TRAFFIC Safety Engineer in the Works Ministry, Mr. Nigel Erskine, yesterday said his department is aware of some non-working road lights in various areas countrywide, and has assured that efforts are being made to have them fixed in the shortest possible time. Erskine, when contacted for a status update on the road lights, said his department recently conducted a survey to determine which of the 3,244 road lights that have been installed on the West Bank, East Bank and West Coast of Demerara, as well as on the West Coast of Berbice are defective.
According to him, on the stretch from Ruimveldt to Timehri on the East Bank of Demerara where there are 1,118 road luminaries, there are 15 non-functioning ones at Land of Canaan and another 10 at Craig.
Of the 1,400 plus strategically placed along the stretch from Kitty in the city to Rosignol on the West Coast of Berbice, 12 non-working ones are at Paradise and 11 at Mahaicony, both villages on the East Coast of Demerara.
Meanwhile, on West Coast and West Bank of Demerara, where there is a total of 528 road lights, Erskine said non-functioning ones were found at Hague and Vreed–en-Hoop on the West Coast. Defective road lights numbering 40 were also found at Versailles, Malgre Tout and Schoonord all villages on the West Bank of Demerara.
Erskine, who disclosed that some of the lights became defective as a result of accidents and accidental damage to under ground cables, said works have already been effected to a few which had minor defects.
However, maintenance works on the road lamps located in the vicinity of Versailles will have to await the approval and release of funding, which he expects will be very soon.
Bardon Contracting Services will be executing the repairs on the West Bank of Demerara, while Cummings Electrical Company Limited will undertake the maintenance of the luminaries on the East Bank, East Coast and West Coast of Berbice.
The exercise, costing millions of dollars to ensure that the major roads countrywide, in particular the populated areas, are illuminated, is aimed at helping to reduce the country’s road fatalities.
And motorists and pedestrians are urged to play their part in exercising extreme caution by observing the five Cs of Road Safety: Care, Courtesy, Caution, Commonsense and Consideration.