Some Pipelines of the Tema Oil Refinery’s (TOR) that have been laid to convey crude oil from the Tema Harbour to the national refinery is dangerously leaking, while others are struggling with rust after several years of being struck by sea breeze from the Atlantic Ocean.
Some of these lines run a few metres away from where the revived aluminum smelter producer, Volta Aluminum Company, is installing its new dust collector to stall environmental pollution. Others, visibly soiled with crude, also run behind the fishing harbour where most traders retail their fishes.
However, this looming danger seems to have escaped the appropriate authorities because the leakage has apparently been covered by over grown bushes that are now almost withered. Though the public may have been restricted from having direct contact with the lines due to a blockade created with wire mesh, the implication here is that, should a spark from a cigarette butt fall into the withering bushes or some saboteur sets a naked flame to the leaking pipe lines; the result could be just disastrous.
The national asset which is already struggling with debt would be blazing from blasts from the crude oil which would invariable, raze TOR into ashes.
Investigations conducted by The Heritage newspaper reveal that liquid waste that flow through drains from the refinery to its final destination contain snippets of oil visibly floating on top of the water.
Sharing the same observation with the paper after an inspection of the aluminum smelter company, the Tema regional fire boss, Gilford Tetteh Adams, contended that the slightest spark of fire particularly that of cigarettes that are common-place among those who conduct daily business at the area, could cause an unprecedented fire outbreak.“The worrying spectacle is that the only security to the pipelines is wire mesh which cuts people from the area. But you have traders retailing close to this wire; what do you think would happen if a spark from their cooking activities fall into the bushes that have crowded the pipelines?” he quipped.
He called on the appropriate authorities at TOR to act swiftly to repair the leaking pipelines and portions that are rusting to avert any calamity at the refinery.
He further proposed that the wire mesh should be replaced with a better fencing system as the site can no longer be considered as a restricted zone given the activities that take place within the harbour. “The site should not be allowed to see weeds, it would be very easy for any individual who has intentions of sabotaging government to carry out his plans,” he warned.