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.
-- ST