THIEVES have dug up and sold as scrap, the cast metal pipelines that serve as backup for the PVC pipelines that supply water to the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis and other parts of the Western Region.
The pipelines, which were installed after independence in 1957, were replaced recently by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), with much bigger plastic PVC lines to better serve consumers.
According to officials of the GWCL, the old pipelines were left intact to serve as standby in case of emergency.
At the time of going to press, thieves in various communities where the lines travel through to their collection point at Daboase to the metropolis, have cut off more than 70 per cent of the cast metal pipelines for sale.
Fortunately, personnel of the Mobile Force Unit of the Ghana Police Service at Sekondi have arrested four suspects who allegedly stole portions of the metal pipeline for sale. They are Francis Dapatem, aka Papa Adjei, 32; Daniel Morgan, 28; Akwesi S. Boateng, 24, and Mohammed Ali, 17.
The suspects were arrested after bolting with a group of others with pieces of the pipes when the police night patrol team tried to stop them. The vehicle in which they ran away was traced to Kokompe in Takoradi the following day when the four appeared to collect money for the stolen item, and they were arrested.
A source told the Daily Graphic that when officials of the GWCL in the community tried to stop the alleged thieves, they threatened the officials and followed it up with a call that they (the suspects) would continue to steal the lines until they reached the premises of the company to say bye-bye to them.
The Sekondi District Manager of the GWCL, Mr Francis Amoah, told the press after the arrest that old metal pipelines were not discarded even if no water passed through them.
“They are interconnected with the new PVC pipes with valves, therefore, after they smashed the metal, it put the new line in danger,” he pointed out.
Those arrested have been arraigned and remanded in prison custody.
No comments:
Post a Comment