KCCA steps up plans to install lights on Kampala streets

INFRASTRUCTURE

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has earmarked euros 77m (about sh338b) to be spent on the street lights project.

Currently, 92% of the city is in the dark, with only 8% of the roads and streets having lights.

Poorly-lit streets or those without any lighting pose a danger to city dwellers, especially women and those who do not use motorised forms of transport.

Robert Kyukyu, the manager of strategy management at KCCA, says the authority wants to light up the city to make it beautiful, inclusive and habitable.

"We want to make our city safe for everybody. This is why we have this grand plan to make sure we provide street lights to at least 80% of the city.," Kyukyu says.

He explains that lighting up Kampala will help improve and transform the city into a 24-hour economy.

Installing street lights will also allow informal vendors and traders to operate for longer hours and improve road and public safety.

"Most business transactions are restricted to daytime due to poor lighting at night, but we want to see people going up to about 12:00am with their businesses," Kyukyu says.

Under this project, KCCA will install 18,000-20,000 street lamps within three years (2021-2023).

The city will over the next five years also benefit from street lighting initiatives under other projects, including 10,000 lamps under the Kampala City Road Rehabilitation Project that will be financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The road projects have a component of lighting under the on-going Kampala Infrastructure and Institutional Development Project KIIDP 2. Priority will be given to pedestrians' routes, pavements, road crossings, taxi parks, markets, informal settlements and monuments.

"The aim is to make the city attractive and secure, but also promote tourism, improve the image and festivals," Kyukyu says.

Efforts are also being made to rehabilitate non-functional street lights that were vandalised within the central business district.

"We will also install lights in formal and informal markets as well as other community areas that will be deemed okay for street lighting. This will push us to 80%," Kyukyu says.

Current status

KCCA has installed solar lights on some city streets in the past three years, but they are still inadequate.

According to the authority, Kampala central division has 2,503 street lights with only 2,248 lights functional, while 255 are faulty.

In Rubaga division, 306 lights are working while 179 are faulty. Nakawa division has 667 functional street lights, of which 276 are faulty.

Makindye division has 886 street lights, but only 730 are functional. Of the 647streetlights in Kawempe division, only 466 are functional.

The Nakawa division mayor, Ronald Nsubuga Balimwezo, called for more funding from the Government towards lighting the city.

"The capital is not catered for as it should have been. Many MPs live and work in Kampala, but they appropriate little money to run the city," Balimwezo says.

He adds that street lighting is key for security and development of the city and needs to be prioritised.

"Some people take street lighting lightly. Because of a dark city, many people have been maimed and some killed," Balimwezo says.

Without street lights, Balimwezo says even the installed CCTV cameras will do less to curb crime since their night vision quality is low.

Beatrice Komuhimbo, a resident of Mutungo, Kampala, says walking on some roads from Bugolobi to Mutungo is very dangerous at night.

"It is only safe for motorists to use this road. It is not advisable for pedestrians to use these routes at night," Komuhimbo says.

She says a well-lit street reduces fear among pedestrians and makes roads safe, especially for women to move.

"If one leaves Nakawa Market at night, they cannot walk on the Nakawa-Mbuya road to Mutungo because of darkness," Komuhimbo says.

Some streets and roads have now been taken over by thugs who take advantage of the darkness to loot and maim city dwellers.

"The fear of being hit by thugs cannot allow me to move on those streets at night. Even bodaboda cyclists will rob you when they reach these

dark streets," Florence Nalule, a vendor in Nakawa Market, says.

Vandalism

Dozens of solar-powered lights installed in the previous years have been vandalised, with either batteries or solar panels stolen.

Kyukyu says vandalism is responsible for making the city paths unsafe at night and is reversing the gains made.

"The increasing level of vandalism and outright sabotage in some cases has hampered our efforts to light up the city. However, we are engaging the community to be in charge of the city. When lights are destroyed, we all suffer. Let it not be left to KCCA," Kyukyu says.

In the KCCA strategic plan, the authority wants to engage the community in all its programmes in a bid to have the people of Kampala own these projects.

Balimwezo condemns vandalism and calls people of Nakawa to be patriotic and protect public property.

"There is a lot of theft. The batteries and solar panels have been stolen, yet these are expensive and cost a lot to replace," Balimwezo says.

Areas to be lit

Some of the informal settlements to be lit include Bwaise, Nakivubo, Kazo- Angola, Kabakanjagala, Kimombasa, Katwe (Kagugube) and Makerere Kivulu.

Others are Kinawataka, Kamwokya, Kifumbira, Ndeeba, Kibuye and Kalerwe.

Ten markets benefit

Lights will also be installed in ten markets. These are Owino, African Village Craft Market, Usafi, Nakawa, Kalerwe, Wandegeya, Ggaba Fishmarket, Kasubi, Busega and Kitintale.

Four roadside markets along Ggaba Road, Nsambya Market, Kabalagala Market, Kansanga Market, Bunga Market and Ggaba fish market will be lit up.

Other areas are Kafumbe Mukasa Road, New Taxi Park, Makerere University Business School, Kagugube informal settlement, Independence Monument and City Square.