Power, water chiefs say sorry

THE two top men responsible for the country’s water and electricity supply yesterday apologised to the people of Lae for failing to deliver reliable services.
PNG Power Limited (PPL) acting CEO Tony Koiri and PNG Water Board (PWB) CEO Patrick Amini assured domestic consumers and businesses that they were working to rectify the supply crisis crippling the city.
Both Mr Amini and Mr Koiri also assured the Lae community that they were working towards providing long-term solutions to the city’s  supply woes.
They were addressing the Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry at a luncheon at the Lae International Hotel.
Mr Koiri said the city’s power crisis was due to several factors, including unreliable generation units in both the Lae and Ramu systems, equipment failure, lack of maintenance and experienced staff.
“PPL is repairing five power generation units that are currently down to increase the output of power which will increase the total power generation for Lae by another 18 megawatts to a total of 30 megawatts.
“We are also investigating the Ramu hydro-electricity system for a major refurbishment project to commence in February,” he said.
Mr Amini said PWB depended on a reliable electricity system to pump water to consumers as frequent power failures stop the pumps at the Taraka reservoir tanks.
“The other reason for water supply cuts was the result of the bores not being cleaned properly,” he said, adding that the quality of bore water which Lae relied on was good and there was enough water underground to supply the city for many years.
Mr Amini said K10 million had been approved for work to upgrade the water supply system in the
country.