The Kingdom has stepped up efforts to ensure that public complaints over power outages are dealt with quickly and efficiently and that power is restored as soon as possible.
Minister of Works and Head of the Water and Electricity Authority (EWA) Fahmi bin Ali Al Jowder stated yesterday that the authority is to double the number of phones at its call centre in order to be able to receive more complaints.
In addition to this, EWA will set up a greater number of emergency teams which will be dispatched to the Kingdom's five governorates to repair any faults to the electricity network. More contractors will also be hired to fix electric faults in ground cables.
"Such problems are hard to detect and require more time to fix as they affect the low-voltage 400 volt-distribution network," Al Jowder explained.
He added that 20 power generators have been leased by the authority and will be added to the current 77 generators in use to provide power in cases of extended outages.
These measures are being implemented by the authority following directives by Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa instructing the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Municipalities and Agriculture to ensure that complaints by the public are dealt with in a prompt and effective manner and that the problem of repeated power cuts is resolved.
The minister stated that EWA teams have in the past discovered several faults in the electricity network created by illegal extensions made by the public.
"EWA discovers such violations only when fixing power outages," Al Jowder stated, adding that cooperation between EWA and the ministries of municipalities and housing must increase in order to stem such violations.
The minister stated that the authority will also continue to upgrade the Kingdom's electricity and water infrastructure and will organise several campaigns to promote conservation.
© Bahrain Tribune 2010
