Regional News of Saturday, 20 August 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-08-20Relief in Krobo as ECG restores power
An illuminated street in Krobo
Correspondence from Eastern Region
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Tema Region has restored power supply within the Krobo area.
This follows a recent shut down of power supply as a result of illegal interferences with the company’s network.
The power was restored at about 9 pm on Friday, August 19, 2022, some twenty-four (24)
Read full articledays after the entire area was plunged into darkness with some areas affected for 31 days.
The restoration of power was greeted with spontaneous wild jubilation by residents.
Power was earlier restored at 5 pm but the jubilation was short-lived as the power went off again after just a minute as a result of technical hitches of some transformers.
A team of engineers however managed to restore power four hours later.
Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo Municipalities were plunged into the darkness since Wednesday, July 27, following the decision by the ECG to shut down the feeders to the Bulk Supply Point (BSP) which supplies power to the two Municipalities.
The near month-long power outage crippled the local economy as businesses including hairdressing saloons, cold stores, sawmills, welding shops, etc, struggled to operate.
Konor of the Manya Krobo Traditional Area, Nene Sakite II, the divisional chiefs, Members of Parliament, and youth groups, met several officials in Accra including the energy minister, Hon Matthew Opoku Prempeh and the Managing Director (MD) of the ECG where some far-reaching resolutions were arrived at in the interests of both the Krobo Customers and the ECG.
Some residents and business operators in an interview with GhanaWeb, expressed relief that power had been restored but called on the various stakeholders to ensure that all outstanding issues were ironed out among all sides to ensure that the people did not suffer unduly again.
Karim Illiasu, an electrical shop operator told GhanaWeb that he was relieved with the restoration of power.
"We're very appreciative of the power that has just been restored, we've suffered a lot during the disconnection of the power, for most of us our businesses have collapsed and we did not know how to go about our businesses," he noted.
He urged both traditional and political leadership of the area to come together to resolve the impasse to avert a recurrence of the unfortunate situation.
"We're looking towards our leaders to go and talk about it and then solve the problem for us," he appealed passionately.
Expressing his gratitude to the political and traditional leaders for addressing the outage, Prince Quarshie, another shop operator said, "we're very happy that the government in consultation with the traditional leaders have restored the light, we're most grateful".
He however called for a lasting solution to the nagging issues to ensure that the recurrent issues are addressed once and for all.
Asked how the outage affected his work, he said, "Ever since this outage, sales have dropped drastically and the effect was so devastating, it cuts across from the top to the down".
The restoration of power, he hoped marks the beginning of a good relationship between the ECG and its customers in the Krobo area.
Isaac Padi, a resident of the district was, however, indifferent that the lights were back on.
To him, residents were already used to the darkness.
"The power has been restored but it's not anything new to me, we're used to the darkness," said the resident hoping that the lights stay on for good.
He called on the Electricity Company of Ghana to ensure that they work on all outstanding differences between them and their customers in the area.
