WATCH: Overhead lines is the future in curbing cable theft

Low-value aluminium conductors will replace the underground cable to lessen theft in Naturena and Eikenhof area.

The MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Jack Sekwaila and the CEO of City Power Tshifularo Mashava gave a progress report on the project launched on March 12 during a community meeting with residents of Naturena.

Ward 119 Clr Thobile Zondo was also in attendance.

Mashava said this project would go a long way in curbing cable theft.

“That’s why, despite the limited resources, City Power insisted on expediting this project. City Power loses over R4b across the city from cable theft and vandalism every year. About R2.9m was lost in Eikenhof alone this financial year, which cannot be tolerated.

“We would like to thank the partnership with the councillor and the community. We assure the community of Naturena that we are not going to allow criminals to steal electricity from them. In this spot, the underground cables were stolen regularly. The painful part is that they will steal it within hours of replacing it.

“Our engineers were hard at work to source solutions to deter criminals from stealing our infrastructure and robbing our customers of electricity. The solution became these new overhead lines. We believe this will be more difficult to steal and it doesn’t carry the value that criminals are looking for in terms of copper.”

Sekwaila said they allocated R9.5m for this project, expected to go live in April. The project has created employment for 10 residents.

“We are excited about the progress made in this project, which helps us in ensuring we fulfil our mandate to provide an uninterrupted power supply.

“Recently we have been experiencing a lot of challenges in the provision of electricity to our residents. We will have a meeting with Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramakgopa, to determine how the national government can assist us in our efforts to provide residents of Johannesburg with an uninterrupted supply of electricity,” he said.

Zondo thanked City Power for fast-tracking the installation of the overhead lines. “We are pleased with the response we received from City Power when residents of Naturena raised their concerns about frequent power interruptions. Cable theft is cancer among us.

“We have already completed the installation of concrete poles and the stringing of conductors are in an advanced stage. We expect the testing and commissioning of the project to be done in early April in the build-up to the switching on.

“The ultimate goal of this project is to ensure that City Power reduces network interruptions in Naturena and heads towards a more stable and reliable overhead system.”