Bulawayo gets first solar traffic light

THE Bulawayo City Council yesterday commissioned the first solar traffic light in the city. The local authority also embarked on a project to re-seal roads. Officiating at the commissioning ceremony yesterday, Bulawayo Mayor, Councillor Martin Moyo said the solar traffic light at the intersection of Cecil Avenue and Coghlan Road cost $8, 000.

"This intersection is the first intersection to use solar technology in Bulawayo and was done at a cost of $8,000 with the assistance of Solar-Tech Africa who supplied the solar panels and batteries." He said the solar traffic lights would soon be introduced in the city's 90 traffic intersections.

The Mayor said the city invested $300,000 into power saving Light Emitting Diodes (LED) technology that has since been installed at 80 intersections. He said the LED technology ensured brighter street and traffic lighting and would save the city more money, once coupled with solar lighting.

Clr Moyo said: "The solar traffic lights will ensure constant power supply to our traffic lights which can be seen as a way to reduce accidents in the city's intersections that are caused by the current power outages being experienced countrywide."

Solar energy, said Clr Moyo, is an environmentally friendly and sustainable source of energy. "It's my hope that we'll have enough funding to make this dream a reality. The system is completely isolated from the national power grid and we note that with the electricity challenges facing the nation, we'll not be affected," he said.

Clr Moyo said the local authority was also commissioning reconstructed roads in the city. He acknowledged the city faced challenges in servicing roads due to the harsh economic environment. The mayor said in 2012, a consultant found that 69 percent of the city's 2,064 kilometres of road were in a poor to very poor condition.

"About 13 percent of the roads were in a fair condition and only 19 percent were in a good condition," he said. "This shows council has a mammoth task of bringing the city's roads up to a good condition." He said maintaining the road network was projected to cost $691 million for the 10 years commencing in 2012, translating to $69 million a year.

"It's noted that such an amount is beyond reach for BCC or any institution of a similar nature in the Zimbabwean economy for that matter," said Clr Moyo. The mayor said from 2012 to date, the local authority resealed, re-gravelled and reconstructed major roads in the city.

"In 2015 alone more than 50km of road rehabilitations have been performed, with about five kilometres reconstructed," said Clr Moyo. The Bulawayo mayor said roads like Huggins, Wellington, Gwabalanda Drive, Matsheni and most recently Mazwi Road had been rehabilitated this year.

"This is because we made a decision as council to prioritise and ensure that we maintain our city's road network. Our efforts have also included the purchase of road construction plant as part of our continued exertion to bring our road network standard up to acceptable levels," he said.

Clr Moyo said a collaborative effort of the residents and the contractor Asphalt products was slowly making the dream a reality. "The residents pay their bills, council plans the rehabilitation exercise, designs the works and carries out the earthworks, the contractor, was then engaged to do the work on ground.

"Asphalt products have managed to honour their mandate as per contract and have completed their works to the satisfaction of council," he said. Clr Moyo said council had budgeted $3.5 million for road rehabilitation next year.

"For council to achieve the desired results, funding is required. We're requesting residents to assist in achieving this by timeously paying their bills," said the mayor.