City Power steps up its security through technological advancements
Whenever there is load-shedding, the City Power network is damaged.
A member of the mayoral committee for environment and infrastructure services in the City of Johannesburg, Clr Jack Sekwaila, has secured about R9m to help City Power urgently deal with power supply interruptions.
City Power has announced plans to roll out new and improved security measures to deal with rampant cable theft and vandalism. It plans to remove the underground network and replace it with an overhead line, which is harder to steal.
The project will commence in a few weeks.
“A tender has already gone out, and we plan to deploy the new security plan, which includes technology, by April,” said City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava.
Part of the short-term interventions they plan to roll out include clearing the shrubs where City Power cables run for increased visibility and revamping streetlights, most of them vandalised.
Mashava said the network difficulties include the increased load-shedding that makes the underground power copper cables prone to theft because criminals can easily hide in the bushes.
“We didn’t build our infrastructure for load-shedding. So every time we have load-shedding, parts of our network are damaged. Criminals also take advantage of load-shedding to steal and damage infrastructure which is key in delivering power supply,” she said.
Mashava said that to ensure a budget for maintenance and planned projects is available, customers should continue paying for their electricity services.
“We have made budgets available for City Power to embark on some of these projects to ensure a lasting solution to the power challenges. We will get it right,” said Sekwaila.
