Statutory record search
Ask every undertaker with assets in the reserve — ECG or NEDCo, GRIDCo, Ghana Water, CWSA, GNGC, BOST, MTN, Telecel, AT, CSquared, NITA, the Assembly — what they hold, and record what each one actually returns.
Ghana buried utility intelligence / Capability 06
Subsurface Ghana™
Know what is buried before the first cut.
Utility mapping, ground-penetrating radar and excavation risk analysis for safer, faster delivery beneath congested ground.
DecisionDig · hold · re-route
ControlProof before the first cut
CoverageAll 16 Ghana regions
Buried utility layer / Ghana Live
Record · detect · expose
Undertaker / depth band / quality level / strike risk
Operating model
The ground keeps
no record of itself.
Ghana's road reserves have been opened, re-laid and resurfaced by successive undertakers for decades, each holding its own drawing and none holding the others'. Subsurface Ghana™ reconstructs that reserve — from records, from physics, and from exposure — before a machine finds it the expensive way.
Site reconnaissance
Walk the route. Covers, valve boxes, poles, markers, reinstatement scars and drop-kerb crossings correlate the record to the ground and expose services nobody has a drawing for. PAS 128 QL-C.
Geophysical detection
Electromagnetic locating for cable and metallic main, radar for plastic and concrete, acoustic for pressurised water, CCTV for gravity systems, magnetometry for abandoned iron. Method chosen by what the asset is made of, not by what is in the van. QL-B.
Exposure and proof
Vacuum or hand-dug trial holes on the high-consequence crossings and the unresolved anomalies, each one surveyed for position and level. QL-A is the only record that ends an argument.
Safe-dig plan
Hand-dig exclusion zones, permit-to-dig, pre-dig sweep at the face, undertaker standby, isolation contacts and the sequence in which the ground may be opened.
As-built return
Everything exposed is captured to coordinates and returned to the undertaker and the Assembly. Each project should leave the reserve better recorded than it found it.
Survey quality levels · PAS 128
“We surveyed it”
is not a quality level.
Records only
What the undertakers hold, plotted. Establishes that a service exists. Says nothing reliable about where it is.
Records correlated to site
Surface features walked and matched to the record. Cheap, fast, and it routinely finds services no drawing shows.
Geophysically detected
Located by radar, locator, acoustic or magnetometer, with plan position and — at the higher sub-levels — depth. Still an interpretation.
Exposed and levelled
Physically uncovered by vacuum or hand excavation and surveyed. The only level that is evidence rather than opinion.
Why the ground decides the method
A locator finds cable and steel main and reports clear ground over a plastic water main — the asset most often struck in Ghanaian street works. Radar sees plastic and concrete, but lateritic clay absorbs the signal within about a metre and reinforced concrete slabs hide everything beneath them. The desk computes what each method can reach in your stated ground, at your stated depth, and tells you where only a trial hole will do.
Service boundary
Subsurface Ghana™ establishes and evidences what is buried, and specifies the safe-dig plan. Isolation and switching remain with ECG, NEDCo, GRIDCo, Ghana Water, GNGC, BOST and the licensed telecom operators; street works consent remains with the Assembly under the Local Governance Act 936 and with the Department of Urban Roads, Department of Feeder Roads or the Ghana Highway Authority; excavation remains the responsibility of the contractor and its supervising engineer.
Subsurface Ghana™ excavation desk / Ghana
Know what is buried.
Before the first cut.
Excavation readiness7/ 100 · Not cleared
Strike probability69%
Survey quality achievedNone
Runs located0%
Trial holes required15
01 / The excavation
What is being opened, where, how deep and with what
Street works in an urban carriageway or footway: The most congested environment in Ghana. Successive undertakers have laid services in the same reserve without a shared record, so density is high and depth is inconsistent.
Mechanical excavator, open cut: A 20-tonne machine gives no warning. Every strike statistic in street works is dominated by machine excavation into unlocated services.
Weathered quartzite and phyllite (Togo Structural Unit, Greater Accra): Shallow rockhead forces services into a narrow depth band, which concentrates congestion and makes depth assumptions dangerous.
Radar reach here: about 1.98 m, after asphalt carriageway coupling. Anything below that depth cannot be cleared by radar and needs exposure.
02 / Services in the ground
Undertaker by undertaker: what is believed present, what is proven
QL-C
ECG / NEDCo · typical cover 0.8–1.2 m · electromagnetically traceable
If struck: Arc flash and electrocution. A struck 11kV cable is a fatality risk to the operator and anyone standing in the excavation, and takes out supply to a whole feeder.
