Power supply

The Witness: "Power supply"
Power supply
19 May 2009


THE ongoing woes of city residents, afflicted by failure after failure in their electricity supply, is, one hopes, not a foretaste of wider breakdowns.

While a shortage of electricians is a widespread phenomenon following the collapse of the old apprenticeship sytem, consumers are unlikely to buy the excuse that the current administration inherited a “poorly maintained network”. The network was not “always poorly maintained”. It is now, that crisis management has become a substitute for routine maintenance and upgrading.

The city fathers and senior municipal management cannot escape censure for the current parlous state of the electicity network. A regular and reliable supply of electricity is the very lifeblood of the city and must be prioritised as such. What shall it profit to build new roads here or new houses there if the entire municipal economy collapses due to the lack of electricity?

One cannot operate on good intentions. What is needed is good management and the maintenance of the electricity supply, whatever it might cost in terms of new equipment or paying competitive salaries to acquire good staff.

The Editor
The Witness