Harare traffic lights dysfunctional

MOST traffic lights in Harare are malfunctioning, exposing motorists and other road users to accidents and unnecessary traffic jams.

A snap survey by The Herald recently showed some of the traffic lights had gone for some time without functioning well.

Harare City Council's head of electrical and mechanical services Engineer Calvin Chigairo said they were in the process of procuring new controller for some of the traffic lights.

"We are expecting the delivery of the new controller from South Africa and thereafter we programme the traffic lights to start working", said Eng Chigairo.

"We have been facing the delay on the delivery of the new controller from the supplier due to foreign currency shortages as we are importing the controller from South Africa", he said.

He bemoaned an upsurge in vandalism and theft of traffic signal infrastructure.

"The following intersections were recently affected: Samora Machel and Glenara Avenue, Mutare and Delpot Road, Enterprise and Harare Drive, Milton and Court Road.

"We installed a power back-up system comprising of inverters and batteries to ensure that the signals continue operating even when there is load-shedding or power failure", he said.

Eng Chigairo said the local authority was working on installing cost-effective CCTV (closed circuit television) systems.