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TOR/TMA demolish structures at
frontage of TOR to ensure safety
Tema, Nov. 24, Ghanadot/GNA – The management of Tema Oil
Refinery (TOR) in collaboration with the Tema Metropolitan
Assembly (TMA) on Friday embarked on an exercise to demolish
all illegal structures across the street in front of TOR as
they posed a threat to the facility.
Illegal structures that had sprung around the Bulk Oil
Storage and Transport Company (BOST) at the Accra Plains
also suffered the same fate.
The structures were erected by food vendors, some of whom
started their operations since the inception of TOR in the
1960’s and they served as dwelling places for some of them.
The structures were also used as hide-outs for criminal
activities by a gang, popularly known as “bele bele” boys
who have been secretly siphoning fuel from tankers into
jerry cans, thus causing fire in the process.
The exercise was led by the Development Control Officer of
the TMA, Mr Isaac Lamptey and carried out by the TMA task
force under the supervision of Military and Police
personnel.
Speaking to the GNA, Mr Lamptey said the move was aimed at
creating an environment to protect the refinery and the BOST
from disaster.
Captain Edward Kwofie, Manager in-charge of Security
Services and Mr. Kingsley Kofi Ditsa, Environmental Services
Manager both of TOR had earlier told a press briefing that
though the area where the vendors were operating does not
belong to TOR, management was concerned about the
susceptibility of the plant to fire, which could emanate
from their (vendors) illegal activities as they dealt with
naked fire.
To avert any unforeseen incidents and also bolster safety,
management of TOR in March this year constructed a modern
parking facility for tankers at a location few metres away
from the plant. The park has canteens, rest rooms, as well
as offices for Oil Marketing Companies.
According to the two officials, the vendors were allocated
free spaces at the park, but they continued to sell along
the street with some of them erecting illegal mid-shift
structures such as garages.
The bush around the area has also become a den for drug
dealers and for illegal siphoning of fuel, an activity,
which caused fire outbreaks in the area early this year,
Capt. Kwofie and Mr. Ditsa added.
There was also a major fire disaster in 2003, leading to the
setting up of a probe, which recommended that vendors
operating in the area be cleared. However, they resurfaced
weeks after their ejection, the officials said.
Some of the food vendors told the GNA that they were not
making good sales at the canteens allocated to them in the
parking facility, hence their preference for the old area.
Though the vendors had been informed a day before the
operation the recalcitrant ones refused to vacate their
structures saying they had no where to go, but their
structures were pulled down.
They however, appealed to the TMA to relocate them to the
appropriate area to enable them to earn a living as that was
their only source of income.
GNA
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