DARK STREETS POSE DANGER

THE Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has expressed worry over the low levy charged consumers for the maintenance of street lights in the face of the serious difficulties the company encounters in the maintenance of the lights.
Presently, the company says it is running at a huge loss due to the electricity consumption by street lights, in addition to their maintenance, and the company incurred a loss of more than GH¢9 million last year alone.
The ECG maintains that the present levy of 50 pesewas (in the old currency, which is now 5Gp) charged consumers is a woeful pittance, considering the cost of genera-ting electricity and maintaining the lights.
As a result, it has called for a review of the levy to ensure that street lights work and work well.
The concerns of the ECG, perhaps, come as no surprise if one considers how poorly lit some of our major streets are.
In many cases, street lights have become ‘museum’ pieces, although their relevance is not lost on us.
Indeed, road safety experts are always quick to advise that well functioning street lights are critical to avoiding accidents in the night.
This makes so much sense as, on a number of occasions, innocent lives have been lost as a result of the failure of drivers to notice parked cars on road sides, thereby running into them.
In as much as it is sad to lose lives in such a preventable manner, it becomes even more painful on the realisation that it may only take the payment of reasonable and affordable tariffs to avoid such deaths.
Again, in an era of crime sophistication, criminals like armed robbers are enjoying the darkness of our streets as they speed through communities well covered by the darkness on the night to commit their heinous crimes.
It is time for Ghanaians to recognise that street lights serve very useful purposes and must, therefore, be maintained in order for them to work efficiently.
The tendency to dismiss calls for the payment of more reasonable tariffs to ensure the smooth operation of such vital state installations must be a thing of the past if we really want to avoid preventable death, check night crimes like armed robbery and also beautify our towns and cities.
The DAILY GRAPHIC calls for an urgent review of the levy to reflect the economic trends of the day and help inject some more efficiency into the maintenance and operation of the street lights.
As Ghanaians, we need to recognise that we have a civic responsibility to pay appropriate tariffs to ensure the smooth running of such vital state assets that serve our own good.
It is worrying to note that the tariffs that are charged for electricity consumption and maintenance of street lights have not been reviewed for a long time.
Understandably, it is only Parliament that can legislate for the review of the tariffs and efforts to get Parliament to do so have so far not yielded any positive impact.
While it is understandable that Parliament, as a very important arm of government, has many issues to deal with, it is the belief of the DAILY GRAPHIC that the issue with regard to street lights is not one that must be relegated to the background because the lights are required for their benefits to society, such as making driving in the cities and towns safe.
It is in this vein that we urge metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to find very pragmatic ways to raise the necessary funds to ensure that the street lights luminate our streets.