TelEm Group technicians are picking up the pace with restoration works in several areas of the island following the passing of Hurricane Gonzalo in mid-October and many days of torrential rain in the past two weeks.
Following a “blitz” of reconnections in the Betty’s Estate and Sucker Garden areas last week, two teams of TelEm Group technicians are clocking up the hours in other areas to get customers reconnected.
One team of technicians were out in force again in Sucker Garden Monday, before moving into the Guana Bay area to tackle outages there.
“On Tuesday this same team began working on the A.Th. Illidge Road, Madame Estate, while continuing with final connections in the Sucker Garden area,” reports, Manager Outside Plant, Mr. Marco London.
He said the team will out again Wednesday, on the L.B. Scott Road, Bush Road, Gladiola Road and Carnation Road, before moving to the Pointe Blanche, and Harbour areas, the following day, Thursday.
“There is a full schedule of work on Thursday, and if weather permits we plan to begin restoration of some clients in town, more precisely, Walter Nisbeth Road and Cannegieter Street,” said Mr. London.
He said if all goes as planned, the work week will end with another blitz operation – this time in the Philipsburg area, where the company will focus its resources all day Friday and into the weekend if necessary.
Mr. London said a second team of technicians and engineers are busy in the Middle Region, Mount William Hill and Dutch Quarter areas, where they are dealing with outstanding and newly reported outages while relocating overhead cables.
He said technicians will also be in the following roads this week:
Middle Region: Richardson Drive, Basseterre drive, Middle Region Rd, Trinidad Dr, Margareth Bruce Dr., A.Th. Illidge road
Mount William Hill: Saba Drive, Nevis Drive
Dutch Quarter: Emergency homes, Nickspring Drive
“There are a number of damaged distribution points in these areas that have to be repaired before we can begin to reconnect customers. We also have to remove a lot of hanging drop wires so that we can run new wires for reconnection,” said Mr. London.
He said the repairs and reconnections are being carried out simultaneously in some instances, however the work is proving to be a challenge at times, especially because the restoration efforts have to be carried out in close coordination with other utility companies and when the recourses of all these companies are available at the same time.
Mr. London continues to congratulate his Outside Plant staff, and their Zone Leaders for “really putting in the effort” to get services back up for customers.
“They have taken the task on as a personal responsibility, which is much appreciated by management, and ultimately by the customers themselves,” said Mr. London.
