Rehabilitation of street lights begins in Accra
Rehabilitation works to restore the functionality of street lights along ceremonial streets in Accra has started.
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Street lights along the Independence Avenue, the Tetteh Quarshie interchange stretch, the Cantonments roads linking the Osu Oxford Street and the Airport bypass are being rehabilitated by a local electrical engineering firm, Prefos Limited.
Other areas include the Kanda highway, the Kaneshie-Mallam stretch, the Graphic Road, Castle Drive and the Ring Road.
The contractor has been mandated to replace malfunctioning bulbs and damaged poles and also rewire existing lines that have had their cables stolen.
The project is being carried out under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Security
A Senior Technical Engineer at the ministry, Mr Samuel Dovlo, told the Daily Graphic during a tour of the areas on Sunday that the project had become necessary to provide security at night for road users.
The manager in charge of street lighting at the ECG, Mr Tony Esiape, said although the maintenance of the street lights was the responsibility of the metropolitan and municipal assemblies, financial constraints had made many of them neglect that responsibility.
He said it was because of this that the ministry had approved funding for the rehabilitation and monitoring of the street lights to avert incidents of thefts and damaged poles.
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Concern
Mr Esiape expressed worry that telecom companies that laid cables to improve their service often did so without recourse to the ECG and thus caused extensive damage to street light installations.
"Recently, when the Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) undertook a rebranding project which necessitated the need for officials to carry out rehabilitation works at their vending stations, some of the rebranded signposts were erected directly on the street light cables," Mr Esiape complained.
He said the ECG, as a technical advisor on the project, was collaborating with the police and other security agencies to ensure that vehicles that caused damage to electric poles were surcharged with the cost of the poles.
"We have also submitted proposals for the installation of close circuit television cameras (CCTV) along major ceremonial routes where cable theft are rampant in order to avert the incidents of thefts," Mr Esiape added.
He was optimistic that the new measures would go a long way to preserve the lifespan of the street lights.
Writer's email: della.russel@graphic.com.gh