Work begins on KwaDukuza’s faulty street lights

A definite programme to turn our streetlights back on is now being implemented, but how long it will take remains unclear.

While it is estimated that as many as 50% of street lights in Ballito do not work correctly, throughout the municipal area there are kilometres of darkened streets that expose residents to criminals and danger in general.

KwaDukuza municipality’s electrical and engineering unit head, Sibusiso Jali recently told the Courier that a contractor had been appointed to deal with the backlog and was currently at work to get the street lights back on.

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CEO of Veritas Engineering Glenvin Latchmanan, the consultants assigned to fix the street lights, said on Tuesday that they were appointed on June 3 to repair the streetlights in all the wards of KwaDukuza municipality.

He said they would give priority to the main streets in Ballito which included Salt Rock Drive, Basil Hulett Drive, Ocean Drive, Simbithi Drive, Ballito Drive, Leonora Drive and Sheffield Drive.

“There were lots of streetlight circuits with faulty supply cables, corroded light fittings and day-night switches off.

The current priorities are the main streets. We work as per fault list given to us by the municipality and follow their program accordingly,” he added.

At the recent Integrated Development Plan (IDP) roadshow the frustration of residents was obvious as some voiced their concerns about not having working street lights for almost two years, despite reporting them faulty on a regular basis.

Municipal officials assured the meeting the backlog would be tackled while provisions had been made in the current budget to repair 200 faulty street lights in Ward 22 and 70 in Ward six with more than R4 million budgeted for the repairs.

A project budget of R5,5 million was also set aside for the installation of new LED street lights in a few selected streets in Wards six and 22.

The streetlight retrofitting programme funded by the Department of Energy has seen the old high pressure sodium light fittings retrofitted with new technology LED lights.

According to Latchmanan 623 streetlights have been retrofitted with the new LED lights so far in eight municipal wards.

In Ballito’s Ward six, 102 faulty streetlights have been identified and 73 have been repaired while KwaDukuza’s Ward 22 (Salt Rock, Sheffield, Umhlali and Shaka’s Rock) 414 streetlights are out of order with 253 repairs undertaken by Veritas Engineering to date.

Ballito Neighbourhood Watch chairperson Candice Henderson said there was no doubt that inadequate lighting was a security issue and that good lighting was one of the most effective means of increasing levels of safety and deterring crime in the area.