By Thelma Allingham
Business houses and the people of East Sepik were affected as the blackout continues in the province for two weeks now.
BSP Bank Wewak Branch ceased its daily operations since Monday 2nd of October following problems faced with their backup generator which has been fully operational since the total blackout begins 13days ago.
An official notice is being circulated by BSP Wewak Branch to notify customers of the closure and also what to expect in the coming days.
East Sepik Province has been without power supply for two weeks and that has triggered a public outburst for a possible protest to be staged anytime this week.
PNG Power Limited Wewak Branch has not officially released a statement to address this issue however inside sources, who wishes to remain anonymous says the only machine generating power has been supplying the Boram General Hospital.
The new generator set purchased by the East Sepik Provincial Government two years ago and given to PNG Power Limited (PPL) Wewak was not properly sync to enable its functionalities therefore PPL has arranged for an Engineer from Hyundai in Korea to travel into Wewak to assess and rectify the problem.
Sources say that PNG Power Wewak is also working tirelessly to fix all other five faulty generators and hopefully they’ll get 1 or 2 machines up and running to supply power in town.
The total blackout has caused rage and public outburst towards PPL Wewak and East Sepik Provincial Government.
Governor Bird in response to the public outcry released an official press statement saying ESPG is ready to buy more generator sets for PPL.
Bird also said “we are ready to buy fuel and even engine oil for PPL and whatever PPL needs. Bear in mind that it is a private company and we are giving them public money. Your money” said Governor Bird.
Governor Bird further stated that for the long term solution, he wrote a letter to Agriculture Minister 3 months ago to take over land in Wewak to build a solar/diesel plant that ESPG has negotiated with IFC and Australian Government. He said no official response from the department yet.
It is understood that most of the services and business that rely on Power will change their normal operation.
