While driving to Ngaremlengui, we noticed that electrical wires on many power poles are in danger of being obstructed by fast growing trees and vegetations (Kebeyas) in nearby jungles. It appears that all electrical power poles on Babeldaob were erected along the old existing dirt roads on Babeldaob, many of which were abandoned when the US Army Corps of Engineers and Daewoo Construction Company built the Babeldaob Compact Road. As a result, all of these old dirt roads and the Electric Poles standing along their lengths have been invaded by fast growing trees, bushes, and vegetations, which make them practically inaccessible to PUC maintenance workers and their equipments. Power lines in these areas are also in danger of being damaged or broken by the trunks and branches of falling trees should strong winds or typhoons were to hit the islands.
Engineers from the National Government and the officials at PPUC should, without delay, conduct investigation trips along the roads on Babeldaob where electrical power poles are located to see what should be done to prevent massive power outages that would occur if these power poles and the electrical wires they support were to be damaged or destroyed simply because of the locations where they now stand. Relocating these power poles and the electrical wires they support to safer grounds would certainly require expenditure of funds and possibly some technical assistance and material donations from friendly countries. The sooner our National Government and PPUC take the time to look into the power poles situation on Babeldaob the better for our citizens and our country.Any prolonged power outage on Babeldaob for any reason, including one that is caused by badly chosen locations for electrical power poles, would cause huge setbacks for Palau’s economic and physical developments. Our public leaders must not let that happen in the country.Establishments selling alcoholic drinks should not operate until the early morning hoursIn the early morning hours of last Sunday, January 18, the people residing along the road in Meketii Hamlet, from the NECO complex toward T-Dock, were rudely disturbed by drunken young men who chose to continue their drinking celebrations there. They called each other names and shouted profanities at riders of passing vehicles. The vulgar languages being hurled from one end of the street to the other would have made a veteran sailor blush in embarrassment. To emphasize their dirty languages, some young men began throwing stones at garbage containers and nearby targets.In some homes, mothers had difficulties with their young babies who were rudely awakened and intimidated by the rackets on the street. They couldn’t go back to sleep and kept crying for the better part of the morning hours. One resident said the Police regular patrol would put a stop to all these nonsense. But while all these disturbances were happening, no police vehicle passed through the area and someone had to call for them.
