Blackout in Sabah again despite govt promise

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah including Labuan was plunged into darkness earlier today following a statewide blackout at 11am.

Except for Labuan which saw power restored within an hour, the rest of the state is still waiting for electricity, although some areas reported partial supply had resumed.

There has been no official word on the blackout from Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd. But a posting by a SESB staff on social media noted that the team is still trying to locate the cause of blackout.

Businesses in the city and other parts of Sabah has come to a near standstill.

In the city centre police were seen sorting out massive traffic congestions everywhere.

Meanwhile hospitals across the state are relying on generators. State Health director Dr Christina Rundi reportedly said that the generators were activated within 30 minutes of the blackout and the situation was under control.

Seething Sabahans have taken to Facebook to vent their wrath.

Outages are not new to Sabahans especially in the east coast belt.

Barely two months ago Green Technology and Water Minister who is also Kota Marudu MP Maximus Ongkili, had promised that the situation would improve with SESB set to spend RM1.4 billion over the next five years to replace hundreds of kilometers of cables.

The move, he had said was a comprehensive effort to reduce blackouts in the state.

He said SESB was aiming to replace 80% of the distribution uninsulated high tension cable in Sabah with aerial bundles. The current cables were prone to encounter power interruptions when touched by oter objects such as tree branches.

“To strengthen the transmission component w need to complete the loop from Tawau to Keningau to enable additional additional energy to be generated from the Ulu Padas hydro electric station. It is expected to come onstream in 2019, he said.

He said these were among the measures taken to reduce disruptions. -FMT