Masaka mayor halts solar light project amid quality concerns

Masaka City Council Mayor Florence Namayanja has halted the installation of new solar lamps along the newly constructed Broadway Road, citing poor quality.

Ms Namayanja said a section of the road has already been installed with new solar lamps, but the lamps are of low quality.

“I have received numerous complaints from users of Broadway Road, particularly motorists and residents of Kijjabwemi and Nyendo, who are unhappy with the poor quality of the solar lamps, compared to those that Masaka City recently installed on other roads under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) project,” she said in an interview on Tuesday.

 “I have asked the contractor to stop installing the lamps because they will not serve the intended purpose,” she added.

The affected road

Broadway Road connects from Total Highway filling station through Masaka City Centre to Kijjabwemi roundabout.

In 2020, the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) contracted Chongqing International Construction Corporation to work on the road at a cost of Shs35b.

Ms Namayanja said although the lights were supposed to be 50 watts, the contractor instead installed lamps of 20 watts, which she said are below the required standards.

“We can’t sit back and watch when contractors continue to do substandard work in the city,” she said.

Ms Namayanja said she has since petitioned Masaka District Police Commander, Mr Hussein Mugarura, to intervene and investigate the matter.

“Your findings will equip us with the necessary information to disseminate to the community and thus will go a long way in avoiding likely riots from dissenting parties,” Ms Namayanja said in March 7 letter addressed to Mr Mugarura.

Mr Mugarura confirmed receiving Ms Namayanja’s letter, adding that he has since instructed the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to take up the matter, and that they will soon present a report of their findings to him.

The letter was copied to the Inspectorate of Government, Masaka Resident City Commissioner Ahmed Kateregga Musaazi, city engineer Augustus Turibarungi and Unra resident engineer Stephen Kizza.

However, Mr Kizza dismissed claims that the solar lamps are of poor quality, insisting that the contractor considered the actual specifications as per the contract.

“No contractual obligation was flouted as claimed by the mayor. The challenge would be on the spacing of the solar lamp poles but, of course, you can’t blame that on the contractor because the resources we had could only do that,” he said.

Mr Kizza explained that they had only 195 light lamps for the 7.3km stretch, and to cover this distance, they had to put lamps in a space of 70-75m away from each other.

“The light [brightness] from the lamps has been improving gradually. By the time we installed the first batch of light poles, the batteries were at about 20 percent charged, and we told her [mayor] to give it time so that the batteries charge to full capacity and produce quality light,” he added.

Solar lights

The solar street lighting system, which has been installed on many city streets in Masaka in the past five years, has proven cheaper to install and operate than the conventional electric street lights. It has also generated a range of economic and social benefits, including lower crime rates, improved road safety, and a more vibrant night-time economy.

By the time solar lamps were installed, the city authorities were spending more than Sh200m on electricity bills for street lights annually.

However, due to poor maintenance, some solar lamps have started to breakdown. On some streets, the solar lights go off suddenly, while others were knocked down by reckless motorists.