The management of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has warned the people of Bayelsa not to build houses under the company’s high tension wires.

It also urged the residents to adhere to the regulation stipulating that property developers should maintain a distance of 10 metres from the 35 KVA high tension wires.

The Business Manager of PHCN in Yenagoa, Mr Godwin Orovwiroro, told newsmen in Yenagoa that adherence to the warning would help avert any catastrophe.

He said that the building of shops, offices and residential houses under the high tension cables was not only risky, but also dangerous to lives and property.

Orovwiroro said the company planned to sensitise the public to the need to obey existing regulations.

He used the opportunity to solicit the support of the media in enlightening the public on the need to avoid building under high tension cables.

The manager said: “When people weigh safety, the cost of being alive and what it will cost you if an accident happens, then they will insist on staying away from high tension wires.

“We want the media to help us educate and inform the populace that it is dangerous to build under high tension wire.”

On what caused the blackout in Yenagoa during the Easter, Orovwiroro said that it was due to the cutting off of the sky wire that supplied power from Owerri to Yenagoa.

He said it took the assistance of an helicopter to detect the cause because the towers of the line passed through thick forest and creeks.

The manager, however, noted that electricity supply had been restored.

Businessmen and women in Yenagoa suffered untold hardship during the one-week power outage during the Easter period.

They recorded increased operating costs and dwindling production, as they spent a lot of money on the purchase of petrol and diesel to run their generating plants.