Gan residents still face continuing power outages

Residents of Gan in Laamu atoll have expressed concern over continuing power outages in the island’s wards.

Abdulla Shareef, the chief of the island’s local government council, said that the continuing power outages have caused great difficulty to the daily lives of residents.

Shareef said that residents of the island had protested the lack of services extend to them in Ramadan of 2017 as well, nearly a year ago. While the problem still persists, adequate measures to address it yet need to be taken.

Thundi, a ward in Gan, has a total of four generators, one of which is currently dysfunctional. According to the island’s council, this forces the state-run utilities company Fenaka Corporation to cut power to the ward every thirty minutes.

A number of residents from the island also said that similar power outages occur in Mukurimagu, another ward on the island. However, the Fenaka Coporation has addressed it by bringing in an 800-kilowatt generator, although they say the problem in Mukurimagu still persists as well.

A resident on the island also told RaajjeMV that the Fenaka Corporation’s staff have been working to address the matter, although the company itself refuses to replace the dysfunctional generator. This keeps residents of Gan from attaining a permanent solution to the problem.

The company has seen recent changes to its board of directors, with managing director Ahmed Shareef being appointed as a member of the Elections Commission. Managing the company’s operations has now been tasked to Mohamed Lamaan, the deputy managing director.

Lamaan told RaajjeMV on Saturday that they will send a generator to the island if their staff’s ongoing work there does not resolve the problem. Fenaka Corporation’s staff at their branch in Gan has said that there is not much that can be done to address the issue as it is.