State Electric Company (STELCO) has begun repairing the pipe which burst, leaking seawater on the Male’ City ring road.
STELCO said the incident occurred due to damage to one of the outflow pipes used to cool the company’s generators. STELCO said they had faced delays in starting repair work because of delays in necessary approvals from the city council.
STELCO’s spokesperson told Sun Wednesday evening that the company has begun repair work with necessary approvals from the city council.
He said that STELCO was given until the end of Thursday to close the road for repair work.
“We need to cut through the asphalt to repair the pipe. We will need to take out the pipe and repair it,” he said.
He said the repair work will not affect electricity services in Male’.
Male’ City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu said it had been the city council which brought the issue to STELCO’s attention.
Muizzu said he found STELCO’s claims of lack of cooperation from the city council unacceptable.
“We told they would get all the approvals and all the cooperation they need from us,” he said.
Muizzu said STELCO asked for approval after 01:00 pm Wednesday, and that they had issued approvals within two hours.
However, STELCO said the city council never officially informed them of the issue.