‘BEDC wants to kill us with high-tension cables’

RESIDENTS of Willie Street in Warri, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State have cried to the Minister of Power, Mr Babatunde Fashola, to stop the ongoing mounting of high tension cables over their roofs to avert a re-enactment of the tragedy that occurred on April 20 in Calabar, Cross River State where some football fans were killed at a viewing centre.

Vice chairman and secretary of Willie Street Landlords and Tenants Association, Okumagba Layout, Mr Edafe Potokri and Godwin Gbenedio respectively, in an SOS letter to the branch manager of the Warri Zonal Office of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), said the high tension cables drawn over the roofs, shops, houses and gates of people’s houses were a time bomb.

They said the residential area was populated with children who played in the road as well as compacted buildings which made the area unsuitable for the high tension cables.

They wondered how after sending a protest letter dated April 4 to the branch manager, the company still went ahead to mount the cables over their roofs with no considerations for their lives.

“We’re using this medium to plead to authorities concerned to come to our aid by stopping the ongoing installation of the high tension cables to avoid casualties, “the residents pleaded.

When Tribune Online visited the area, it was discovered that some of the shops under which the high tension cables were mounted were being inhabited.

Women, children and some youths were seen milling around the street.

It was, however, gathered that the BEDC staff had earlier stopped work on the installation in the wake of the Calabar viewing centre tragedy only to return to the site last week.

When contacted on phone, the branch manager of BEDC in Warri zone, Mr Auta, acknowledged the receipt of the SOS letter.

He, however, insisted that the installation would not pose a threat to residents of the area.

Auta said a consideration for a neighbouring street that had been in blackout for months necessitated the drawing of the high tension cables from the transformer supplying the complainants’ street.

“The line will not endanger anybody. Both of them are our customers, “Auta insisted.