KOTA KINABALU: Thousands of consumers in most of the city area were today hit again by another power interruption that lasted several hours, barely a week after four blackouts within six hours on March 27.
Worst hit were the Queen Elizabeth Hospital areas, Kepayan Ridge up to Lido which were also among the places affected by the electricity power cuts last week.
The authorities concerned, particularly the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), has yet to explain what caused the power interruption last week, today consumers and small business had to make do without power for several hours.
The outage comes just days after former deputy chief minister Tham Nyip Shen urged Federal Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Maximus Ongkili to “answer” why this keeps still occurring despite the government spending millions of ringgit on SESB.
“We are still waiting for SESB to tell us why the blackout last week and now another blackout happens,” an angry consumer who operate a coffee shop at Kepayan Ridge told Borneo Insider.
Another shop owner noted that whenever it rained a power outage occurred.
“If it’s not load shedding or maintenance, it is some unforeseen breakdown or some excuse. They just keep making excuses,” said a business operator.
“I was told the current would be back on in one hour. It is now more than three and a half hours,” he said.
In January, a major blackout brought Sabah and Labuan to a near standstill. Businesses then were left in a lurch and many in the tourism industry complained that such incidents were marring efforts to promote the state as a premier destination.
It was the second statewide blackout in 18 months. The first was when an blast at an electricity distribution station in Penampang triggered a series of shutdowns at electricity generation stations from the west coast to east coast and Labuan.
Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the Federal Government allocated RM780 million to upgrade electricity distribution, generation and transmission. For the same purpose under the 10th Malaysian Plan, RM320 million had been set aside.
This year, the government has allocated RM265 million to upgrade the Tenom Pangi hydro station, Kimanis transmission lines and Sandakan main switch station.
During a visit to the SESB last year, Ongkili said that by this year (2014), the electricity generation component would reach up to 385MW plus an upcoming 50MW renewable energy sources which would meet the demand for electricity in the next four years.
Ongkili also disclosed that another hydro station was being planned for Ulu Padas area to further boost power generation. – BI
Borneo Insider
Worst hit were the Queen Elizabeth Hospital areas, Kepayan Ridge up to Lido which were also among the places affected by the electricity power cuts last week.
The authorities concerned, particularly the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), has yet to explain what caused the power interruption last week, today consumers and small business had to make do without power for several hours.
The outage comes just days after former deputy chief minister Tham Nyip Shen urged Federal Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Maximus Ongkili to “answer” why this keeps still occurring despite the government spending millions of ringgit on SESB.
“We are still waiting for SESB to tell us why the blackout last week and now another blackout happens,” an angry consumer who operate a coffee shop at Kepayan Ridge told Borneo Insider.
Another shop owner noted that whenever it rained a power outage occurred.
“If it’s not load shedding or maintenance, it is some unforeseen breakdown or some excuse. They just keep making excuses,” said a business operator.
“I was told the current would be back on in one hour. It is now more than three and a half hours,” he said.
In January, a major blackout brought Sabah and Labuan to a near standstill. Businesses then were left in a lurch and many in the tourism industry complained that such incidents were marring efforts to promote the state as a premier destination.
It was the second statewide blackout in 18 months. The first was when an blast at an electricity distribution station in Penampang triggered a series of shutdowns at electricity generation stations from the west coast to east coast and Labuan.
Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the Federal Government allocated RM780 million to upgrade electricity distribution, generation and transmission. For the same purpose under the 10th Malaysian Plan, RM320 million had been set aside.
This year, the government has allocated RM265 million to upgrade the Tenom Pangi hydro station, Kimanis transmission lines and Sandakan main switch station.
During a visit to the SESB last year, Ongkili said that by this year (2014), the electricity generation component would reach up to 385MW plus an upcoming 50MW renewable energy sources which would meet the demand for electricity in the next four years.
Ongkili also disclosed that another hydro station was being planned for Ulu Padas area to further boost power generation. – BI
Borneo Insider
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