Police to patrol areas affected by load shedding

Accra, Aug. 28, GNA - The Police on Tuesday gave the assurance that they would take adequate measures to ensure that criminals did not take advantage of the load shedding exercise being carried out by the Volta River Authority (VRA) and Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). The Inspector-General of Police, Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong has, therefore, directed all Regional, Divisional and District Commanders to intensify patrols in areas that would be affected by the load shedding exercise.

A statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service in Accra said personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit had also been directed to monitor the traffic situation. "Members of the public are advised to cooperate with their local Police to ensure smooth Police operation in the course of this load shedding exercise in order to frustrate the activities of criminals," the statement said.

It said the public could contact the Police in times of emergency at the Police Headquarters: 027-7522288; 027-7522299; 021-773695; 021-773906; 191 (for Areeba, Kasapa and Tigo users); 028-7083312; 028-7083313 and 028-7083315.

VRA and ECG announced at the weekend that they had instituted a load management programme because of the drop in the water level of the Volta Lake.

A statement signed by Ms Abla Fiadjoe, Acting Director Corporate Services, VRA, and Erasmus Kyere Baidoo, Senior Public Relations Officer, ECG, said the load shedding programme had been necessitated by lower than normal inflows into the feeder tributaries of the Volta Lake. It said the inflows of water into the Volta Reservoir so far this year had been below average.

The statement said at present "the VRA relies on the Volta Reservoir to produce over 60 per cent of its power from the Akosombo and Kpong generating stations, the balance of which is supplied from the thermal plants at Aboadze and via imports from Cote d'Ivoire. "Currently, all the available units at the Aboadze Thermal Plant complex are running at full capacity fired by light crude oil, the price of which is very high and continues to rise. The use of expensive crude oil has the potential of impacting on tariffs.

"Consequently, with only a few weeks left of the major rainy season, the VRA and ECG have instituted a load management programme to optimise the use of the available water in the Volta Reservoir to bring the Lake to an appreciable level to restore normal production between now and throughout next year (2007). This is expected to forestall any undue draw-down of the Volta Reservoir.