In response to increasing electricity costs, the city administration plans to install solar-powered street lights on major thoroughfares.
To achieve this, the installation, maintenance, and management of the street lights will be outsourced as part of the World Bank-funded Competitive & Liveable City of Karachi (CLICK) project.
Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab announced this initiative during a meeting at his office on Monday.
Initially, the project will be implemented on three major roads and will gradually extend to all 106 roads under the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) jurisdiction.
“In the first phase, we are going to initiate the project on Sharea Faisal, Marine Drive and Shahrah-i-Iran which is also known as Shahrah-i-Firdousi with a cost of Rs.1 billion”
Mayor further said
“The project is part of the CLICK programme and tenders for these three roads have already been issued. We are going to convert the street-light system across the city to solar power,” he said, adding that the parties to be selected for these roads would be responsible for keeping street lights operational and maintaining them for five years.
He directed the officials concerned to make sure timely completion of the first phase of the project so that it could be expanded to other roads. He also asked to keep the process transparent and smooth.
“It’s our resolve to restore the lost glory of the city and for that the people of Karachi and other political stakeholders of the city may come forward and join hands for the development of this city,” he added.