We'll Complete Work Within 1 Week, Expect Power Supply Soon - TCN To Calabar, A'Ibom Residents

 

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has assured residents of Calabar and its environs and some parts of Akwa Ibom State that power supply would be restored very soon as it is working round the clock to ensure speedy  completion of the ongoing reconstruction of vandalized No.104 Transmission Tower along 330KV Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene transmission line.

Executive Director of Transmission Service Provider, TCN, Engr. Victor Adewumi, speaking yesterday at Oku Iboku, Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, during an inspection tour of the tower, assured that the completion would not take more than one week.

He explained that his team decided to visit the site to assess the progress of work.

He appealed to residents of Cross River and Akwa Ibom states to exercise more patience as they didn’t envisage the repairs would take longer to complete.

Adewumi also revealed that because the weight of the Tower which is on top of the hill is much, they have to be very careful so that they don’t create more problems.

He said: “There were some challenges. For instance we didn’t envisage that the integrity of the foundation was compromised so we had to start from the scratch. It takes time to work on the foundation.

“And we thought cranes will do the job ,to lift up the conductor, unfortunately the boom couldn’t reach the top of the grid. So we went to the normal way of lowering the wire to the tension tower. So we are here to see the progress of work.

“We’re appealing to the people of Cross River and Akwa Ibom states to exercise patience, we’re doing everything within our power to make sure that the Tower is completed soon. The contractor is complaining that they’re putting pressure on him.

“Of course, there is blackout in the whole of Calabar. Everybody is waiting for the grid to come back to normal. But we want to tell the whole world that we are not sleeping”

He however appealed to the general public again to always take ownership of physical infrastructure sited within their domains, by protecting them from vandals.

In the same vein, the Port-Harcourt Regional Transmission Manager, Engr. Daniel Udofia, explained that there were so many challenges that delayed the completion of the vandalized tower.

“There were so many challenges that we faced when we started the work. If you look beyond here, you will see a Swamp and beyond the swamp, there is River.

“While we were trying to shift the Conductors , we took all these things into consideration so that the Conductor does not slip back to the swamp or the river. If this Tower were to be in tact we won’t be here. So any where we have this kind of Infrastructure, let us Protect it”, Udofia said.