City
Power is currently investigating the cause of the fire at a switching
substation at Vasco Da Gama in Alexandra township.
The fire started around lunch time on Tuesday razing the substation to the
ground.
The fire plunged over half of Alexandra between 1st Avenue and 18th Avenue into
darkness.
By this afternoon some of the cables were still smouldering making it difficult
for technicians to start the work.
The repair work will involve putting in new infrastructure including RMUs
and cables that were totally destroyed during the fire.
City Power anticipates that repairs will take at least 48 hours after which
time power will only be restored.
It is suspected that vandalism could be the cause of the fire after the gates
leading into the substation were found to have been broken into, but that will
for part of the investigation.
This switching substation is over 50 years old.
It is the same substation that caught fire almost two weeks ago leaving half of
Alexandra without power for two days.
The investigation into that fire is still ongoing.
The switching substation is over 50 years old, and process was already underway
to build a new one as part of upgrading electricity infrastructure across
Alexandra township.
A total of R16 million has been budgeted this financial year for the upgrade of
this substation.
City Power CEO Mr Lerato Setshedi again appealed to the communities to protect
their infrastructure against vandalism and theft.
City Power estimates 48hr to repair burnt Alex substation
