The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) asserts that it cannot be held liable for the extent of damage caused by the fire that destroyed a three-story building in Makola market last Monday, according to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).
GNFS authorities accused the GWCL of failing to provide water in time to extinguish the fire, saying that despite an existing agreement requiring the water company to deliver water in emergency circumstances, the latter failed to do so despite repeated requests.
When the terrible incident occurred in the Central Business District’s Makola Market, fire tenders were forced to go as far as Achimota, Circle, or Kaneshie to get water.
Chief Fire Officer Ekow Blankson lamented the Ghana Water Company Limited’s lack of reaction during a press conference on Tuesday, July 6, 2021.
“We had the first call at 9:41 am [on Monday], however, because of the situation on the ground, we needed additional pumps. It is not to say that the Fire Service went to the grounds without any water and for security purposes, we always rely on ECG to disconnect the power in the area to make sure the responders are safe. It is not to say that they [our team] never went, and they were scared. Rather, we saw the need for them to have more backup so that they can storm the building.”
“Of all the responders, Ghana National Fire Service was the only fire agency that stormed the building. We had to call for extra pumps. I was very much disappointed because we had an arrangement with Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) contractors to supply us with water, unfortunately, they did not come and the message I had from my operations officer was that the last time they were given coupons instead of cash. If you never complained about receiving coupons instead of cash at that time but decided to keep quiet until another outbreak of fire to disappoint the fire service, it’s quite unfortunate. We had to bring extra resources. The army and police came for protection purposes. Aviation was about to come, but I stopped them because I thought the fire was under control.”
Stanley Martey, the Ghana Water Company’s communications manager, insisted, however, in an interview with Citi News, that his company does not supply water to the Fire Service through trucks.
“I am privy to the sound from the press conference held by the Chief Fire Officer, and he said we failed to supply them with water via tankers. I’m sorry, Ghana Water Company does not do tanker service. Even when we did the free water supply during Covid last year, we all heard that we had to rent private tankers to be supporting us, and we paid them. We also don’t have any contractors that supply water. They are private entities, and we also hire them when we need their service.”
“The fire hydrants are fitted to our main distribution lines and on almost every kilometre there is a fire hydrant. So we supply water via our pipelines and not tankers. He can’t conclude that our pipelines are often dry because when the three initial tankers came they were full, and I was there personally and there was no point in time that they didn’t have water in any of the tenders, so nobody can blame Ghana Water for it,” he added.
Read Also: Kenyans accuse the president of breaking curfew rules
SOURCE: ATLFM ONLINE
