Mismanagement and poor planning – Our Utilities woes…

The truth is, we do not manage our utility resources well as a country and that comes at a high cost to all of us. This problem is largely due to the way the utility companies and their infrastructure have been set up in the first place.

We are making the same mistakes over and over again and hoping for a different result. Some may even apply their faith to these things but we have to realise sooner than later that we have been running along with the ‘how not to do it’ campaign for a while now and will have to start to work to reverse the results caused by our inability to act earlier. As we seek to progress as a country, what we must do is look at the systems and processes associated with the management of these resources and adjust them to optimise productivity.

A lot of the systems we stick with do not make sense. For example, water companies are supposed to manage foul water as well as supply us with clean water but here we find that they are more interested in provision of the latter, not fully focused on bringing the problem of open gutters and very foul residential and commercial waste water entering into our natural water bodies to a stop.

I have the dark dead waters of the Odorgonnor Lagoon and the not-so-sweet-smelling (Sewerage tankers tip untreated faecal matter into the sea here) Lavender Hill in mind when raising this point. Clearly the main focus of the water board is on revenue collection, so providing the clean water is enough to bring in the revenue sought after, not fully executing the actual job that’s required to be done. The half-way done approach to our problem solving is a key ingredient to our hot soup of issues that can be easily solved, with the right attitude and the cessation of our resistance to change.

Primarily, our health is affected because of the sewerage issues, we end up spending money on healthcare and buy medicines to cure ourselves of the illnesses but never really go back to attack the root causes, resulting in a vicious cycle. Somehow we never seem to have the urge or the strong emotions required to break that cycle. Patriotism would usually solve this but it seems that is also lacking in a lot of ways. This is what we should be aiming for, from this moment onward, let us demand more from these unscrupulous companies, using the government office to put the mandate in place so they have no choice but to follow the rules. We should not look on a bad situation and just leave it to fester, to get worse. We are the ones who suffer for it in the end.

Some utility apparatus can also be a hazard to the general public if rules are not specified to govern the way they are placed in the ground and also managed afterwards. This is all to protect the public from the dangers that they may pose. The recent fire on a TOR pipeline brings to light the importance of protecting our utility assets with the law. Places where essential utilities or services are placed must be known and placed on a central register where they can be located and managed. Where necessary the areas where they lay may need to be fenced off. They also need to be placed where it will be of no inconvenience or danger to the public.

Further to these measures the assets must be better protected in situ. This is the responsibility of the asset owner and the law must ensure that they comply with the safety standards so that the general public will be protected from the hazards that come with being in close proximity to them. Assets buried in pavements, over bridges and even over poles need to be looked at and better managed by their owners.

The system to be implemented must be able to tell us the location, type of asset and the contact details of the owner/maintainer at the flick of a button. GIS mapping can be utilised to this end but to make this truly effective and fit for purpose, it must be backed by law, which has to be put in place and enforced. Mapping systems populated with the grid references showing where they are laid can also be used by the regulatory body for ease of management.

It is important for telecommunications, water, electricity and other companies such as TOR whose cables and pipelines criss-cross each other all over the landscape to be better managed.

Importantly, to prevent accidents and to be well-informed about utility companies’ activities on the nation’s road networks, all works to their assets must be controlled by the use of work permits and other noticing measures. This should be sent to the afore-mentioned central regulatory register from which all works on roads and their timings are coordinated. Photographic evidence can then be used to fine or prosecute offenders, in extreme cases, using the law courts to settle payment disputes. Regulation of utilities and contractors’ activities on our road networks ensures that there is less congestion, saving us precious time and unnecessary expenses. I will concentrate more on the problems posed by road contractors in the next article. Concerning the issue of Health and Safety of workers and pedestrians during civil works on our road networks, these two sectors are the main culprits that must be brought to book by assessing and regulating all their activities. I’m not talking about the way A.M.A handles its regulatory duties but rather a more rigid, open, fair and fool-proof way of imposing the law of the land on statutory undertakers of works on public roads, thus removing the corruption aspect from the equation. The courts will be used in extreme cases where companies are in contravention and fines will be levied for breaching the advisory code as set out by the regulatory body.

The standards we set for the utilities and all other companies in general means that they allow very little margin for errors in their daily operations and would actually do what is expected of them. The companies are all kept on their toes and actually operate in a manner that’s responsible and befitting of the position they occupy. ECG cannot continue to be erratic about the supply of electricity. Ghanaians cannot be expected to all run generators in their back yards! Mismanagement is a key problem so now let us tighten the reins and do one better. We must start putting in place the changes that we want to see in the future. God bless Ghana!

Nana Kojo Hagan