NEW: Harare’s street lights get facelift

Malven Mugadzikwa

The City of Harare has embarked on a project that will see its old street lights being replaced with smart ones through funds that are coming from the Government.

The programme aims at replacing old street lighting with new technology lighting systems that can be remotely controlled. Ship Tracks (Private) Limited, a local contractor, is seized with work on Third Street, Fifth Street and Kwame Nkurumah in Harare.

At a recent full council meeting, Harare City Council Director of Electrical Services, Engineer Calvin Chigariro, revealed that council was considering refurbishing old street lights and replacing them with new LED ones.

“We are targeting to refurbish the old street lights which were vandalised and install over five hundred street lights,” said Eng Chigariro.

Ship Tracks’ Project Manager, Mr Munyaradzi Sithole, said they were removing old poles to pave way for the installation of new ones that suit the new lighting system.

“Currently, we are removing old poles as some of them can no longer withstand the weight of the lights. Some poles are now broken,” he said.

He said some concrete poles cannot be modified to suit the new lighting system.

“The old poles had a height of about 7,1 metres, while other poles are 12 to 14 metres high. We are replacing those poles with 10 metres high poles,” he said.

“The light fittings were about 70 to 200 watts and we are replacing them with LED luminaires that are between 160 to 200 watts.”

To avoid vandalism and theft cases, Mr Sithole said they are replacing copper cables with aluminum ones.

Mr Sithole said the new lights that are going to be installed have smart technology. The lights will be controlled from Town House using a GSM system. Through that system, operators can identify malfunctioning lights from the comfort of their offices.

“They can even change the brightness of the lights. When there is less traffic during the night they can save power by dimming some sections of the lighting system. The lights are not solar powered, they will use power from the national grid,” he said.