Experts from the Department of Urban Roads, Ghana Water Company (GWCL), National Communication Authority (NCA) and the Ghana Chamber of Telecoms are discussing ways of ending fiber cuts and theft, which causes problems for the telcos and utility companies.
The meeting was organized by the National Engineering Coordinating Team (NECT) to sensitize participants on the “Right of Way” for stakeholders to ensure that reserved spaces for the utility services were not encroached upon.
Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Chamber of Telecoms and member of the NECT said, repair of fiber cuts alone had cost the telcos GHC30 million between January and July 2019; whiles in 2015, it cost 3.5 million dollars, 2016, 4.5 million dollars and 4.4 million dollars in 2018.
He said apart from the fiber cuts, theft of fuel and other accessories for the powering of the cell sites were also on the rise, disclosing that, in 2018 over 700 incidents of theft were recorded whiles in 2019 about 500 of such incidence had been recorded already.
According to Mr Ashigbe, these unhealthy incidents were a threat to consumers and even national security communication installations since once a fiber was cut or a cell site was broken into, it affects both the security apparatus and the general public.
He said in the guidelines for road construction, spaces were provided for power installations, laying of water pipes and communication infrastructure, however, due to encroachment, on the reserved spaces by private developers, the stakeholders had to compete for space and in the process destroy fiber cables and water pipes to the detriment of the public.
Mr Ashibgey explained that it was for that reason that the NECT had been instituted, involving engineers from the Department, GWCL, ECG, the Telco’s and the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), to find a lasting solution and expressed the hope that by 2022 they would have come to a consensus to end the menace.
This worrying trend has not only affected communication but has affected water supply in many parts of the country where pipelines had been damaged during construction, citing Nkawakw, in the eastern region, is one such example.
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