Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 09:50 Carmen Gomez

Power Cuts/ Control Tower

When you hear of Spanish helicopters flying freely over our air space; when you hear of alien boats landing on our shores; when you walk down Main Street on a day when cruise ships are in town and a power cut occurs, yet again due to another power cable being drilled through; all of which is hugely prejudicial to Gibraltar’s interests; when on top of all that you hear that the MOD forgot, or didn’t bother to inform any civilian authorities that they had laid down an electric cable, and that yet more flights have been diverted to Malaga because there was no one available to man the control tower; you have to wonder whether our authorities are really in control of the safety and smooth running of Gibraltar’s affairs and whether the MOD has some hidden agenda.

It’s very unsettling as all this could put into jeopardy Gibraltar’s reputation as a safe and professional outfit. It is true that we are moving towards a time when physical control towers will be a thing of the past; when remote control towers could revolutionise the provision of air traffic services; like at Heathrow where since 2009, they have had a remote tower facility as a contingency. However we are not there yet.

On the matter of the power cuts, I say that should future ones occur due to failure of workers not having been advised of where electric cables lie on the site they work on, because the contractors have not shown them any official plan; what I would expect the businesses concerned to do would be not to accept any more apologies; but insist that the company involved pay damages for the loss of commerce. Enough is enough! When are our professional bodies going to get their act together?

23-10-2019 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR