Addu power interruptions linked to road project; more outages likely

Fenaka Corporation has blamed the disruption of electricity services in Addu City on damage to power cables due to the road redevelopment project, warning on Wednesday that further outages are likely as the project continues.

The interlinked islands of Addu, the country’s second-most populous city, has suffered power outages twice this month.

In a statement on Wednesday, the state utility company said that the power outage on July 1 resulted from damage to a HV cable as Afcons, the Indian company contracted to develop the city’s roads, worked on the project.

Fenaka said that it was a recurring issue.

“We found that the issue that arose yesterday was part of the issues that the network has been facing since then. We note that this corporation’s technical team has also provided a temporary solution to the issue that arose yesterday,” said the corporation.

“However, this corporation believes the issues with network due to the road development project will continue to recur.”

The corporation said it will continue to work to resolve issues that occur.

Fenaka said that it was facing difficulty supplying enough power to the interlinked islands of Addu due to an issue with a 1.8-megawatt genset. It said that the spares needed to repair the genset isn’t available from the Maldives, but that the corporation is working on resolving the issue.

As part of these efforts, Fenaka is working on sending a 1.6-megawatt genset to Addu.

The corporation has also signed an agreement with China’s Dongfeng Electric International to build a 30-megawatt power plant in Addu. The project seeks to increase the capacity to meet the city’s power consumption needs for the next 20 years.

Afcons is contracted to redevelop 100 kilometers of roads in Addu.

The city’s mayor, Ali Nizar said last month that the utility services in Addu require urgent upgrades. He believes that the development of roads, without fixing the utility issues first, is a huge waste, as fixing the issues would require digging up the roads.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Parliament debated on an emergency motion regarding the frequent power outages in Addu, with South Hithadhoo MP Ibrahim Nazil, who submitted the motion, likening it to “blinking lights.”