Fire knocks out power station in the capital

The only power station in the capital of Guinea-Bissau has been badly damaged fire barely a month after the transitional government led by President Henrique Rosa had managed to normalise erratic water and electricity supplies in the city. The six-hour fire on Tuesday began in the power station's control room and completely destroyed half the switches that control electricity distribution in Bissau. It was finally put out by firemen from the airport, since Bissau's fire brigade has only one small truck able to carry just 200 litres of water. The fire is likely to result in a fresh blackout lasting for several weeks in this city of 350,000 people. It will also affect water supplies, since electric pumps are used to top up the water towers which supply Bissau by gravity. The Bissau power station was equipped with a new five megawatt oil-fired power station by China last year, but the state run electricity and water company EAGB was frequently unable to afford the fuel to keep it running. The fire is likely to prove a setback to government plans to privatise EAGB. A Russian company and a Spanish/Portuguese consortium had both expressed interest in buying the utility.