Rangoon (Mizzima) – The availability of power supply in Rangoon Division has dipped sharply by over 50 per cent since the middle of February despite a daily load shedding roster.
Earlier, townships in Rangoon regularly got power supply of 6, 12, 18 hours daily alternately but since the middle of last month the downtown Rangoon area has received an average of 6 hours daily and suburban areas such as Dagon, Thingangyun, Dawbon, Thaketa, Insein, North and South Okkalapa have got only 3 hours a day.
Moreover the downtown area in Rangoon such as Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada, Latha, Pazundaung, Botataung, the government hospitals, shopping centres and government offices used to get power supply round the clock in the past. Now all of them are supplied in a rationed system with alternate load shedding.
The news being circulated among Rangoon residents is that the severe shortage of power supply is due to the gas pipeline explosion in Tanintharyi Division in early November.
The fuel consumption of these generators range from a gallon of petrol for small businesses like copier shops and photo studios to about a barrel of diesel for shopping centres, hotels and hospitals.
As a consequence of this severe power shortage carbon monoxide emission in Rangoon is beyond the standard limit of 10 pm, according to the survey jointly conducted by Rangoon City Development Committee (municipal body), Forest Department and Medical Research.
The residents in suburban Rangoon have to hire generators to pump drinking and potable water supplied by the municipality as the water supply is not available in their areas when the electricity supply is available. The hiring cost of these generators for local residents was Kyat 9,000 to 10,000 per hour. Now the cost has fallen to Kyat 4,000 per hour as fuel prices fell.
The students are facing difficulty in this examination period as there is severe shortage in power supply.
Mizzima contacted Col. Maung Maung Latt, Chairman of the Rangoon City Electric Power Distribution Board, over telephone for more details about the power situation in Rangoon. Though he used to answer such queries raised by the domestic media, he didn't answer the phone this time though repeated calls were made to him.
In the official roster of power distribution in Rangoon, the whole city is divided into three zones namely A, B and C. The power availability in these zones is as follows, according to the roster. (The townships will get power three days a week in rotation)
First Day: 5-11 a.m. (power on)
11 a.m.-5 p.m. (power off)
5 p.m.-5 a.m. next day (power on)
Total power availability - 18 hours
Second Day: 5 a.m. – 5 p.m. (power off)
5 p.m. – 11 p.m. (power on)
11 p.m. – 5 a.m. next morning (power off)
Total power availability – 6 hours
Third Day: 5 a.m. – 11 a.m. (power on)
11 a.m. – 5 p.m. (power off)
5 p.m. – 11 p.m. (power on)
11 p.m. – 5 a.m. next morning (power off)
Total power availability – 12 hours
However the downtown areas in Rangoon when the power demand is at its peak in the daytime, power is not available to them as mentioned in their roster. It is available in the evening.
But in suburban areas where the demand is low during daytime, the power is available to them in the afternoon and there are blackouts at night even though there is a load shedding system in vogue.
