By: Natasha Archary
It could take up to 5-days to fully restore power to those areas affected by the underground fire in Joburg CBD.
This according to City Power who were on Tuesday given the green light to enter the tunnels and assess the extent of the damage.
On Monday, EMS responded to the fire which broke out under the city, with extraction equipment required to expunge all the smoke.
While there is no indication at present as to what caused the fire, City Power officials say an investigation will take place.
The Johannesburg Central District remains in the dark after two main lines were tripped as a result of the blaze.
City Power’s Isaac Mangena said the costs of the damages need to be factored into their repair plans.
“We are basically left with the street around Standard Bank because the distributor around Standard Bank was still outstanding. That is what we are going to do, but the other customers that are east of the CBD, that is Wemmer Pan and Booysens, and Selby areas, will remain off until we have managed to access that area and are able to do the repairs. We are looking at five days to do this.”
City Power’s Isaac Mangena
Some streets in the CBD remain closed to allow officials to conduct the assessments and repairs.
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