Such is the extent of damage caused by the snow disaster that repairs on power lines of the South China State Grid (SCSG) will not be finished until the end of March.

Power supply in the provinces served by the SCSG south China region, which covers five provinces and regions, will not be back to normal until then, said the operator on Sunday.

"A complete recovery of the power supply network can be expected at the end of March," said Yuan Maozhen, board chairman of South China State Grid, in this capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province Sunday.

Until then customers can expect an intermittent power supply.

"A total of 22.59 million people in some 90 counties in southern China have been affected by blackouts or power disruptions, because of malfunctions of the State Grid in the extreme weather disaster," said Yuan.

He said that as of Saturday, the South China State Grid had reported power disruptions on 6,788 power lines during the month-long snow and ice disaster. Repairs have been made to fix 4,719 of the lines.

"Guizhou was the worst hit, where ice damaged 5,059 power transmission lines, accounting for 77 percent of the provincial total power supply network," said Yuan.

He said that the company had received back-up from 60 power network design and construction companies and agencies across the country to assist the emergency repairs.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2008)