Wa residents want relocation of electric poles on new roads
Some residents in Wa are calling on the Volta River Authority (VRA), the Urban Roads Department and other relevant Agencies to take immediate steps to relocate all electric poles and stays on newly developed roads in the Municipality.
These electric poles and stays located around newly developed roads in Konta, Kpaguri and Kumbiehe; all suburbs in the Wa Municipality according to the residents, posed great danger to unsuspecting riders especially during the night.
They said a number of accidents have already occurred at these places and that measures must be put in place to immediately have them relocated to prevent further accidents.
Mr. Mohammed Abdul-Samad, the Upper West Regional Director of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) when contacted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa said the issue had become a road safety concern for the Commission in the region.
He said the electric poles and stays some of which were located just in the middle of the newly developed roads were not made up of reflective material and therefore could not be easily seen by unsuspecting riders in the dark.
According to the Road Safety Regional Director, a motorist who ran into a stay risked being killed easily because of its dangerous nature.
Mr. Abdul-Samad said a car could hit one of the poles bringing down a whole transformer, saying if this happened it would not only affect the rider of the vehicle but the entire people being served by that particular transformer.
He said the Commission was liaising with relevant authorities to have those poles relocated to ensure the safety of riders on those roads.
Meanwhile, a source disclosed to the GNA that the Department of Urban Roads was responsible for the relocation of the poles.
However, Engineer Oliver Bigga, the Municipal Roads Engineer disagreed, saying Urban Roads could not continue to use its meagre budget to clean the inefficiencies of another organization.
According to him, electricity poles were supposed to be fixed permanently using site plans in consultation with all relevant stakeholders to avoid the need for future relocation.
Engineer Bigga therefore appealed to the VRA, which is responsible for the citing of electricity poles to make sure that they collaborate with all the responsible authorities to relocate the poles to curtail such situations in the future.
Mr. Nat Baena, the Wa Area Manager of VRA said his organization was made up of professionals who do due diligence in consultation with other relevant authorities before erecting their poles.
He said if some poles were now found on newly developed roads, it meant that those areas were not having any proper site plans as at the time electricity was being extended to those areas.
Mr. Baena said VRA was prepared to do the relocation of all poles in the Municipality but that would depend on the willingness of Urban Roads Department to foot the bill for the relocation.
The Wa Area Manager of VRA advised Urban Roads to write formerly to VRA requesting them to do estimates concerning any pole(s) that needed to be relocated which they would forward to them to foot the bill.
Mr. Baena said the cost for the relocation should be factored into contract sums to avoid such situations.
Source: GNA