The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GTC) has described as worrying the destruction of its underground high-speed fibre cables by road contractors.

The group noted that some road contractors willfully cut these cables without consulting them, and in some situations, the illegal activities of private citizens and assemblies in reserved road areas where some of these cables have been laid.

Speaking at a press briefing, GTC’s President, Kenneth Ashigbey, who also doubles as the chair of the National Engineering Coordinating Team, says the telcos spent $6 million on repairing these damaged cables.

“A lot of the poor quality service that you get it is because somebody has damaged some fibre. And it is not only the Telcos that are bearing the brunt of such activities.

"In Kumasi, some four kilometres of Ghana's Water pipeline was destroyed. If you speak to Ghana Electricity Company, they will tell you the same.

“Reservation lands have been encroached. So as a country we keep on spending money in the same places instead of extending it. So the indiscipline in Ghana has to stop,” he said on Wednesday.

The National Engineering Coordinating Team also espoused some challenges with assemblies who rezone reserved road areas.

NECT says it is a major challenge for the future development of major roads and utility lines in the Country.

“The major challenge with the assemblies is the issue of rezoning road reservations and also allowing encroachment into the reservation, to the extent that the utilities are forced to either compensate encroachers or move into the road carriage itself.

“But when there is an extension of the road, then we have to relocate at the cost, and all of that is at a great expense to this country,” he stressed.