Portions of Bolgatanga plunged into darkness

Bolgatanga,- Some portions of the Bolgatanga Municipality in the Upper East Region have been plunged into darkness owing to faulty street lighting systems on major streets in the Municipality.

Street lights on the Regional library road through to Soe, a suburb in the Municipality, and from the library junction to the Regional Hospital junction are not functioning, while those within the township are also not functioning.

The situation is the same with the traffic lighting system in the Municipality, as only the set of functioning traffic lights are those at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and the Ghana News Agency office road intersections.

Those at the Regional hospital junction, the road intersections at the Bank of Africa, Agricultural Development and Maltaaba Community Banks, and the stadium, library and Soe road intersections have not been functioning for several months.

This causes congestion, compelling motorists and pedestrians to meander their way through, especially on market days.

Briefing journalists in Bolgatanga on the street and traffic lighting systems in the Municipality, Mr Peter Amoako, the Regional Urban Roads Engineer, said some of the faulty traffic lighting systems were as a result of electrical power instability, “Every intersection where traffic lights are not working may have its unique situation.

“If you take the traffic lights at the stadium intersection, the Contractor drilling the water lines unfortunately cut through some of the cables, and so that has been brought to the attention of the Traffic Lights Engineer.”

Mr Amoako explained that some of the malfunctioning traffic lights were due to high electricity power voltage, “All these have been brought to the attention of the Contractor, and we are actually working on them.”

He said plans were underway to acquire electronic power stabilizers for the traffic lights at the road intersections to stabilise the power and purchase some components to fix the systems and assured people in the Municipality that the traffic lights would be fixed.

Mr Stephen Yakubu, the Upper East Regional Minister said the situation was a matter of concern, as the malfunctioning lights posed a threat to security in the Municipality.

He said the two entities responsible for the street and traffic lighting systems, the Municipal Assembly and the Department of Urban Roads, were charged to ensure that the systems functioned and was confident that the issue would soon be resolved.

The Minister called on residents in the Region to be vigilant and watch out for people who tempered with the systems and report to authorities.

Source: Ghana News Agency