Businesses slam Malahang power cut

By RIGGO NANGAN
THE Malahang industrial centre in Lae had gone on a blink nearly all of yesterday after a power pole fell, resulting in power supply to businesses in the centre being cut.
An irate executive of one of the businesses said if this trend continued, many small to medium businesses would be forced to wind up.
“We are relying heavily on electricity supplied by PNG Power, the only supplier of electricity, for our survival and if this continues, some of us will be forced to close our operations,” the executive said.
It was believed the support line of one of the wooden posts came loose due to the normal wear and tear and caused the line to come off and touched a live wire.
Upon conducting, he said the lines touched and caused conjunction to the supply of electricity and there were power surges.
The executive said the incident occurred at about 8am and by noon a team of PNG power linesmen showed up to assess the situation.
An officer representing the landlord, Industrial Centres Development Corporation, confirmed the incident but said the situation was rectified at about 2pm and businesses resumed.
He said they had more than 100 small and medium to large companies operating within the centre.
He confirmed that the continuous power blackouts had caused some smaller businesses to come to a standstill.
He said the Malahang Industrial Centre, did not have its own generator to supply power to its clients during blackouts.
He said it was the prerogative of each client to have one, adding that everyone at the centre, including the landlord, relied heavily on electricity supplied by PNG Power.