Sharjah, August 28: Sharjah residents were just about getting used to uninterrupted power supply after a five-day dilemma last week when power cuts hit many areas of the city again on Wednesday and Thursday.
However, power supply is expected to be restored by this weekend in all areas of Sharjah.
Maintenance work at the power plant in Sharjah caused a power cut in many areas, including Al Yarmouk, Al Wahda Street, Al Nouf, Maliaha, Al Nahda and the industrial areas 1, 3, 13 and 17.
The University City in Sharjah was also affected by a power cut on Wednesday.
A senior official at Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) said engineers are working to install new equipment and replace some parts to cope with the overload which caused the default in the main power production plant in Sharjah.
“The consumption of power during this summer has been on the increase from 8-10 per cent and the quantity of power will meet such demands,” he said.
The official said that SEWA recently set up six power plants to avoid power cuts in summer. Two plants have a capacity of 3kv each.
The aim of the project is to end the power shortage that was felt in summer due to the rapid development of the real estate sector.
“The plants are in Al Majjaz and Abu Shagara, Al Mirgab, Al Nouf, Al Mahatta and the Khaled sea port,” the SEWA official added.
The launching of this project is part of SEWA’s comprehensive plans which is being executed with an aim to improve and expand the distribution network and the power generation operation systems to meet the demands in summer. SEWA is currently working on general maintenance work in all the power plants and the installed systems to monitor faults. Fazil, a resident of Al Yarmouk area said he had to move to the Al Majaz area to spend the day in his relative’s house, as it was very difficult to stay in his apartment without power while fasting.
“The power in my area was restored last Friday early morning after five days. It went off again on Wednesday at 2:30am. It goes for a few hours and then returns, and it has been going on like till today (Thursday),” said Kamal Ahmed, a resident of Sharjah’s Industrial Area No 1.
–Agencies