saying: “It’s not fair for people not to think about safety and come here to steal, but we are here to ensure that we have more meters to restore power after reconstruction.”