Business News of Thursday, 16 June 2022

Deputy Minister for Energy, William Owuraku Aidoo

William Owuraku Aidoo, a Deputy Minister for Energy, has said the replacement of wooden electricity poles falls under the purview of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Limited. As a result, he said ECG as part of measures to solve the perennial burning of electricity poles had commenced a pilot project to spray the poles with fire-resistant paint. He told parliament that some selected High Voltage poles on the Dambai feeder (from Asukorkor to Dambai) had been sprayed with fire resistant paint. Mr Aidoo said this, in response to a question posed by Wisdom Gidisu, Member of Parliament for Krachi East, on steps the ministry had taken to replace wooden electricity poles, which carry high tension wires to the Krachi East Municipality, with metal poles to prevent perennial burning of wooden poles during the dry season. Mr Aidoo noted that ECG continued to create fire belts to protect poles from bush fires. "Mr Speaker, the ministry in its efforts to deal with these issues had also been deploying steel and concrete poles to bush-fire-prone areas for the ongoing National Electrification Scheme (NES)," he said.