MPs quiz govt officials over faulty city, municipal solar streetlights

Pressure is building on some officials from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and those implementing the Uganda Support for Municipal Infrastructural Development (USMID) project over alleged connivance with the contractors to supply low voltage solar panels for street lighting in several municipalities and cities across the country.

The World Bank-funded projects were extended to local governments to improve municipalities through infrastructure development. 

Funding for the works is being channeled through the Ministry of Lands, Housing and  Urban Development and that of Local Government, to boost infrastructural development through improved roads, water drainages, markets, abattoirs and street lights.

Saturday Monitor has established that most of the solar streetlights installed under the USMID implementing cities and municipalities are not functioning, few months after they were installed. 

Sources privy to the inside operations say most of the solar street lights supplied don’t meet the standard specifications  as specified in the contracts. The ones being installed are of lower quality and voltage. 

The sources say after winning the contracts to supply the streetlights, the officials from both the Lands ministry and USMID secretariat, who are supposed to supervise the installations, instead allegedly connived with the contractors to procure lower grade equipment at a cheaper cost and share the remaining loot among themselves. 

While appearing before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on Local Government Thursday, officials from the USMID secretariat and those from the ministry of Lands were put to task to explain why a number of solar streets are non-functional.

In Soroti City, for instance, about 60 percent of solar streetlights are not working, while about 40 percent remain non-functional in Mbale.

In Arua, more than 50 percent are non-functional and the problem cuts across several other cities and municipalities.

Mr Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, the committee chairperson, told the officials to explain why some solar lights failed to function. 

Mr Ojara said when they went to Mbale, they were told by the city engineer that the contractor installed 40 watts solar panels instead of  75 watts panels as specified in the contract.
“We were informed that the solar lighting system you have talked about, the quality is wanting, and are not the specified quality in the contract. One engineer said the solarlights being installed are 40 watts, yet they needed solar of 75 watts,” he said.

He wondered whether the engineers tasked with the responsibility of supervising the installations did so.
Mr Ojara challenged the officials to move on the ground and find out what is happening. 

“Are you aware that in most of these municipalities such as Gulu, Soroti, Mbale and others, 60 percent of the solar are not working?. How do we then think that the investment is realistic if the solars are not working?” he questioned.

Connivance
Insider sources privy to the procurements yesterday told this newspaper that a number of officials tasked with the responsibility of making sure the right qualities are supplied instead connive with the contractors to change specifications and pocket the excess money.

A source, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, told this newspaper that for long they knew that these issues would come to light, but were intimidated by their bosses.

“We provide clear specifications in the standard bidding documents but these officials connive with contractors to change them and fail to monitor the installations. In some cases, contractors connive with town clerks to change the specifications,” the source said.

Another source told our reporter that such corrupt tendencies have been going on for years, but remain unreported. The source said the parent ministry officials have been fighting the USMID secretariat officials over who should manage the projects, with officials from the ministry of Lands, directly attempting to usurp the powers of the secretariat.

“You see most of these corruption cases originate from the ministry. While the secretariat wants to do things rightly, these bosses from the ministry are interested in the money and go and connive with the contractors without our knowledge. When we raise these issues, they threaten to disband the secretariat and take over the projects,” the source said.

Engineer Tom Ojuka, who heads the USMID project team, however told the committee that the solar specifications provided by the ministry were very clear. 

He denied connivance between the officials and secretariat, saying that “we have clear specifications on the quality and the design when we award contracts.

He, however, blamed the issues of poor quality on municipalities and cities who had saved money from the project and went ahead to procure their own solar system to add on what the USMID provided.

“So when districts or implementing municipalities or cities decided to go on their own way, what do you do? You have seen different number of solar street lights in different cities and municipalities in addition to what we provided. With ours, they were standard, but those ones who went to contract on their own, we have no say in that regard,” he said.

However, his version was disputed by the Director of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr Vincent Byendamira Ateenyi, who said the ministry has also noticed the issue of substandard solar street lights being supplied and that actions will be taken against those found culpable.

Mr Ateenyi told the committee that the ministry has been following the events and that it will institute a technical review committee to address the anomalies.

“It seems to me that there is need for the ministry to take your observations seriously because we have had some observations ourselves as a ministry as far as solar is concerned. And in my own opinion, if you can allow that, you allow the ministry to institute some kind of technical review of the whole solar project. We shall institute this technical review with a view to correcting some of the aspects in terms of quality, in terms of specifications that there not respected, but also check our own specifications if need be and bring own board serious experts in this area for the betterment of our country,” he said.

Background
The USMID programme started in 2013 with Phase I ending in 2018. Phase II with additional financing started in 2019 and will run until 2023.

The two phases have had budget allocation of more than $500 million (about Shs1.7 trillion), funded by the World Bank.