Lira City Street lights breakdown
An aerial view of Lira City. The residents are worried to walk at night because the street lights no longer work. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
The street lights in Lira City were installed under the World Bank-funded Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development but has since stopped working.
Lira City residents are concerned that the breakdown of 141 solar street lights could endanger their lives at night.
Mr Denis Opio, a bar owner on Oyite Ojok Lane, said he is losing business because many customers have shifted to lit places for their own safety.
“Oyite Ojok Lane used to be one of the busiest areas at night when all the streetlights were still functional. Currently, people fear to walk on the same street at night because street gangs have taken over and are robbing items such as cash and smartphones from them,” he said yesterday.
Mr Francis Ogema Awany, the coordinator of Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lira branch, accused the technical staff of the then Lira Municipal Council of ignoring lighting of the streets.
Mr Ogema said the solar street lights blacked out after the batteries’ lifespan expired.
The street lights in Lira City were installed under the World Bank-funded Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID).
“Lira Municipal Council’s technical staff and the consultant of USMID did not carry out an inspection to find out the specification of the street components. I know the main problem with those solar street lights is their batteries. The municipal engineer and his team should have taken time to know their specifications and country of origin,” he added.
Mr Ogema said most of the solar products in Uganda are fake and that the contractors may have not realised it when buying them, the reason they did not last long.
He added that this challenge should be an eye opener to the Lira City Council leaders to avoid repeating the mistakes.
The Lira City Council engineer, Mr Fred Owiny, said after the installation of the streetlights under the USMID project, the city authority took over the responsibility of maintaining the street lights.
“Out of the 229 solar street lights, we have identified 141 which are not working,” Mr Owiny said on Wednesday.
He said most of the broken streetlights were installed in the first phase of the project around 2013-2014 and that the lifespan of some of the lights is five years.
“So, if you count from 2013, you will find that they have exhausted their lifespan and they are actually supposed to die out,” Mr Owiny noted.
He said the Lira City Council has earmarked Shs60m under the Uganda Road Fund to maintain street lights this year.
He noted that many of the non-functional streetlights have simple problems such as disconnection and expired batteries.
The project
The roads which had solar street lights installed on them during the first phase of the USMID project were Maruzi, Imat Miria, Oyite Ojok, Amhbubai and Aduku.
The roads which were constructed under USMID Phase 1 B project in 2019 were Obote Avenue, Kwania, Oyam and Soroti.
Abubakar Technical Services, which is currently implementing the second phase, budgeted a total cost of Shs37.6b to cater for works on Obangakene, Noteber, Aber, Olwol, Uhuru and Boundary roads.
The other work includes construction of the Children Park in Adyel and beautification of Coronation Park.