Clearance required: ECG district engineer wayleave and a supervised switching or de-energisation plan before any mechanical excavation within the cable corridor.
Detection performance for this service in weathered quartzite and phyllite is 12% — trial holes, not more survey, close this gap.
None
Ghana Water Limited / CWSA · typical cover 0.6–1.2 m · non-conductive — invisible to a locator
If struck: Local supply loss and contamination ingress. HDPE and PVC mains are invisible to an electromagnetic locator and are the single most struck asset class in Ghanaian street works.
Clearance required: District office notification; where the main is plastic and untraced, trial holes rather than detection are the only defensible clearance.
Water distribution main and service connections is non-conductive — no method selected can detect it. An electromagnetic locator will report clear ground over a live main.
QL-C
MTN · Telecel · AT · CSquared · NITA · typical cover 0.7–1.4 m · non-conductive — invisible to a locator
If struck: Loss of mobile money, banking, government and enterprise connectivity across the served area, with service-level damages recoverable from the excavator.
Clearance required: Operator standby escort under National Communications Authority licence conditions, and a written route confirmation before the machine arrives.
Fibre optic backbone and metro cable is non-conductive — no method selected can detect it. An electromagnetic locator will report clear ground over a live main.
03 / Detection campaign
What you are using to find them
04 / Permits and safe-dig controls
What has to be in force before the ground opens
Evidence basis
No undertaker record drawings, detection datasets, trial-hole records or permits are on file for this region yet. Everything here is asserted rather than evidenced. Upload them in the data studio and this clearance scores from the documents instead.
05 / Service-by-service position
Where the ground is proven, and where it is a guess
ECG / NEDCoQL-C · Record correlated to site features
Medium-voltage distribution cable (11kV / 33kV)
2 runs believed present · 0 located · 0 exposed · record: schematic / not-to-scale undertaker drawing, 12 years old.
Detectability12%
Strike chance26%
Risk26/100
Detection performance for this service in weathered quartzite and phyllite is 12% — trial holes, not more survey, close this gap.
Ghana Water Limited / CWSANone · No record, no detection
Water distribution main and service connections
3 runs believed present · 0 located · 0 exposed · record: no record obtained.
Detectability11%
Strike chance42%
Risk33/100
Water distribution main and service connections is non-conductive — no method selected can detect it. An electromagnetic locator will report clear ground over a live main.
MTN · Telecel · AT · CSquared · NITAQL-C · Record correlated to site features
Fibre optic backbone and metro cable
2 runs believed present · 0 located · 0 exposed · record: schematic / not-to-scale undertaker drawing, 5 years old.
Detectability13%
Strike chance28%
Risk27/100
Fibre optic backbone and metro cable is non-conductive — no method selected can detect it. An electromagnetic locator will report clear ground over a live main.
06 / Clearance evidence pack
What an undertaker, an insurer or a coroner will ask for
Undertaker record search responses from every asset owner in the reserveOutstanding
Site reconnaissance correlating records to surface features (QL-C)In place
Geophysical detection drawing with method, coverage and confidence (QL-B)Outstanding
Trial-hole register with surveyed position and level per exposure (QL-A)Outstanding
Detection model tied to survey control on the national gridOutstanding
Written undertaker clearances and standby arrangementsOutstanding
MMDA and road authority permits in forceOutstanding
Permit-to-dig procedure, safe-dig zones and pre-dig sweep recordOutstanding
Emergency isolation contacts and incident procedure on siteOutstanding
As-built capture and return commitment for services exposedOutstanding
07 / Safe-dig action register
Close these before the machine reaches the face
Priority 01
Obtain written clearance from every affected undertaker before mobilising
A verbal assurance from a district office is not a clearance. Each undertaker must confirm its assets in the works area, its standby requirement and the conditions under which excavation may proceed.
Priority 02
Secure the MMDA street works or development permit
Opening a public reserve without the Assembly's consent is an offence under the Local Governance Act 936 (2016), exposes the promoter to stop-work and reinstatement orders, and undermines any insurance claim following a strike.
Priority 03
Obtain road-reserve consent from the responsible road authority
Department of Urban Roads inside a Metropolitan or Municipal area, Department of Feeder Roads on rural networks, and the Ghana Highway Authority on trunk roads. Consent carries the traffic management and reinstatement standard the works will be judged against.
Priority 04
Locate and expose the medium-voltage distribution cable (11kv / 33kv) before any mechanical excavation
2 runs believed present are unlocated. Arc flash and electrocution. A struck 11kV cable is a fatality risk to the operator and anyone standing in the excavation, and takes out supply to a whole feeder. ECG district engineer wayleave and a supervised switching or de-energisation plan before any mechanical excavation within the cable corridor.
