KwaDukuza becomes a brighter place
Report sheds light on street lights that have been fixed.
An impressive 2721 streetlights were repaired and maintained in KwaDukuza between October and December 2014.
This is according to the second quarter’s report, meaning that ElectroTech Electrical and Nationwide Electrical, the two companies which won the street lights tender last year are doing what needs to be done.
ElectroTech Electrical has been working on the southern section and have fixed 486 lights in Ballito (ward 6) and 193 in Salt Rock (ward 22).
“We have found them to be extremely helpful and have in fact made huge strides in forming a relationship with them so that if we, as councillors, receive a complaint about a street or individual light not being operational, we call them and provide the info and they go and rectify the situation on the same day,” said ward 22 councillor Malcolm Hubner.
He said there had been a situation where the lights between the Salt Rock Hotel and Little Maritzburg Road in Salt Rock were out for months towards the end of last year and when they received a complaint via the ward committee, they raised the issue with ElectroTech and the situation was rectified within a week.
“This resulted in a major improvement with the lighting in the area around Super Save and the beach in general,” he said.
He added that there have also been huge improvements in the general street light situation in the Sheffield Beach area, where ten lights have been fixed.
The area has been plagued by break-ins for an extremely long time.
“The lights are now operational and it is a much safer environment,” he said.
The only concern Hubner raised was the practice of leaving the lights burning all day and night after they have been fixed, in an attempt to check that there are no failures.
“This often leads to the lights burning for long periods during the day which in turn leads to much dissatisfaction with the rate payers. There must be a better way of performing this task.”
According to KwaDukuza electrical engineer Nick Hall, the contractors simply do the labour and are supplied with the equipment, so if they are not supplied with the switch mechanism that switches the light off during the day, the light will stay on.
He added that there are times when the necessary equipment is not available due to strikes or logistical problems, meaning that the contractors have to make do with what they have.
On the northern side of KwaDukuza, things are looking brighter too.
Stanger Manor (ward 17) had 103 lights repaired and maintained and Glenhills (ward 13) had 96 lights attended to.
Hall stated that the two companies have been working well and have managed to fix most of the lights, although they still have work to do.
He further said that council has appointed two streetlight electricians to assist and monitor the two appointed streetlight contractors on a daily basis, until the contract ends in May this year.
“The electricians will accompany the contractors and help with tasks such as fixing street light cables where necessary, as this is not part of their contract.”
Based on performance, the contracts for the two companies may be extended for a further six months.
