Isle of Darkness

A three-month-long power outage on the island nation continues with no end in sight, causing massive inconvenience and economic disruptions,writes Xinhua news agency

Power resumption in Zanzibar remains indefinite after the date the Ministry of Water, Housing, Energy and Land promised it would return passed without an outcome, leaving the island in total darkness, a situation it has experienced for almost three months now.

A Zanzibar Electric Company public relations officer, Salim Abdulla, says that there is no definite date for the resumption of supply and that the public should only wait and see. “We cannot give a definite date when the public would return to access to electricity, they have just to remain tolerant,” he remarked.

When  the power breakdown first occurred on December 10, 2009,  Minister Yusuf Himid issued a statement analysing the cause of the problem and the effort the government would undertake in buying the spare parts needed and promised power would return by February 20, 2010.

But before that date the Zanzibar Electric Company issued another statement, saying power would return by February 28, while experts from South Africa and those of the Company were in the final stages of affixing spare parts, including at the Splitter Fumba power plant.

The power failure on Zanzibar has caused multiple problems for ordinary people, as well as adversely affected the economy, especially the tourism sector.

Although the number of tourists has kept on increasing, some of the hotels and industries have been obliged to close down for lack of power, resulting in unbearable high fuel expenses in using power from generators, according to the Minister for Tourism, Trade and Investment, Samia Sulluhu Hassan.