MIRI: Business activities in the city centre came to a standstill for about two hours yesterday when a midday blackout occurred.
The incident happened shortly after noon and it forced many outlets in shopping complexes to be closed temporarily. Some remained opened by using their backup lighting system.
“A few operators and I lost quite a bit of business when the blackout hit as there were quite a lot of shoppers, including Bruneians, around,” claimed a retailer, who wanted to be known only as Tan.
“Power outages seemed to be quite frequent in Miri lately, and this is unacceptable. It will also taint the image of Miri as a resort city.”
Bruneian Dayangku Faridah Othman, when met at Imperial Mall, was also upset over the blackout.
“I was selecting and placing items into the trolley when the blackout happened. I came here with a few others for weekend shopping and we were in a hurry as our chartered bus would be leaving for Brunei at about 3.30pm,” said Dayangku, who arrived here at about 11am yesterday.
The blackout also created a mess in the streets as traffic lights were not functioning. There was traffic congestion in some parts of the city, particularly around business areas.
But a mass blood donation campaign at Permaisuri Imperial City Mall, organised by the Blood Donors Recruitment Committee and Voluntary Aid Detachment Sub-Committee of the Malaysian Red Crescent Miri Chapter, continued despite the blackout.
Red Crescent Blood Donors Recruitment member Karambir Singh remarked that luckily the blackout happened when the blood donation was about to be wrapped up.
“It may affect the quality of blood donated if the blackout lasted for hours. This is because we need steady and stable electricity to seal donated-blood pouches.”
Mayor Lawrence Lai, when contacted, said: “The people are now getting angrier and frustrated over the frequent blackout and outages in Miri lately. The frequent blackout and outages will give bad, wrong and negative image to Miri as a resort city, including to investors.”
He said it was important for Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) to implement the approved projects worth around RM400 million to upgrade and improve the distribution of energy and reduce or minimise incidents of blackout and power outages in the city.
Currently, Miri depends on a single distribution grid from which 60 per cent is supplied from Bintulu and 30 per cent come from Miri. With the approved projects, Lai hoped SEB would also hasten power restoration whenever there are blackouts or power outages.
“It is crucial for Sarawak Energy to install the Frame 6 generator set at Pujut Power Station and construct the new Lutong Power Station as soon as possible to keep up with development and progress of the city,” said Lai.
Meanwhile, a statement from SEB explained that the power outage was due to a trip at the Similajau-Tudan transmission Line 2.
The trip occurred at 12.04pm.
A lot of areas were affected by this tripping but some areas were not affected because they were supplied via Miri Power Station.
SEB added that by 2pm, the Similajau-Tudan Line 1 was energised and power supply was restored in stages, adding that there was full restoration, about 20 minutes later.
“The cause of the power outage is still under investigation,” it said.