?The supply of electricity to Tobago has not normalised, but there was a significant improvement in it, according to Public Utilities Minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid. He said that a European firm would take less than three months to repair the defective submarine cable that destabilised Tobago's power supply on September 19. "I have not identified that firm specifically, but I know that there would have been three firms that T&TEC contacted," Abdul-Hamid said at yesterday's post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann's. "Of course, availability of the firm is a factor; we would like to get it done quickly as possible.
"The task of repair of this (damaged) cable will be undertaken by a European firm and we do not expect that we will be able to complete this repair in less than three months."
Abdul-Hamid said that repairs to the cable required a special vessel and special equipment, as well as the services of deep-sea divers. "It should be noted that these cables are insured and that the cost of this repair we expect to be covered by insurance," he said. The minister said the total peak demand for power in Tobago was 40 megawatts. It was supplied from three sources: two submarine cables from Trinidad–one with a capacity of 15 megawatts and a second with a capacity of 25 megawatts–and a power generation plant at Scarborough, which provided approximately 15 megawatts of power. "It will not sufficient to say that the situation has normalised," he said. "In fact, we have now experienced a significant improvement in circumstances with respect to power generation and power supply to Tobago.