14th September, 2015
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT ) Transport Secretariat says it has concluded plans for the inauguration of 74 solar-powered traffic lights in the territory on Sept. 18.
Mr Ifeanyi Ughamadu, Head of Public Relations of the secretariat, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.
Ughamadu said that the traffic lights, to be inaugurated by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, were donated by the Chinese Governement.
“Sometime in 2012, the the Federal Government had this offer of assistance from the Chinese Government to construct and install 74 solar-powered traffic lights.
“The traffic lights were to be installed in parts of Abuja as bilateral assistance at the cost of N830 million as part of their corporate social responsibility.
“The contract, which began in March 2015, was executed by Messers Poly Solar Technologies Beijing Limited, and was completed in July, 2015,“ Ughamadu said.
He said that the FCT Administration provided supervision services in the contract to ensure that the job was effectively executed.
“Though the FCTA did not bear any part of the contract cost, our engineers were on ground to supervise the job and ensure effective execution.’’
He said that the assistance came following a conference that took place in Beijing in 2012, where the Federal government made official request for the assistance.
“The assistance came on the heels of an Afro-Chinese Conference in Beijing 2012, where the Federal Government, through the National Planning Commission, requested for the assistance.
“FCTA still requires similar support to upgrade 90 more traffic lights into solar-power for efficiency; because there will be no interruption due to disruption in public power supply.
“Fifty-five of the traffic intersections are in the city centre, 11 in Kubwa and nine in Gwarinpa,’’ he said.
He said that complaints by motorists that the traffic lights were too many and too clustered had been addressed by synchronising their timing to meet with the rhythm of traffic flow.