JOHOR Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has criticised Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) after a scheduled power outage at the Sultan Iskandar Building turned into a prolonged blackout.
According to Onn Hafiz, a letter from TNB dated Nov 27 stated that power was supposed to be cut from the Sultan Iskandar Building, Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex, and Johor Bahru Sentral from 8pm on Dec 5 to 4am on Dec 6 for maintenance works.
However, the power was not restored causing traffic congestion on the Causeway link as immigration officers had to manually carry out their processes.
“What has happened has greatly inconvenienced commuters and is embarrassing to Johor. TNB and the Public Works Department (JKR) have been ordered to resolve this issue immediately,” Onn Hafiz said in a Facebook post today.
Meanwhile, Johor Works, Transportation and Infrastructure (JPAJ) committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh explained the power outage at Sultan Iskandar CIQ building was caused by a malfunctioned generator.
Fazli noted that the supply disruption impacted operations at the country’s main border gate because the building currently receives supply from only one source.
“There was a bit of commotion at CIQ this morning (Dec 6), especially when the walkway blacked out due to a series of maintenance works performed by TNB. The work is scheduled to begin at 8pm and end at 4am.
“When the work began, all seven sets of generators were working properly; however, one of them malfunctioned around 11pm, resulting in a ‘total shutdown’ at 2am, before power was restored at 9:30am.
“Even though the e-Gate system did not work during that period, the nine contra-route counters operated well and managed to disperse travelers,” Utusan Malaysia quoted Fazli as saying.
Moreover, Fazli added that the incident had no effect on the movement of travelers in and out of the premises because there were several other routes available previously.
The Bukit Pasir assemblyman further stated that his side, TNB, and JKR were looking into alternative electricity supply routes to ensure that similar incidents do not occur again.
“We will take several steps to ensure that this incident does not happen again, including conducting a ‘running test’ of all generator sets with usage load, as opposed to the current procedure, which is performed without usage load.
“In addition, the authorities will investigate the possible path of the new electricity supply source, particularly for the premises involved. God willing, if this long-term improvement is made, the same thing will not happen again.” – Dec 6, 2023
Main photo credit: Borneo Post
