News / National
One giant 330KV Kariba power line tower has fallen
06 May 2018 at 16:22hrs | Views
One 330kv power line tower has fallen in the Magunje area putting people at danger and also putting pressure on the other two lines that are now carrying the load. The cause of the fall is yet to be established but its known that the power line which has a tower that fell is the one that was built in 1976. So far it has been isolated as efforts and strategies to put it up might be being put in place.
The President Cde ED Mnangagwa commissioned the two generators that were built as a way of completing the 1950s project with a lot seeing it as an expansion of the power station. The completion has been celebrated as a great project by the sitting government and all of us but one wonders why these generators have not come with their own power line for the load.
The tower has also affected the other towers that are around it especially the one that comes before and the one after it. The damages caused to the surrounding have not yet been established. There have been concerns about safety of people who live under and near these 330kv power lines where even the Municipality of Kariba had been making promises of moving such people to safer places. The fall may be a good wake up call to the government to play critical role in considering the plight of such people living under power lines and not living such to local authorities.
The fall has also shown the levels of unpreparedness of the power distributor as it has so far taken more than 24 hours to put the necessary logistics and equipment to start work to put the tower up. Indications on the ground show that the distribution company was engaging the Chinese Company that has been working on the Kariba project to provide a crane from Kariba with an agreement still waiting authorities to decide. The Crane should then be loaded and will depart Kariba as an abnormal load maybe tomorrow leaving the country in danger of a blackout.
It is feared that should anything happen to the two remaining power lines that have shared the load, then Zimbabwe will be in darkness.
Infrastructural development has always remained an issue within our country and has always featured as a campaigning issue of all political party. Levels of preparedness towards disasters have also been an issue of concern.
The President Cde ED Mnangagwa commissioned the two generators that were built as a way of completing the 1950s project with a lot seeing it as an expansion of the power station. The completion has been celebrated as a great project by the sitting government and all of us but one wonders why these generators have not come with their own power line for the load.
The tower has also affected the other towers that are around it especially the one that comes before and the one after it. The damages caused to the surrounding have not yet been established. There have been concerns about safety of people who live under and near these 330kv power lines where even the Municipality of Kariba had been making promises of moving such people to safer places. The fall may be a good wake up call to the government to play critical role in considering the plight of such people living under power lines and not living such to local authorities.
The fall has also shown the levels of unpreparedness of the power distributor as it has so far taken more than 24 hours to put the necessary logistics and equipment to start work to put the tower up. Indications on the ground show that the distribution company was engaging the Chinese Company that has been working on the Kariba project to provide a crane from Kariba with an agreement still waiting authorities to decide. The Crane should then be loaded and will depart Kariba as an abnormal load maybe tomorrow leaving the country in danger of a blackout.
It is feared that should anything happen to the two remaining power lines that have shared the load, then Zimbabwe will be in darkness.
Infrastructural development has always remained an issue within our country and has always featured as a campaigning issue of all political party. Levels of preparedness towards disasters have also been an issue of concern.
Source - MuHwisiry Chaiyeiye
