As Ghanaians mark the Geen Ghana Day with tree planting activities, the Electricity Company of Ghana has cautioned against the planting of trees under its Low Voltage Lines as a measure to avert future electricity supply obstructions.
The Western Regional Manager of the ECG, Ingineer Emmanuel Justice Ofori while leading staff of ECG to sensitize and plant trees at the All Saint Anglican School in Takoradi, told Citi News the ECG is targeting to plant 5,000 trees in the region but however want the public not to plant trees under the Low Voltage lines as the grown trees may disrupt power supply when it comes in contact with the lines.
“We at ECG are very conscious not to cause harm to trees. We have the utility corridor where our lines passes and those corridors are supposed to be free of trees. Some are mostly closer to the trees and so a couple of them which are closer, we trim them. We are just careful not to cut them because once you cut them, then you are harming the environment. So we trim them to make sure that they don’t get into conflict with our lines. We are however advising those planting trees that, we should go about planting the trees but we shouldn’t directly plant under or closer to our Low Voltage Lines mostly found in our towns since they will grow to become an obstacle to the lines“, he cautioned.
While explaining why the ECG is supporting the Green Ghana Day tree planting, Ingineer Ofori said the ECG seed trees as essential for the environment hence committed not only to planting but educating the young ones to embrace tree planting.
“We at ECG have taken upon ourselves to come to the All Saints Anglican School to take the students through the need for planting trees and protecting the environment. The motivation is that, when we get our children involved in these activities and when they grow up, they will cultivate the habit of planting trees and protecting the trees. When this project started, we at ECG got involved and every year, we educate the students and together plant the trees with them. So this year we are targeting to plant about 5,000 trees“, he added.
Ingineer Emmanuel Justice Ofori noted that, after visiting some of the trees planted in the Western Region by the ECG since the Green Ghana Day project started, most of them are doing well and feels encouraged by that.
Some of the students who participated in the ECG’s 2023 tree planting and education told Citi News they are very informed about tree planting and its benefits, therefore motivated to plant more after the event.
Government’s Green Ghana Day 2023 came off today, June 9 in several parts of the country.
The Green Ghana initiative is targeted at planting 10 million trees nationwide.
