Mayor Kaduya bemoans poor street lighting in Lilongwe
Mayor for Lilongwe City who is also opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Chilinde 1 Ward Council, Juliana Kaduya has bemoaned inadequate availability of street lights in Lilongwe City which she said is making the capital city to look unpleasant during the night.
In an interview, Kaduya said that she is concerned with the shortage of the street lights in the city, hence through Lilongwe City Council she has decided to rehabilitate the lights.
“I have observed that Street lighting is poor in Lilongwe, for this reason I have thought it wise to pay greater attention to street lighting maintenance and expansion of lighting in dark places around the city as one way of brightening the city at night,” said Kaduya.
She added that, the street lights will not only be rehabilitated in main roads of the city, rather the council will also install new street lights in miner roads situated in residential locations.
She also said that, the street lights will be powered by solar energy in order to boost its sustainability and also ease pressure on electricity costs.
The Mayor, urged Lilongwe City residents to own the street lights by preventing any kind of vandalism.
“It is my plea to the residents of Lilongwe to take care of the street lights by avoiding damaging the equipment used.
“Last time we did the pilot phase of the project and we installed the street lights from Capital Hotel Roundabout going to parliament but people vandalized all the equipment and now it is very dark when you pass that area at night,” she said.
Central Region Police Headquarters Public Relations Officer Kingsley Dandaula said that, street lights are crucial in public places, saying that apart from brightening the place they do also play important role in strengthening security during the night.
Therefore, he urged the council to reflect on enhancing the development of street lights in Lilongwe City saying that, this would relieve their task of patrolling the city at night.
On the other hand the mayor should also prioritise on keeping the city clean. There should be proper and timely waste management. Waste take too long to be removed, resulting the city to look filthy and stinky. Collection of waste from residential areas stopped sometime back. Most people in the high density areas cannot afford private collection companies, therefore, city council should take back the responsibility of garbage collection or outsource, so that the landscape of the city could change. Currently, the city is an eyesore and a shame, not only to Lilongwe residence but a country as a whole,… Read more »