Electricity woes continue in Kloofsig and Lyttelton when cable explodes
“We have had a lot of issues over the years with cables and cable thefts which is causing a lot of frustration and load-shedding is making the problem even worse,” a resident says.
Lyttelton and Kloofsig residents were plunged into darkness for three days last week when an electric cable burst into flames on Amkor Road.
According to ward councillor David Farquharson, the problem started last year when the Kloofsig substation burned down on December 22.
“Power was rerouted through the Barnard Park substation.
“Unfortunately, Barnard Park is not handling the load as it should.
“It has weeks of stability and then fails,” Farquharson said.
“The national load-shedding is measurably degrading the city’s electrical infrastructure.
“The ward councillors in the area have identified what needs to be done to stabilise the power through Barnard Park and how much it will cost.
“They have been pushing to get the substation prioritised and funds allocated,” he said.
“Members of the community have assisted in putting pressure on the metro by e-mailing their comments to the integrated development plan (IDP) committee and asking for the upgrades at IDP meetings,” said Farquharson.
Resident Madia Janse van Rensburg witnessed the cable exploding.
“We heard these loud noises outside.
“At that stage, the power was on and then all of a sudden there was a loud explosion.
“We saw the cable hanging in the air and almost touching the road and the cable was burning,” Janse van Rensburg said.
“Luckily the fire department reacted quickly and no further damage was done.
“We have had a lot of issues over the years with cables and cable thefts which is causing a lot of frustration and load-shedding is making the problem even worse,” she said.
Farquharson said a lot of work will have to be done to implement a permanent solution to the power outages in these two areas.
He said the plan of action is a large scale four-phased plan.
“Phase one will be to get the power switched on in the whole area to see if the load will hold while phases two and three are being attended to.
“This will be attempted as soon as the load stabilises.
“Phase two will involve getting a new T3 unit into the substation.
“This unit will enable the metro to bring in an additional feeder cable from the Lyttelton substation.
“The switch to the additional cable will happen during the night and should be completed by tomorrow morning,” Farquharson said.
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