Golden Mile Complex Power Outage On 5 Mar Lasted Over 35 Hours
Golden Mile Complex is known as Singapore’s very own Little Thailand. It’s a crowd-favourite location to indulge in authentic Thai cuisine and snacks.
But on Saturday (5 Mar) night, diners and shoppers were taken by surprise when the mall experienced a power outage.
Restaurants were caught off guard as their kitchens and dining spaces were shrouded in darkness.
The power outage ended up lasting over 35 hours, causing stores to suffer huge losses from spoilt ingredients and loss of customers.
Golden Mile Complex hit by power outage on 5 Mar night
On Saturday (5 Mar) at about 11pm, Golden Mile Complex experienced a power outage due to a suspected short circuit.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Mr Wang, a manager at one of the mookata stalls, said there was no electricity in half of his restaurant.
The kitchen was completely dark, resulting in chaos for both staff and customers.
He continued that the restaurant was open till 3am that day and they had to operate over 4 hours in the darkness.
Because they were unable to accept electronic payments, the restaurant reportedly lost business from over 30 groups of customers.
Some customers also turned away and made complaints as the air conditioner was not working. Mr Wang shared that the blackout cost the shop about 60% of their business.
Mookata restaurant suffered $6,000 in losses
Unfortunately, things did not stop there. The power outage continued into the night, lasting about 35 hours in total.
When Mr Wang discovered the next morning that things have yet to resume normalcy, he rushed to the restaurant.
Opening the restaurant fridge, he was hit by an overpowering stench. The restaurant’s crabs, prawns, scallops, and meats have spoilt. Many cups of ice cream have also melted.
In the end, the restaurant had to discard about 30 cartons of food, amounting to losses of about $6,000, reported Shin Min Daily News.
To ensure they could continue operations that day, the restaurant had to incur another $4,000 to replace the ingredients.
Another mookata stall owner echoed similar issues, saying their business fell by 50%.
They also shared that throughout the 5 years operating there, this was the first time the mall had a power outage that lasted this long.
Electricity was eventually restored at the mall at about 10am on Monday (7 Mar).
Apartment complex residents also affected
Besides mookata stall, many other stores on the 2nd storey of Golden Mile Complex were also affected by the blackout.
This included 4 restaurants, a salon, a skincare store, and a grocery store.
Most stayed open, choosing to find ways to operate in the dark. Some restaurants even used candles to illuminate their kitchens as they cooked.
Golden Mile Complex apartment residents were also hit by the power outage.
A 10th-floor resident shared that there was a blackout in his flat at about 1.30am on Sunday (6 Mar).
The heat was apparently so unbearable he could not fall asleep and eventually opted to check in to a hotel instead.
The resident said the residents residing on floors above him were shrouded in darkness.
Hope building management rectifies issues
Part of Golden Mile Complex’s charm is its ruggedness — the building was built almost 50 years ago.
Nonetheless, with that comes the need for regular maintenance works to ensure that utilities such as electrical lines continue to function well.
We hope the building management gets to the bottom of the matter and rectifies it to ensure such incidents do not happen again.
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Featured image adapted from Condominiums of Singapore and Shin Min Daily News on Facebook.
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