Damaged submarine cable to be buried deeper

The submarine power cable in the Demerara River bed, which was damaged last month, will be buried some three meters deeper, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson has said.
While the cause of the damage has not yet been made public, the minister confirmed that it was damaged while work was being carried out.
“What was done, having been damaged, it has brought the excess power from Vreed-en-Hoop over to the Demerara interconnected grid”, Minister Patterson informed. He said GPL will be raising the cable and that quotations were received from three firms to fix the cable.
“What is required is the special equipment called the splicer to raise the cable and then install the slicer to fix it… A contractor has been identified in principle. Works will take after the arrival of the splicer,” he said, informing too that it is scheduled to be completed by mid-November.
“The project will be done in three phases. Phase one has already been completed; phase two is the installation of the splicer and repairs and phase three is the burying of the cable.
Addressing the burying of the cable, Patterson said the contract had stipulated that the cable be buried at three meters.
The Marine Administration Department (MARAD) at the time had however advised that it be lower, however, because the contract was signed, it remained at three meters. He said he was informed that there are excess cables at both ends and that the company will go ahead and bury it at the required six meters deep.
He said he has asked GPL to explore the option of a second cable since not only does the cable bring electricity, but it also has fibre optic.
He said he has asked that GPL seek out another cable just to bring over the excess electricity.
Immediately after the damage last month, the power company had reported that a Chinese team was assisting it to retrieve the cable from the Demerara River bed in order to assess the extent of the damage.
A release from the power company noted that a comprehensive test had been conducted on the cable subsequent to a total shutdown on July 12, which attributed the incident of faulty insulation at the connection or “Pot Head” linking the 69KV submarine cable to the overhead transmission lines at Kingston.