The Ghana Grid Company LTD. (GRIDCo) has announced “repair work it is undertaking on a section of its 161kV Transmission Line from Akwatia to New Obuasi”.

Problem

“The section of the line being worked on was faulted when illegal chainsaw operators felled a tall tree damaging a critical tower section on the line. This incident occurred on March 17, at :30am. (see some pictures from the site below). This line is one of the key lines that supplies power to Kumasi and portions of the middle belt of Ghana. The outage to the line has significantly affected the quality of supply since the incident to Kumasi and its surroundings,” an April 17, 2025, statement, signed by Dzifa Bampoh, Manager, Corporate Communications (GRIDCo), revealed.

New tower

“Our maintenance engineers quickly moved in on the same day of the outage and started work to restore the line. Unfortunately, their assessment showed extensive damage such that, it required moving heavy duty equipment to widen access to the point of fault, dismantle the damaged tower and conductors and reconstruct a new tower in its place,” the statement continued.

“Our engineers have worked expeditiously around the clock and of Thursday, April 17, the reconstruction of the new tower has been completed. Remaining conductor stringing works are projected to be completed by Sunday April 20, 2025 for the line to be restored to service.”

Illegal lumbering

“GRIDCo wishes to draw attention to the negative effects of illegal chain saw operators (and sometimes ‘galamsey’ operations) whose activities often damage our electricity transmission infrastructure across the country. We urge the public to assist in curbing these illegal activities to safeguard Ghana's transmission infrastructure,” the statement added.

Apology

The statement concluded, “GRIDCo apologises to the public especially, residents of Kumasi and its surroundings for the power challenges brought on as a result of the damage to the line.”