Areas affected by M1 tunnel fire could still be in the dark ‘for a while’
City Power will on Monday continue to clear the rubble in the tunnels where a fire destroyed the utility's power electricity infrastructure.
This comes after an underground fire broke out in one of the tunnels underneath the M1 on Wednesday, which plunged several nearby areas into darkness.
City Power teams are removing the fragments of cement slab that cracked and peeled off due to the heat from the flames, along with burnt cables and other forms of debris that have piled up on the tunnel’s surface.
Utility spokesperson Isaac Mangena says that the team will start preparing to lay new cables after cleaning up.
"On Saturday, the team managed to complete the tunnel inspection. During that process, they discovered that 300 meters of copper cable had been cut and stolen, proving that tampering was the cause of the flames."
"Unfortunately, our back-feeding efforts could not cover all affected customers, but only a few. There are no alternative methods available to provide supply to the affected customers as the city does not have the capacity of generators to power all the affected suburbs.
"However, this will take a while. As soon as the rubble removal process is complete, City Power will advise customers on how long it could possibly take to restore power supply."
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