D
Dodomeki
Guest
Aug 9, 2010
Blackout at Peninsula Plaza
<!-- by line --> By Jalelah Abu Baker
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By the time power was restored at 2am on Saturday, the shopkeepers in the nearly 30-year-old shopping centre could only tot up the losses to their businesses in frustration. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
<!-- story content : start --> PENINSULA Plaza was hit by a 30-hour blackout last Thursday evening, the second such prolonged one in six weeks. By the time power was restored at 2am on Saturday, the shopkeepers in the nearly 30-year-old shopping centre could only tot up the losses to their businesses in frustration.
The blackout threw shops in the basement and those on levels one to four into darkness. Computers, Nets and credit card machines fell silent; in some shops, equipment essential to the business - hairdryers, heaters and refrigerators - stopped working. Curiously, the building's lobby, corridors, escalators, and shops on the fifth floor were unaffected.
But those running businesses in the building - a popular hangout for Myanmar workers because of shops selling sundries they are familiar with - are fed up. The last power blackout on June 23 took 20 hours to fix. There have also been 15-minute power outages on various floors several times since the start of this year, said a few businesses.
Read the full report in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.