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Two state institutions, the Ministry of Energy and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), are leading efforts to undertake a conformity assessment of the entire street lighting infrastructure in the country.

This is to ensure that the infrastructure meets the Ghana standard for street lighting (GS 1199-1:2018).

As a starting point, a meeting has been held between the two institutions, during which the resolution to work together to ensure improvement in street lighting in the country was finalised.

Also, the two institutions, together with other stakeholders, will begin a joint assessment of all street lighting projects currently ongoing in the country to ensure that materials used are in conformity with the standards.

The national streetlight conformity assessment, which is expected to begin next month, according to the Director-General of the GSA, Prof. Alex Dodoo, would involve stakeholders from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), as well as representatives of private contractors.

“We are keen to involve all stakeholders to ensure that all the street lighting infrastructure meets the national standard, and that all the streetlights in the country serve the purpose for which they are installed,” Prof. Dodoo told the Daily Graphic in an interview.

The call to action follows a Daily Graphic's report focusing on the poor visibility along some of the country’s major roads, including the Tema Motorway, which was earlier published in April, as well as last Monday’s publication detailing the situation in other cities.

The Director of Distribution at the Ministry of Energy, Mr Chris Anaglo, confirming the meeting in a separate interview, said it had become obvious that the country was not getting the right value for the money invested in the provision of street lighting infrastructure.

That, he said, had contributed to the situation of invisibility on streets at night across the country.

“We have met with the GSA, which is the authority in charge of standards in the country, and there will be a collaborative effort to ensure that all streetlights are up to standard," he said.

Dark streets

The Daily Graphic report has brought to the fore, the fact that the situation of malfunctioning streetlights cuts across the entire nation and is not peculiar to some areas.

The observation was that even for some areas where the lights were functioning, they were not bright enough to provide the needed visibility, as was observed on the Tema Motorway.

In two publications: “The lights go dim”, which was carried in the April 16 edition of the Daily Graphic to shine light on the visibility situation on the motorway, and ‘Dark Streets: Safety swallowed up in the night’, published last Monday, the issue was brought to the fore.

In reaction to the April 16 publication, the GSA said the streetlights on the 19-kilometre Accra-Tema Motorway did not conform to Ghana’s standard for street lighting.

Prof. Dodoo explained that Ghana’s standard for street lighting laid down the fundamental principles that governed the lighting of public thoroughfares, including motorways, arterial routes, residential roads, town and city centres and pedestrian-orientated areas.

Policy

The National Policy Framework on Streetlighting places the responsibility for the provision of streetlights on the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), which has to seek central government funding for the infrastructure.

Once installed, the MMDAs are put in charge of their maintenance. However, that role has not been effectively played.

Maintenance

While admitting that the issue was not the best, Mr Anaglo hinted that the ministry had resolved to take additional measures to ensure that contractors procured the right equipment for all street lighting projects.

"We have taken a decision that every contractor who works on a street lighting project will be given another contract for maintenance works on the project for at least two years, at his own cost, if there is a default.

“At the moment, what pertains is that one contractor does the infrastructure installation and another does the maintenance, and that has in a way contributed to the current situation,” he indicated.

The move, Mr Anaglo explained, would encourage contractors to execute all street lighting projects in accordance with the acceptable standards.

"If the contractor is made aware that he will be responsible for maintaining the project for not less than two years, it will prevent whoever is handling it from doing shoddy work," he said.

He, nonetheless, insisted that the ministry had always awarded street lighting contracts to established contractors with good track record.

Theft

Mr Anaglo further indicated that thieves climbing light poles to steal the bulbs was one major obstacle which rendered some of the street lighting projects ineffective.

The director said the activities of thieves must be tackled holistically to help keep streetlights on and ensure value for money.

Another challenge, he indicated, was the vandalisation of the streetlights by drivers through crashes.

ECG only provides power

The ECG has also said it cannot be blamed for the dark streets at night, as it has no responsibility for its provision and maintenance.

It said so far as its role in the functioning of streetlights was concerned, it only provided power to illuminate streetlights.

“We have no role to play in the provision of street lighting infrastructure and its maintenance. Ours is to provide the power to help illuminate the streets, so if the infrastructure is faulty, we may play our role but it will not be noticed,” the Director of Communications at the ECG, Mr William Boateng, explained.

The situation, he said, could be likened to one having built a house and requiring that the ECG provide electricity; if the infrastructure had not been installed, there was no way that customer could have power in his house.

Streetlight levy

Mr Boateng explained that while the company collected the national electrification and streetlight levy from all consumers, it performed that function on behalf of the government, as all the money collected was directly paid into an account.

He indicated that the levy was 10 per cent of what the consumer paid for power consumed in a month, but that figure was revised downwards to five per cent in 2018.

Of the five per cent, three per cent was set aside for street lighting, while two per cent was for rural electrification, he said.

“It is true that the ECG is mandated to collect those [streetlight] levies, but after collection, the law doesn’t mandate us to use the levies collected for the maintenance of streetlights; our only role is the collection.

“That responsibility rests on the metropolitan, municipal and district assembles (MMDAs),” he explained.

He, however, intimated that the levies collected were usually used by the government to defray the cost of power consumed by functioning streetlights, as well as for maintenance work on the infrastructure.