Residents of Katampe Extension diplomatic zone in Abuja have raised concern over the indiscrimate sightings of car stand under TCN high tension cables in the district, describing the trend as worrisome, a breach of extant regulation and a security risk.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, the president of the Katampe Extension Residents Association, KERA, Sulieman Gimba expressed grave concern regarding the ongoing construction of a car stands and cafes directly beneath high-tension powerline that runs above the community, noting that the act constitute a violation of the mandatory Right-of-Way (RoW) and safety clearances for electrical infrastructure.
According to Gimba, ” the applicable clearance requirements (Right-of-Way),
based on official safety standards and enforcement by relevant regulations, is 11 meters for 33 kV lines, equating to 5.5 meters on each side from the centerline, while 132 kV lines requires a 30-meter that is 15 meters clearance on both sides while 330 kV lines, is 50 meters, equivalent to 25 meters on each side from the center line”.
He said that the distances are critical to mitigate the risk of electrocution, physical injury, structural damage, and to ensure general public safety and protection of the powerline.
“Sadly, this regulatory requirement is being fragrantly abused and the TCN seems not to be doing enough to protect this critical national infrastructure. What we are witnessing is in clear breach of legal requirement which constitutes safety hazards to residents of the community”
According to him constructing car stand within the prohibited RoW endangers residents in Katampe Extension, because it increase the risk of electrocution or fatal accidents, especially in case of conductor failure or accidental contact and also expose individuals to hazardous Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) in the event of accidents or long-term exposure.
“There is also the issue of the distruction of our natural landscape. It is unusual to have a car stand on both entrances to a major district where the natural hills and landscape is being leveled for the purposes of a car stand”.
We are calling on the TCN to take immediate measures to arrest the situation and halt construction and occupation of these sites. We are also calling on the the FCT administration to take swift action over this illegality because some of them say they were allocated these sites to develop a garden it is baffling that rather than a garden what we are seeing is this aberration, this is not a bannar republic law and order must be upheld”.
He said the resident association is already taking up the issue with relevant agencies of government, ” if they fail to act swiftly we have no choice but to seek legal redress” He said.