Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has threatened to slam sanctions on network operators who fail to abide by the agency’s guidelines on the construction of transmission and communication towers.
The agency said it has received complaints from several residents who complained about masts and towers in their neighborhood and expressed fears of exposure to radiation being emitted from them.
The agency added it has also received complaints on the deplorable status of some masts and towers that can collapse anytime, causing severe damage to properties and put lives at risk.
According to Lawrence Kotoe, the agency’s senior programmes officer, EPA will not hesitate to drag defaulting owners of such masts and towers to court.
He said: “The EPA has the mandate to institute court action and impose sanctions on tower and mast operators who failed to abide by the guidelines on the installation of communication towers and masts.”
Speaking on behalf of the National Communications Authority (NCA) the deputy director-general, Albert E Aninful, said members of the public still have negative perceptions of communication and transmission masts and towers.
This he said calls for the attention of stakeholders.
Aninful said: “The negative and wrong perceptions about telecommunications masts and towers are still prevalent in the minds of the public.”
