'Dumsor is collapsing our business' – Cold Store owners cry to govt

Cold store operators at the Asafo Market in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, say they are gradually losing their business due to the erratic power supply.

According to them, they have had to dispose of hundreds of cartons of spoilt fish due to months of unreliable power supply.

The traders have also been saddled with the cost of repairing their huge industrial fridges that have broken down as a result of the power challenges.

They are therefore calling on the government to publish a load shedding timetable to enable them to plan for their trade activities in the area.

EIB’s Ashanti regional correspondent, Isaac Bediako, reported the cold store operators are angry that the government has failed to issue a timetable and also failed to truthfully acknowledge that the Ashanti region is suffering from severe power cuts.

On a visit to the cold Store Hub, large hauls of fish had been disposed of or sold at cheaper prices for animal feed production.

A cold store owner who gave her name as Maame Jane told Bediako that all the fish in her store was being washed because of the water dripping from her defrosted fridges.

The traders are therefore calling on the government to speed up work on the supposed transmission lines to end the current intermittent power supply which is collapsing their business.