Joburg CBD power woes continue as burst pipe delays repair work
City Power says the restoration of power in the eastern parts of Johannesburg CBD has suffered a setback after a sewerage pipe burst underground on Thursday evening.
The repairs come after a fire ravaged the underground tunnels earlier this week, plunging most of the CBD into darkness.
“There was a little snag last night when sewerage pipe burst and flooded the tunnel. Joburg Water was called and managed to fix the pipe before midnight,” says City Power’s spokesperson Isaac Mangena
“Work continued and by this morning all the rubble from underground was removed.”
Mangena says the mop-up operations and the recovery of damaged equipment and cables in the underground tunnels along Ntemi Pilso Street are taking longer than anticipated.
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“We are currently on sight and there's still heaps and heaps of rubble that still need to be brought to the surface including the bent cables.
“As such, we're not able to finish repairs on time and restore electricity to the remaining affected customers as promised, especially those in Selby village deep Wermer, Westgate, New Central and even part of the CBD streets that includes Ntemi Pilso, Anderson, Marshal, Main, and Commissioner.”
Mangena says while Andersson Street distributor tested clear and is ready to be switched on, they cannot do that as it will not be safe for their technicians.
“We are not able to do that for safety reasons as it runs underground in the underground tunnels along with where the fire actually happened, and the teams are currently busy, so it won't be safe for them with a live cable
