Tuesday February 7, 2006
By Teoh Teik Hoong
CAMERON HIGHLANDS: Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s Woh power station off the Tapah-Cameron Highlands route was shut down on Feb 2 for a two-month maintenance and repair exercise.
Cameron Highlands Tenaga general manager Mohd Safian Ismail said the shutdown was part of Tenaga’s life extension programme to rehabilitate and prolong the usage of the dam and power stations in the area.
“During the shutdown from Feb 2 to April 2, we will close the Woh power station to drain the underground tunnel.
“We will be inspecting the tunnel and carry out maintenance and repairs on the upper valve chamber,” he said, adding that this was the first such exercise carried out since the dam was built 40 years ago.
He said the upper valve chambers of the Jor power station would also have to be replaced as the wear and tear from sedimentation had escalated the cost of maintenance and repair work.
Safian said that most of the old electrical parts of the facility at Jor, Woh and even Habu would be replaced.
He said that desilting work at the lake and the repairs to the power stations were meant to restore power generation capacity, maximise the lake's storage capacity and reduce the risk of flooding downstream during rainy spells.
“We will divert water from the tunnels and this will cause some inconvenience to villages between Jor and Woh before the water flows into Sungai Batang Padang in Tapah.
Water supply and quality at Tapah may be affected slightly as the water intake points are located at Woh and just after Jor.
Safian said that Tenaga planned to visit villages in the area, made up mostly of orang asli settlements, to inform them of the plans.
“We will constantly monitor the progress of the diversion and repairs to avoid inconvenience to people there,” he said. -- The Star.
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