Council pays $500k for faulty solar traffic lights
GWERU City Council is counting it’s losses after paying about $500 000 for solar-powered traffic lights which are now malfunctioning, barely a year after they were installed.
Council still requires about $90 000 to complete the installation of the lights. The municipality awarded the contract to Drewland, a Chinese company, in 2013 with a target of installing solar-powered traffic lights at 16 intersections in the city, which was expected to reduce its power bill.
Gweru mayor Councillor Josiah Makombe said council was taking legal action against the contractor, who was also yet to complete the installation process.
He said council lawyers were working to recover money paid to the Chinese company.
“The contractor is working on the robots, but the work is way behind schedule and we have expressed our displeasure and the issue has been sent for arbitration,” said Clr Makombe.
“We feel the contract should be terminated. Once the contractual dispute has been sorted we will engage another contractor that has capacity to finish the project. Our traffic lights are a hybrid of solar and electrical technology.
“They use solar, but when the power from the sun is in short supply they switch to electricity. This ensures uninterrupted functionality.”
Clr Makombe said council was worked on sourcing more funds to complete the project so that all the traffic lights work properly.
“Electrical components are required to finish the work and the cost to completion is approximately $90 000,” he said.
In the CBD, Clr Makombe said some of the traffic lights have since broken down hardly a year after they had been installed.