Residents of Kuraso, a farming community in the Dormaa Central of the Bono Region, have been battling with low voltage of power supply, affecting socio-economic activities there for the past ten years.The negative impact of the poor electricity supply to the Kuraso community affected businesses such as cold store operators, corn millers, and poultry farmers, among others.The Assemblyman for Atesikrom Electoral Area of Dormaa Central Municipality, Dickson Oppong, who confirmed the issue with The Ghanaian Times, said the affected businesses were relying on other alternative energy sources such as diesel to power their plants to run their businesses.Mr Oppong said the issue was subsequently reported to the Bono Regional Office of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), through whose intervention new transformers had been installed.The Dormaa Area Supervising Maintenance Mechanic Officer of the Volta River Authority, Emmanuel Twum Ampofo, said the Kuraso area has single-phase power lines, which were connected by the government under the Self Help Electrification Project (SHEP), resulting in the low power voltage there.Currently, two additional transformers are being mounted in the area, while the existing power lines are also being upgraded to improve the power situation in the area, Mr Ampofo said.Speaking in an interview with The Ghanaian Times, the Bono Regional Public Relations Officer of PURC, Ms Julia Antwi, said as part of efforts to ensure quality service to customers, her outfit has intensified its public sensitisation drive dubbed "PURC Nkitahodie" in their operational areas in the Bono and Ahafo Regions to educate customers on their activities.The Nkitahodie initiative by the PURC, targeting specific rural communities with peculiar issues in their operational areas, aims at extending their services to the doorsteps of such communities to receive their concerns for a possible redress.She said so far, three communities such as Kuraso in the Dormaa Central, Adansi in the Sunyani West District in the Bono Region, and Jumo in the Ahafo Region have been visited."As part of our mandate as a regulator, we are mandated to ensure customers get quality service from service providers whilst resolving issues that may come between service providers and customers," she explained.She cautioned customers against engaging in illegal activities such as power and water theft, saying such activities affect the operations of service providers, adding that such unscrupulous persons could face prosecution when caught. FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, SUNYANI
Kuraso confronts decade-long power crisis, businesses incur losses - Ghanaian Times
Published:
17 hours ago
Source:
Ghanaian Times