President Koroma
By Matthew Kanu in Makeni
The northern headquarter town of Makeni has been plunged into darkness for 14 days due to ongoing maintenance work on the hydroelectric plant.
According to the National Power Authority (NPA), the home town of President Ernest Bai Koroma which has been enjoying almost nonstop electricity since 2012, is without electricity at all during the day, while there a night-time rationing.
The NPA Station Head in Makeni, Abdul Musa told Politico that the hydro plant at Bumbuna had had to been shut down for "a major routine and overall maintenance" of the plant turbines. He said only hospitals and other priority areas would be lit up from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM daily while other parts of the town would get one night of electricity and two nights without.
He said the town was normally distributing 2.67 megawatts of electricity it received from the Bumbuna plant while the thermal generator now in use could only supply 1.28 and would need to shut down during the day.
The maintenance started on Sunday 11th May 2014 and will end on 22 May 2014, he said adding that it was "necessary to maintain efficiency of electricity supply".
He said he could understand the concerns of especially the business community and students but stressed that the "annual maintenance" was a priority in electrical engineering.
“We are aware of the fact that We will lose a lot of money throughout the two weeks because of the drop in the supply of electricity. We are aware of the inconveniency to the customers, but we have to exercise some patience to get things done properly" he said.
Residents have already expressed frustration. A businesswoman at the NP Lorry Park, Kadiatu Bassy who runs a bar, said two weeks of a power cut would cost her a lot as she depended on electricity for her living.
She called on government to provide two standby generators so as to supply the entire town.
A student of the Northern Polytechnic, 25-year-old Maseh Conteh said it was "terrible" that she would have to live in blackout for two weeks. "Now our time to study and do assignment is limited" she said, and expressed the hope that the plant maintenance would be completed before the start of the exams.
"We are students and we deserve regular electricity” she complained, before suggesting that that government should increase the number of standby generators to at least two instead of the only one at present.
The coordinator of a civil society organisation Citizens Right Association said the information received by the public from NPA and Bumbuna was scanty. Banato Sesay said NPA had earlier announced that maintenance work would last for a week but later changed to announce that it would go on for two weeks.
He said residents were now used to electricity and could not imagine going for almost two weeks without. He said for days now there were no cold drinks in bars and restaurant. "Two weeks is quite a long time" he said, adding "Things are not going well.”
(C) Politico 15/05/14
