Power failure hits Pluit residents

JAKARTA (JP): Residents in Pluit have complained about a prolonged blackout befalling the northern Jakarta residential area.

"There is no water for washing or anything. It is very hard indeed," said Leni, a resident on Jalan Pluit Selatan.

The week-long blackout which started on Dec. 5 has affected thousands of households on Jalan Pluit Selatan, Pluit Barat, Pluit Utara, Pluit Murni, Pluit Putri, Pluit Permai, Pluit Kencana, Pluit Indah and Pluit Sakti.

The blackout has forced many well-to-do families to move into hotels, and has driven the price of generators up.

The residents said their children, most of whom are undergoing school examinations, could not study at night.

Leni said she asked the PLN state-electricity company about the blackout but did not receive a satisfactory answer.

A PLN official said the blackout was caused by a fire in a power plant in Muara Karang which later affected high-voltage cables. The official said that a total of six kilometers of underground cable was affected and had to be changed.

"How could a fire have such a widespread effect? What happen to the safety fuse? It must not have worked," Leni said.

Another resident said he needed to know how long the blackout would last so he could decide whether to temporarily move out of his house or not.

Meanwhile, PLN arranged for ten generators with a 250-500 KVA power each to partly overcome the problem by providing rationing power to residents.

But a resident said that power in his house was only on for three hours during the whole week. (hbk)