The on-going blackout in Zanzibar may continue for a few more days until the right parts arrive to fix the submarine cable problem, Zanzibar authorities have confirmed.
Local English broadsheet The Guardian reported on Monday that Norwegian technicians would come with the parts which are still being manufactured.
Power supplies to the Indian Ocean archipelago were interrupted after the equipment in Zanzibar linked to the submarine cable blew up on Wednesday last week, the newspaper said.
The Guardian quoted a Zanzibar Electricity Corporation PR officer as saying that the islanders had to wait because the spare parts were not available in the market.
The power supply failure has been affecting the water supplies in the islands because the electricity-driven pumps could not pump water from reservoirs to residential areas, the newspaper reported.
Water vendors have raised the retail prices of water which now sell for 1,000 Tanzanian shillings (0.83 U.S. dollars) instead of 500 shillings (0.416 dollars) per 20 liters.
The Unguja Island, one of the two main islands of the Zanzibar archipelago, gets its electricity supply from mainland Tanzania.
The government of Norway is financing the laying of another submarine cable to provide electricity to Pemba, the other main island of Zanzibar.
Source:Xinhua
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