In a statement by the Trunks Road Agency shared by Builth Wells Town Council it shot down “unfounded rumours” that a sparking electrical cable was caused by a worker striking a cable.
The High Street was shut off on Tuesday (January 6) as work to lay new kerbing was brought to a halt after an underground electrical cable was left sparking.
In the statement the Trunk Roads Agency Project Manager, said: “The Contractor followed procedure and unearthed the electric cable during excavation works, however there were no visual issues with the cable during this period.
“Unfortunately, the Contractor was unable to source concrete on the Tuesday due to the cold weather with many concrete suppliers not operating, thus as a result the excavation trench remained opened and limited progress was obtained on site.
“It is believed that potentially rainwater during the Tuesday afternoon had ingress the open trench and unbeknown to the site team the cable must have been damaged causing it to short and spark.”
The manager added: “The excavation works followed the correct procedures and the site team were not aware of any damage (visually) to the cable and certainly had not struck the cable via their working methods.
“Had this been the case, please rest assured any known issue or damage to the cable would have been rectified as a matter of urgency on the Monday during the excavation works.
“We can only assume that potentially exposing the cable unearthed a historic issue with the aging asset, which previously was contained and protected from the elements by the now excavated surrounding material.”
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