Published on: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 |
Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) Managing Director Ir Baharin Din said based on evidence, the thieves executed their act over three days.
"My assumption is that they could have stolen the metal struts between two and three days by removing the nuts and bolts that holds it to the tower," he told a Press conference at Wisma SESB, Tuesday.
He said SESB personnel discovered 20 steel bars weighing about 10kg each have been removed from the tower when they went to check the site at Kampung Numbak, Suang Parai, Menggatal at 9pm, on Monday night.
The utility company has lodged a report over the vandalism or metal theft.
He said SESB's loss was estimated between RM300,000 and RM500,000 while cost to repair could exceed RM400,000.
However, the economic losses caused by the blackout were higher because many businesses were forced to close early.
Baharin said it would take the company approximately three weeks to install the Emergency Temporary Tower (ETT) while permanent repair works would take four months.
According to him, they had enlisted the assistance of the army regiment to transport the ETT materials to Kota Kinabalu via airfreight where the consignment is expected to reach here by Wednesday.
As to the SESB's contingency plan, he said they would be building an alternative route via underground cable to channel power to a single 66kv cable from Inanam PMU (substation).
"But due to the fragility of the single cable, we will carry out close surveillance of any digging activities in areas spanning Jalan Tuaran, Jalan Kampung Likas, Likas Coastal Road and Jalan UMS until the tower has been repaired," he said.
He also called on members of the public to immediately report any digging activities in the areas concerned by calling at SESB's toll-free number at 15454. Baharin said that when the 132kV line transmission tower collapsed on Monday, the connecting system also collapsed at 6.41pm.
With the exception of Beaufort, Keningau, Tambunan, Tenom, Telupid and Ranau, all areas in West Coast, East Coast and North West Coast and some parts of Labuan were in total darkness.
He said that the power disruption caused line to be tripped and also the same subsequently to all SESB power generation stations and Independent Power Producer (IPP).
As a result, almost 90 per cent of Sabah experienced blackouts when the 500megawatt power generation were disrupted. He said about 300,000 consumers were affected from the incident.
However, he said the power disruptions in Kota Kinabalu areas yesterday were due to breakdown of other system and not related to the collapse of the tower.
Rectifying works were carried out in stages almost immediately after the blackout occurred where power in Sandakan and Tawau were restored at 7.15pm and 7.30pm, respectively.
"Power in almost 90 per cent of the affected areas by 9.51pm has been restored while all areas fully restored by 12.15am," he said.
The SESB's switchboard was practically jammed with callers trying to ascertain the cause of the most severe blackout the State has ever experienced.
Baharin said they estimated about 50,000 calls had been made to its toll-free line on Monday night. "We had this problem before in Sandakan but not as severe because the previous attempt (to steal the metal) was mitigated thanks to public cooperation," he said.
He said the thieves who carted away the 20 metal struts would most likely sell them as scrap metal. As to the possibility of power rationing exercise, he said it would only be carried out to ensure the total system stability.
However, load shedding was not necessary if they could meet demand.
"If load shedding is carried out, it is for a short period only especially during peak hours between 11am-12pm and 3pm-4pm," he said.
