MATUMAINI YA PEMBA KUPATA UMEME WA KUDUMU

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ISSA YUSUF in Zanzibar, 24th March 2009 @ 10:25

Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (ZECO) and the Oryx Limited are working round the clock to ensure power restoration in Pemba, following delay in delivery of Industrial Diesel Oil (IDO) leading to power blackout.

ZECO Acting General Manager, Hassan Ali Mbarouk, said today that the two firms were working at their best level to make sure power was restored. “The oil tanker transporting IDO to Pemba was stranded in the Indian Ocean at Nungwi on its way to the island, due to mechanical problem.

But we hope the electricity will be restored very soon,” the ZECO information officer, Mr Salum Abdallah, also told the 'Daily News', offering “apologies for the inconveniences caused by the outage.” People in Pemba have been left in darkness for a number of days, as they blame ZECO for failing to re-fuel power generators in-time before running dry.

However, ZECO information officer said: “We have contracted Oryx to supply IDO in Pemba, unfortunately the company does not have its own oil tanker and sometimes this causes delay in transporting oil to Pemba. But we are working on the problem.”

Dilapidated power generators and delayed supply of IDO have been causing frequent power cuts in Pemba Island, as Zanzibar higher authorities promise to solve power problems in the island by December this year, through a multi-million project that will connect the clove island to the national grid.