The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says it has completed the reconstruction of  the vandalised transmission Tower 104 on Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene 330kv double-circuit line in Akwa Ibom.

TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, stated in Abuja on Wednesday that work was on-going to fortify other towers minimally vandalised along the same line route.

“This is to enable the restringing and tensioning of the 330kv transmission line before it is energised,’’ she stated.

She added that Mr Victor Adewumi, Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider (TSP) at TCN visited the site of the vandalism at Oku Iboku community to assess the level of repairs done.

Mbah quoted Adewunmi as saying that the tower had been reconstructed and work had reached an advanced stage after three weeks, in spite of the difficult terrain.

“The tower has been fully reconstructed; restringing has to be done with the utmost care after other towers that were also tampered with have been fortified.

“We are doing everything possible to reconnect the line to the national grid,’’ Adewunmi also said.

He explained that the collapsed tower was not the only one vandalised and that restringing the transmission line would involve the taking down of the 330kv line on some suspension towers that were minimally vandalised.

He said repairs were also carried out on the nearest tension towers on both sides of the collapsed tower by fortifying the suspension towers before restringing the lines to ensure that qualitative work is done.

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According to him, the work has reached 70 per cent completion and the TCN is working hard to ensure that the line is completed and reconnected to the national grid in one week.

“This is to ensure the evacuation of more than 400mw of stranded power at the Odukpani Power Plant near Calabar as well as the restoration of power supply to Cross River,’’

Adewumi appealed to the public to help the TCN in the fight against the vandalism of power infrastructure saying such vandalism was detrimental to Nigerians and to the expansion of power infrastructure.

He also assured residents of Cross River and parts of Akwa Ibom affected by the vandalism that the TCN was fast-tracking the completion and restoration process.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the vandalism of the transmission tower at the Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene 330kv double circuit facility led to the collapse of the National grid in April.

(NAN)