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Enugu Insists On Sealing Telecom Mast Stations(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) AS residents in Enugu continue to experience difficulties in the use of their mobile phones following the seal -off of some telecom masts, the state government said yesterday that there was no going back in her bid to seal off over the 350 mast stations belonging to major telecommunication network providers in the state. Enugu said the move was as a result of the inability of the telecommunication providers to settle over N700 million debts they have incurred in the last three years of operating in the state, and their reluctance to dialogue with the government. The state government had last week begun the sealing of the mast stations belonging to MTN, Airtel and Etisalat describing the installation as "illegal" as they were mounted without necessary approvals. The Guardian gathered that the masts scattered all over the state had been a source of exchange of correspondences between the state government through the Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Chukwuemeka Ujam and the affected companies, adding that since February last year in which the matter commenced nothing meaningful had come out of it. Government said it would not rest until it completes the sealing and decommissioning of all the 350 masts scattered across the state. Already sealed are Cell site masts T4682 , T4649, EN 0360 and 0068 among others located at Independence layout, Emene, Trans-Ekulu and other parts of the state. The affected companies however insists that the cell site masts were part of the three years waiver granted to them by the state government to encourage their operations in the state, adding that government's action will "lead to poor network quality and possible loss of network coverage". But Commissioner Ujam, said that the action of the state government is protected under the provision of Section 29, clause (1)-(4) of Nigerian Town and Country Planning Law 1964 and sections 3,4,28 and 30 of the Nigerian Urban Regional Planning Act, Cap. 88 of 1992. Speaking through his Secretary, Obiora Nwankwo, he noted that the affected telecommunication companies had violated the relevant sections of the law by not securing the necessary approvals before constructing the masts and by so doing, disregarded the town planning and urban development policies of the state. The commissioner noted that the act was a clear indication that there was no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before the sites were erected adding that "they've shown total disregard to their host communities and accordingly, all the sites that did not follow the due process of registration will be sealed, decommissioned and their networks shut down until their owners come and do the needful. "They should apply formally and pay the necessary fees. Because of the security implication of embarking on full sealing, we have decided to embark on gradual sealing, picking two sites from each of the companies weekly until all of them are sealed. Copyright The Guardian. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |