By RABECCA CHIPANTA –
THE Lusaka City Council (LCC) has embarked on a routine road maintenance and street lighting installation project throughout Lusaka, under performance contracts and the L400.
Lusaka Town Clerk Alex Mwansa said the local authority had engaged Sunspot Insurance Brokers to help replace the vandalised streetlight poles through insurance claims of vehicles that damaged the poles.
Mr Mwansa also urged members of the public to report to the police whenever they saw a vehicle hit into any of the poles by simply giving the vehicle registration number.
He said in a statement issued yesterday by LCC assistant public relations manager, Brenda Katongola that the council had noted with concern that most streetlights were being knocked down by careless motorists, especially during weekends.
He said that the road maintenance and street lighting installation project was aimed at improving the status of roads in the city to make them better and safer for all road users.
Mr Mwansa said AVIC International had been awarded a contract by the Government to construct roads and install the streetlights in the capital city, which was being supervised by LCC and the Road Development Agency (RDA).
He said streetlight installations would be carried out on major roads in the city, with the Great East, Chilimbulu and Burma roads receiving a facelift and later on Independence Avenue.
“Some roads such as Addis Ababa Drive, Church and Great East roads have already started receiving a facelift to enhance the safety of our road users. This is expected to continue on all the roads in the central business district (CBD), including the pedestrian or zebra crossings,” Mr Mwansa said.
He said that AVIC in partnership with LCC and RDA was expected to light up 150-kilometre stretch of the 408 kilometres of roads at an estimated cost of US$23,550,000.
Mr Mwansa said in trying to stave off the continued power outage by Zesco, the council and RDA had embarked on putting up streetlight poles, which were solar-powered on 40km of the 150km in an effort to improve lighting and security in the city even with the current power deficit.
He said the LCC had since installed conventional streetlights along Manchinchi, Dr Aggrey and Blue Boar roads through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and internal support, and that the local authority was working on modalities to protect infrastructure which was being constructed.
Mr Mwansa said that the local authority through funding from the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) was currently carrying out road markings on major roads and pothole patching on selected roads in the capital city.