Power, water cuts in central areas

Parts of central Malta were yesterday left without electricity or water due to damage in a principal 33kV cable which runs underground from the Marsa power station to the distribution centre in Paceville.

Enemalta said a fault developed at 7.40 a.m. affecting the power supply in parts of Paceville, St Andrew's, Swieqi, Bahar ic-Caghaq, San Gwann, St Julian's and Pembroke.

As a consequence, the reverse osmosis plant in Pembroke came to a standstill, cutting the water supply in over 24 localities around the central harbour area.

Some of the area had the power supply restored a few hours after the incident, but Enemalta warned that it was highly likely that the supply would once again be suspended due to necessary repair works.

The news comes just two weeks after the whole of Malta and Gozo experienced four hours without electricity when a transformer at the Marsa station tripped due to high temperatures, setting off a chain of events that led to a shutdown of both power stations.

Corporation chairman Robert Ghirlando said when contacted yesterday that employees were working round the clock in an attempt to localise exactly where the fault had developed.

"Since the cable is all underground it is very hard to find the fault. We cannot just start to dig up the road before we find the exact place where the fault developed," Prof. Ghirlando said.

"The first thing we did was send our people to walk along the entire route of the cable from Marsa to Paceville, carrying out tests which could give us an indication of the position of the fault," he said.

"We do not know what caused the damage. We are doing our utmost to repair the damage as soon as possible.

"Since the tests we carry out are not visible to the public eye, people think we are not doing anything. They want to see action, but we are working hard," he said.

"Once we have localised the fault, the power supply should be fully restored four hours later," he said.

However, Prof. Ghirlando could not give an exact time or even an indication of when the power supply could be restored. He explained that it could take anything from a few hours to a day or two.

"A couple of years ago, it had taken us two days to localise a fault in Sliema. Trying to find the damage takes time and sometimes it's a matter of luck," he said.

Until yesterday evening Enemalta employees were still working to find the fault and monitoring the load, so they could restore power to some localities where possible.

The Water Services Corporation issued a statement listing the localities which had been affected due to this fault.

They include: Valletta; Floriana; Qormi; parts of Hamrun, Marsa, Gwardamangia, Pietà and Msida; Ta' Xbiex; Tal-Qroqq; Gzira; Ibragg; Sliema; Ta' Giorni; St Julian's; Paceville; San Gorg; San Gwann, including taz-Zwejt and the industrial estate; St Andrew's; Kappara; Swieqi; Pembroke; Tigne' and parts of Birkirkara including Swatar, tal-Qattus, ta' Paris and the Birkirkara Bypass.

Meanwhile, High Ridge and Madliena residents complained bitterly that their area had been without water supply since Sunday morning.

"We are at our wits' end," one said. "Every day they tell us that the supply will be restored by the evening, and we still have no water. The bowser service is not coping with the demand."

A WSC spokesman said the lack of supply there had been due to the Naxxar reservoir pumps being out of order, but they had now been fixed. He said the area was now among those affected by the damaged power cable, and its supply should be restored along with the rest.

In a separate incident on Tuesday night, six Enemalta substations tripped due to a fault in the internal electrical installation of the Corinthia Palace Hotel in Attard. This incident left parts of Balzan, Birkirkara and Lija without electricity between 9.40 and 11.58 p.m. on Tuesday night.

In a statement, Enemalta said the fault in the hotel's main circuit breaker should have never spread to the external public high voltage system.

It explained that usually such faults were contained within the internal electrical system.

Enemalta Corporation informed the hotel of the consequences of this malfunction and asked it to investigate the fault.

Enemalta was also asking the hotel for information on its electrical protection systems in order to avoid any possible future interruptions.