[1] The power was eventually restored on 19 June 2008, however, concerns remained about the fragility of the island's transmission infrastructure, its near total dependence on the mainland for its electricity generation, and the capacity and condition of the ageing interconnector that links the mainland electricity network and the island grid.
Tourism in Zanzibar, the main income generating activity on the islands, was seriously disrupted by the outage.
[1] Other important industries, including the Zanzibar Electricity Corporation and independent small businesses were "severely hit" by the blackout.
[2][3] The island's semi-autonomous government was criticized for its lack of preparedness and dependence on power from mainland Tanzania.
On 23 December 2009, the Isles Minister of Energy and Construction, Mansour Yussuf Himid, was quoted in the Daily News newspaper published in Dar es Salaam as saying that the blackout would last until the end of February[4] while a critical spare part known as a "splitter" was being sourced from overseas.