EPA PUTS FREEZE ON ERECTION OF MASTS (P.14)

THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has frozen the erection of telecommunication, radio and Internet masts within the Accra metropolis.
The move is to enable the EPA to take a second look at the installations, following recent public outcry against their mushrooming in the metropolis and other parts of the country.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the EPA, Mr William Abaidoo, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, said a technical committee constituted by representatives of all partners in the telecommunication industry had been set up to work towards addressing the problem.
Among other recommendations, the committee is expected to propose modalities for the erection of masts within the metropolis and other parts of the country.
In recent times, there have been increasing public concerns over the installation of masts in various parts of the country, particularly within residential areas.
Residents of McCarthy Hill in Accra and Kitase in the Akuapem South District have, on separate occasions, protested against the plethora of masts erected in their vicinity, claiming that the siting of the masts close to their houses poses a greater danger to life and property.
Their fear is also borne out of speculations that radiation emissions from the masts could cause breast cancer, brain tumour, low sperm count and other diseases, although experts like Dr E. Amamoo-Otchere, the just-retired Executive Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services of the University of Ghana, have dismissed such claims as having no scientific basis.
Mr Abaidoo corroborated Dr Amamoo-Otchere’s assertion, saying that there was no scientific proof that radiation emissions from masts could cause diseases.
He said radiation emissions from masts were negligible and so they could not cause any health problems, as some people had misconstrued.
“But that does not mean we have to sit down. If the people are raising eyebrows, we must sit up and do something about it,” he said.
According to Mr Abaidoo, some people were not so much concerned about the radiation emissions as they were about the imposing frame of the masts which they feared might fall during storms and cause harm to life and property.
On the procedure for granting permits to telecommunication operators for the installation of masts, he said it was based on applications by the operators and their satisfying all the requirements, such as permits from the National Communication Authority (NCA) and adequate consultation with residents of the area where the mast was to be sited.
Mr Abaidoo made it clear that the EPA did not have anything to do with the location of masts in residential areas, in view of the fact that land in those areas were freeholds.