Efforts to get the lights back on in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, is underway.
The Municipality informed aggrieved residents on Wednesday, that three monopoles were erected and rings were successfully installed.
The Chelsea- Arlington-Walmer-Summerstrand line were damaged, causing a widespread blackout.
Babalwa Lobishe, the Mayor of the Metro, said it looks like work will be completed ahead of the planned 10 days.
“We understand the inconvenience this has caused. This is why we have taken a forward looking approach by also assessing the line to identify and mitigate any potential risk areas” she said.
Affected areas included Summerstrand, the Marine Hotel, Humewood, Forest Hill, Southdene, Sections of South End, Summer Dunes, Happy Valley, Marine Towers, Strand View, the Boardwalk area, the Courtyard Hotel, the Cape Recife Waterworks, tertiary institutions such as UPE, Technikon Village, Kurumanskloof and surrounding areas, EP Command, SAWTRI.
Areas in Arlington without power were the Arlington Drift Sands (ADS), Driftsands Lovemore Park (DLP), Miramar, Pari Park, Providentia, Schoenmakerskop, Schoenmakerskop Village, Walmer (9th Avenue area), Walmer Dunes, Sections of Walmer Heights, Walmer Industrial, Walmer Location and the Willow area.
The local business chamber vented extensively about regular outages of the Chelsea / Arlington 132KV lattice tower.
Denise van Huyssteen, CEO of the local business Chamber, placed the power outages squarely on lack of maintenance.
“This time around commercial businesses and those serving the hospitality sector are the most impacted, along with institutions serving the vulnerable such as old age homes and other care facilities, as well as the residents living in the affected areas” she said.
Picture: Supplied