Smart street lights for Harare

Talent Gore
HARARE City Council is embarking on a smart street lighting project that will see over 1 200 street lights being installed around the city to revive the capital’s lighting infrastructure.

The pilot project is going to cover 35km of the city’s major road network, and is being carried out in partnership with ZESA and Rwanda Energy Group. ZESA is pre-financing the project and Council will pay fully for the project once it has been completed.

The project covers Joshua Mqabuko (Airport Road), Seke Road, Julius Nyerere, the stretch of Samora Avenue between Rekayi Tangwena and Enterprise Road, Seventh Street and Chancellor Avenue up to Churchill. It will also cover Rekayi Tangwena, Bishop Gaul and Gangues Road.

As part of the project, Council said it was installing a back office, with a management system, which monitors performance of street lights.

The new system will enable Council to control the switching on, the lighting levels and deeming of lights from their office.

The system enables the monitoring of performance and power consumption.

And, if there are faults or vandalism, the system picks it up simultaneously as it happens in real time, from the back office.

Speaking on the work being done along Julius Nyerere Way, Council spokesperson, Innocent Ruwende, said this will include removal of the old existing cables, and refurbishment of the old street lighting poles.

“The project will see 1202 street lights being installed throughout the major road network in the city,” he said.

“The poles we are erecting are not new, they have always been there, but we have refurbished and repainted them.

“The Smartec solution also allows us to put in security cameras so that we are able to view what happens on the roads from the same system once we have commissioned it.”

Ruwende said Council’s aim was to ensure that there are safer neighbourhoods and better roads.