Africa-Press – Gambia. National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) Wednesday vowed to get culprits of illegal connection of electricity face full force of the law.
Addressing journalists at a press conference held in Batokunku yesterday, Managing Director of NAWEC Gallo Saidy expressed frustration over the illegal connections at Batokunku. He said NAWEC discovered over 25 illegal electricity connections in Batokunku alone which he described as unlawful and dangerous to public safety.
“NAWEC belongs to everyone and if we fail, the whole country will fail. This kind of activities is not unique to this area alone is across the country. It needs to stop and the only way is to make sure that we don’t allow other people to manipulate the system,” he remarked.
“Some people are taking advantage because they don’t know. This is the problem we are facing. A lot of people complained about low voltage, it is due to this type of connections,” Mr. Saidy added.
According to him, some people have alleged that the matter is internal and if it happens to be a NAWEC staff member or the public they will not negotiate the matter as disciplinary action will be taken.
Saidy disclosed that the damage illegal connections have caused to the institution could not be over emphasized. He appealed to the public to report any illegal connection to the authorities responsible for disciplinary action.
“I urged the people who are involved in this malpractice to stop immediately and follow due procedure to avoid facing the consequences,” he reiterated.
Senior Manager for Transmission and Distribution, Baboucarr Awe says the implication of such connection has negative effects on the network causing series of instabilities which leads to outages and low voltages.
“It impact on our technical losses and that has financial bearing. If you are sending one megawatt of power and all is not consumed due to the loss that is a huge loss to the institution and the country,” he said. He points out that the way illegal connections are done is very dangerous and not standard. He says it can lead to electrocution whereby people can lose their lives.
Other speakers included Senior Human Resource and Admin Manager, Momodou Dampha.
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