Ethic clash cause of prolonged blackouts in Port Moresby

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Ethic clash cause of prolonged blackouts in Port Moresby

PORT MORESBY: An ethnic clash at Baruni and Hanuabada caused the four-day blackout here last week.

PNG Power acting chief executive officer Obed Batia said the clash prevented workers from attending to fallen transmission lines that caused the outages.

“Workers have now fixed the faults from from feeders at Konedobu and Kanudi sub-stations that caused blackouts in parts of the National Capital District and Central.

The National reported on the blackout woes:

Clash delays NCD repairs

December 22, 2021The NationalMain Stories

AN ethnic clash at Baruni and Hanuabada in the National Capital District (NCD) recently stopped PNG Power Ltd workers from attending to fallen transmission lines which were causing power outages, an official says.
PNG Power acting chief executive officer Obed Batia said workers had now fixed the faults from feeders at the Konedobu and Kanudi sub-stations which caused blackouts in parts of NCD and Central.
State Enterprise Minister William Duma on Monday blamed the blackouts on the aging transmission lines and equipment in the substations.
The bad weather was also blamed for the Konedobu substation “tripping off”.
Areas mostly affected from last weekend to yesterday included Konedobu, Touguba Hill, Koki, Badili, Kaugere, Downtown, Paga Hill, Ela Beach and Lawes Road.
The Kanudi feeder which had been offline since Dec 18 supplied villages in Napanapa, Rainbow Estate and the University of PNG.
Duma described the power supply disruptions “an unfortunate situation faced by city residents”.
“Over the years, we have not been able to invest in new equipment,” Duma said.
He said they were awaiting more funding.
“We have been able to source funding with help from the Asian Development Bank.
“We are expecting the second tranche to come in around Christmas.”
Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Rio Fiocco told The National yesterday that power was one of the biggest concerns for business in the city.
They had to incur extra costs when buying fuel to use generators.
“We hope the Government and PNG Power can find the best solution to one of the country’s key problems right now (and has been for some time),” he said.

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