City Power General Manager for Randburg, Lufuno Bale, has said that the issues facing the Bryanston North Substation cannot be a ‘quick fix’.
This followed consistently extended blackouts in the Bryanston, Fourways, and surrounding areas as a result of continuous faults at the City Power and Eskom-shared substation on Sloane Street.
Ward 102 councillor David Potter wrote to City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava on November 13, emphasising just how bad things have become on the ground for thousands of residents.
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“I have been following the (non) progress of the Bryanston North Substation repairs since the fire in late December 2019. Nearly three years on and the [substation] is an absolute disgrace to City Power and to the residents of the City of Johannesburg.”
Potter added that repairs at the station have continually been promised but not yet delivered.
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“Residents supplied by the Bryanston North Substation deserve better from City Power.”
The following day, on November 14 City Power executives and the office MMC of Environment and Infrastructure Services Department had another oversight visit at the substation.
During the visit, Bale said that the infrastructure used at the problematic substation is not locally manufactured.
“[The materials and equipment] must be imported so, therefore, there is a time [factor] that needs to be taken into consideration.”
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Bale added that there were particularly consistent problems at the substation during the week leading up to the site visit due to the constant rain.
“Especially this week [leading up to] 14 November where we experienced a lot of rain, just from Thursday (November 10) until today (November 14) we had about 11 circuits that went out because of these weather conditions.
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“The equipment being wet makes it very difficult for our teams to do the proper tests, to identify where the faults are.”
In a response to the Chronicle, EISD spokesperson Nickolaus Bauer said that while the additional budget has been allocated, the purchase of the required materials is still taking place.
“The majority of infrastructure and equipment required needs to be imported, hence the delay.”
Bauer added that repairs at the substation will be fully completed in early 2023.
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