Minister assures of efficient fire protection at Akosombo

Accra, July 24, GNA - The Minister for The Interior, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang on Thursday told Parliament that the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) would put in place all the measures needed to ensure the protection of all the facilities in Akosombo.

He said Akosombo had a lot of sensitive installations such as the Akosombo Dam and the Bulk Oil Storage Transport (BOST) fuel depot and that the GNFS had since 2002 provided the state of the art fire equipment to the Akosombo Fire Station.

The Minister said this in an answer to a question by Mr Dwamena Bekoe, NDC-Asuogyaman, as to what plans the Ministry had for the Fire Service Station at Akosombo and the BOST fuel depot to make it more efficient.

"The Akosombo Fire Station is one of the priorities of the Fire Service and there are plans to renovate the station and also equip it with permanent structures from 2004. The GNFS Management is negotiating with representatives of BOST on the protection of their installations by the personnel of the Service."

Mr Owusu-Agyemang said the GNFS was also considering increasing the personnel at the Akosombo Fire Station in view of the sensitive nature of the area and currently there was close collaboration between the Volta River Authority fire personnel and those of GNFS on the protection of the dam.