The responsibility for maintaining faulty streetlights falls on local authorities, not the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Nasir Ahmed Yartey, the Public Relations Officer for the ministry has explained.
According to him, there is a legal framework that assigns the maintenance of streetlights to the local assemblies.
In an interview, Mr. Yartey referred to Section 4 of the policy document to support his statement.
“We have a framework on street lights and I can make reference to the August 2011 policy document. I don’t know whether there has been an update to it but if you go to Section 4 of the document, where it talks about the policy direction when it comes to street lights, it places ownership and responsibility for the maintenance of street lights in the hands of the local authority,” he noted in an interview monitored by Ghanaian Dailies on Citi FM.
He emphasized that the Ministry of Roads and Highways is only responsible for fixing streetlights when constructing roads but the local assemblies are then entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining them.
“What happens is that as a Roads Ministry, when we are constructing roads, we provide the infrastructure, and so for example, if you go to Borteyman to School Junction, you will see that we have provided street lights and that is what we do.
“We add the provision of street lights to the road contract but when we are done constructing, the laws place the street lights in the hands of the local authority and that is why they collect levies for street lights,” he noted.
He continued, “So if you are looking for the authority responsible for the maintenance of street lights, it is the local authority”.
Meanwhile, the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council has revealed plans to install 25,000 solar-powered streetlights across the region.
This initiative addresses the complaints by motorists and residents in the Greater Accra region about poor visibility on roads at night.
Speaking at a regional town hall meeting, Regional Minister, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glovers said the exercise of fixing street lights is part of measures to curb crime.
“Because criminals don’t like visibility, the government has supported the region to make sure we light up the entire region with some street lights. In phase one, 10,000 streetlights were distributed in 2022.
“20,000 in 2023 and in phase three, we are going to do 25,000. There is a process in place where a company wants to partner with the regional coordinating council to do a solar one on the Tema Motorway. They will do a pilot from Shiashie through the Airport to 37 to Accra Central,” he noted.
“Then we look at the N1 all the way to Weija Gbawe. Then we come to Achimota, the Overhead, through the Forestry Commission, the Achimota Police Station, GIMPA and then we make a turn towards Fiesta Royale” he added.