Priority 05
Locate and expose the fibre optic backbone and metro cable before any mechanical excavation
2 runs believed present are unlocated. Loss of mobile money, banking, government and enterprise connectivity across the served area, with service-level damages recoverable from the excavator. Operator standby escort under National Communications Authority licence conditions, and a written route confirmation before the machine arrives.
Priority 06
Add a detection method that can actually see the water distribution main and service connections
This service is non-conductive, so an electromagnetic locator reports clear ground over a live asset. Radar reaches about 1.98 m in this ground and surface, against a typical burial depth of 0.6–1.2 m. Where radar cannot reach the depth band, trial holes on a spacing are the only defensible clearance.
Priority 07
Add a detection method that can actually see the fibre optic backbone and metro cable
This service is non-conductive, so an electromagnetic locator reports clear ground over a live asset. Radar reaches about 1.98 m in this ground and surface, against a typical burial depth of 0.7–1.4 m. Where radar cannot reach the depth band, trial holes on a spacing are the only defensible clearance.
Priority 08
Commission a ground-penetrating radar sweep on a survey grid
Plastic water main, ducted fibre and concrete sewer are invisible to a locator. In weathered quartzite and phyllite beneath asphalt carriageway, expect useful penetration to about 1.98 m — plan the trial-hole programme for everything below that.
Priority 09
Programme 15 trial holes to convert detection into evidence
PAS 128 QL-A — an exposed service with a surveyed position and level — is the only record an insurer, an undertaker or a court treats as conclusive. Vacuum or hand excavation on every high-consequence crossing, every unresolved anomaly and at proving intervals along the route.
Priority 10
Tie the detection survey to permanent survey control
Paint marks wash off in the first rain and the setting-out cannot be re-established when the excavator arrives weeks later. Fix the utility model to the Ghana national grid through the Survey and Mapping Division framework and set out from coordinates.
Priority 11
Sweep with a locator at the face immediately before every dig
A survey completed weeks ago does not cover a service connection laid since. A pre-dig sweep by a competent operator, recorded on the permit, is the last defence before the bucket goes in.
Priority 12
Define and enforce hand-dig exclusion zones around located services
Mechanical excavation prohibited within 0.5 m either side of every marked service, and within the full easement of gas, fuel and transmission corridors. The zone must be marked on the ground, not only on the drawing.
Priority 13
Operate a permit-to-dig with a named authoriser
No ground opened without a signed permit referencing the detection drawing, the trial-hole record, the safe-dig zones and the undertaker clearances in force that day.
Priority 14
Arrange undertaker standby for the high-consequence assets present
Transmission, gas, petroleum product and fibre backbone works require the asset owner's representative on site with the ability to isolate. The cost of standby is a small fraction of a single strike on these assets.
Priority 15
Use a qualified utility surveyor for detection and interpretation
Detection is interpretation, not equipment operation. Made ground, abandoned ducts and reinforcement all produce convincing false targets; an untrained operator produces marks on the road, not evidence anyone can rely on.
Priority 16
Hold an isolation and emergency contact register at the works
Named contacts and out-of-hours numbers for every undertaker, the Assembly and the Ghana National Fire Service, held on site. After a strike the first ten minutes decide whether it is an incident or a disaster.
Priority 17
Record and return an as-built of everything exposed
Every excavation is a free survey of the reserve. Capturing exposed services to coordinates and returning the record to the undertaker and the Assembly is the only mechanism that ever improves the national record.
Priority 18
Confirm utility-damage cover is in force for the consequential loss, not just the repair
A fibre backbone strike carries service-level damages from the operator's own customers; a gas or fuel line carries environmental liability. Repair cost is usually the smallest part of the claim.
Design stage / the chain
Nothing here
stands alone.
Subsurface Ghana™ answers “What is buried beneath the dig?”. It produces the PAS 128 utility model and safe-dig plan — and that record is exactly what the next desk refuses to work without.
06 / now
Subsurface Ghana™
Utility mapping, ground-penetrating radar and excavation risk analysis for safer, faster delivery beneath congested ground.
UtilitiesVoid detectionGPR survey
Connected intelligence
Evidence, research
and access.
The public evidence library and licensing catalogue stay connected to this capability. New published material appears here automatically.
From analysis to site
Brief one decision.
We resolve the ground.
Submit the clearance case for undertaker record searches, geophysical detection, trial-hole proving and the safe-dig plan. We return the detection programme, the trial-hole schedule, the permits and standby required, and the quality level each service will be evidenced to.