Penang Immigration Department without electricity for 5 hours due to an internal power failure

Five-hour blackout in Penang Immigration Dept
Published: Monday September 13, 2010 MYT 2:10:00 PM
By DERRICK VINESH

BUTTERWORTH: The state Immigration Department was hit by a five-hour blackout due to an internal power failure.

Department director Abdul Qadir Siddiq Ahmad said the blackout, which occurred at 7.30am, was restored by 12.30pm Monday.

He said initial investigations showed that the power failure affected only the department as the neighbouring buildings had electricity.

He also said there was no indication of any fire to the Tenaga Nasional sub-station unit within the premises. "We were unable to immediately switch to our generator set for back up power supply because the set was spoilt.

"So, we called our vendors and they repaired the set by 12.30pm," he said when met at the department Monday.

Abdul Qadir said Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) partially restored power supply to the building by 12.45pm, and later had it fully restored by 2pm.

He said the blackout had caused temporary disruption to the issuance of passports, visas and foreign worker permits at the department.

"Those who needed to get their documents urgently processed were directed to our Immigration offices in George Town, Kulim or Sungai Petani," he said.

Abdul Qadir, however, said the department's enforcement unit and other case investigation section, as well as those that involved in the issuance and submission of documents were not affected.

Penang TNB general manager (distribution) Abdul Aziz Jaafar, when contacted, confirmed the incident, but said the cause of the blackout was yet to be determined.

"We are still investigating the matter. Our men have done necessary work to restore power supply to the premises," he said.

He stressed that the incident had nothing to do with last Saturday’s power cable fire on the Penang Bridge.

Credits to and source taken from: http://thestar.com.my/