Team in place to deal with power problems

PUBLIC Enterprise and State Investments Minister William Duma says the Government has a team looking into ageing transmission lines and infrastructure affecting power generation capacity in the country.
Eastern Highlands Governor Peter Numu had raised the concern over the unreliable supply of electricity to the Highlands provinces.
Duma said the Yonki hydro was designed and installed in the early 1970s and meant for a population of less than a million. But the population has increased significantly with business activities.
He said the need for electricity supply far outweighed the generation capacity.
“There is an apparent failure by the Government as well as the board and management of PNG Power Limited for not investing to improve electricity generation and transmission capacity to cater for this increasing need for power,” Duma said.
He said people were encountering continuous blackouts on almost a daily basis in the Highlands region and Morobe because transmission lines and power generation turbines and infrastructure were old.
“The capacity of generators that are producing power are actually aged and there are numerous plans by PPL to rehabilitate this important infrastructure and introduce new turbines. But due to lack of finance, it has not been attended to.”
Duma said the prime minister wanted to make it a priority.
“We have assembled a team to work on it and put aside some money in the annual budget to PPL to rehabilitate the Yonki hydro system. That includes the rehabilitation of transmission lines, increasing the capacity of power generation and replacing the turbines that are operating,” Duma said.