ASSESSMENT OF HIGH TENSION POWER TRANSMISSION LINE IN IGABI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The unprecedented growth in cities in Nigeria, which is most times unguided, had culminated in a variety of
problems such as encroachment of transmission lines right of way. This study assessed the extent of high
tension power transmission line using Geospatial techniques and determined the buildings that are within the
right of way of the high tension power transmission using high resolution satellite images for year 2003, 2011
and 2021 in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The Google Earth map was used to digitize and
identify the buildings within the corridor of high tension power transmission lines in 2003, 2011 and 2021.
Open street map shape files were used to produce the base map and the power transmission lines in the study
area. Thereafter, buffer analysis was performed by using the Proximity Analyst Tools in ArcGIS 10.6 software
to delineate the Right of Way (ROW) of high tension power lines. Google Earth was also used to count all the
buildings that fell within the corridors. The findings revealed that the area extent of the corridor of high
tension power transmission lines in Igabi LGA was 13,014,590 square metres (1,301.459 square hectares). The
total length of the transmission line in the area was 129.41km. Also, the study found that the number of
buildings within the right of way of the high tension power transmission lines in the study area varied from one
settlement to another. The study recommended that aerial surveillance of the high tension power transmission
lines using remote sensing and GIS technologies should be employed by Transmission Company of Nigeria
(TCN) and PHCN for effective development control in the study area.