Ghana National Gas Company is considering using drones to monitor its gas pipelines amid concerns about encroachment by illegal miners, its chief executive, Judith Adjobah-Blay, said on Thursday.
“We are exploring the technology of using drones to monitor our pipelines. We are going hi-tech,” she told parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, where she appeared alongside company officials.
Adjobah-Blay said most of the company’s pipelines were buried underground and unmarked, leaving them vulnerable to excavation by illegal miners.
“Because they are not marked, illegal miners can go and dig around them and endanger their lives,” she said.
The company has begun a procurement process to select a contractor to mark pipeline routes with identifiable features, including signs, trees and concrete pillars, to deter digging near the infrastructure, she said.
Ghana Gas has also stepped-up engagement with communities along its pipeline routes to explain the dangers of encroachment and mining near high-pressure gas pipelines.
Adjobah-Blay cautioned residents in the company’s operational areas against encroaching on the infrastructure.
Illegal mining is commonly known in Ghana as galamsey.
Ghana Gas supplies natural gas for power generation, meets about 40% of domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) demand and operates a 600-kilometre pipeline network.
Mark Prempeh, Director of Petroleum at the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, told the committee that the ministry had established a Gas Infrastructure Protection Committee to develop a comprehensive policy to protect the country’s gas pipeline infrastructure, which spans more than 600 kilometres.
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