A full investigation has been launched after the explosion of a substation at the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) on Saturday night.
The explosion led to an electricity blackout of the surrounding areas, including Motherwell and 15 Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ) customers.
Led by mayor Retief Odendaal, the municipality held an emergency Joint Operations Committee (JOC) meeting to trigger swift action to circumvent the impact of the explosion and get to the bottom of the cause.
After the meeting, an independent investigation into the cause of the explosion was launched as foul play is suspected.
The municipality planned later on Sunday to meet Coega Development Corporation officials and affected businesses to find a solution to mitigate the adverse impact of the constrained electricity supply.
The cost of damage to the substation infrastructure is estimated at more than R40m.
As a short-term electricity solution, and to circumvent further negative impacts on customers and residents, plans are under way to back-feed and restore electricity supply from another substation within the Coega SEZ.
In the medium term, a line will be constructed to reconnect the affected residents and IDZ customers from the nearby substation while construction work to rehabilitate the substation continues.
“A contractor is already on site to restore electricity in the short to medium term,” municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said.
“Security is currently being reinforced to protect critical strategic infrastructure.
“Residents are encouraged to be vigilant and work together with the municipality and law enforcement agencies to curb vandalism and criminality targeted at municipal infrastructure that provides basic services to our community.
“The municipality apologises for the inconvenience caused by the unexpected outage.
“We are working hard to restore power to the affected residents and businesses,” he said.
HeraldLIVE