Essequibo Coast residents complain of non-functional street lights

Unlit streetlights on the Essequibo Coast along with the prevalence of blackouts over the past months have added to the woes of Essequibians, who have blamed the increased criminal activities to the lack of proper lighting.
Guyana Times was informed by residents that they are at their wits’ end over the numerous streetlights, which have not been working for the past six months.
A resident of Anna Regina outlined to this publication that nonfunctional lights spans from the village of Three Friends to Walton Hall. He added that there were indications that other sections of Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) were faced with the same situation.
Mohammed Fazar, another resident stated that he has been appealing on numerous occasions for increased security in the communities, especially at desolate locations where robberies occur.
According to him, the lights are in working order but due to the amount of power being generated by the power stations, it is insufficient to power the streetlights as well.
“We hear that they can’t generate enough (electricity) for some of the streetlights and to service the coast and to get all the engines up and running so they have to just supply the homes. They tell us that when they get the maximum power in the grid, then they can restore back all the lights but it’s too much to wait so long.”
It was noted that this issue has been the root cause for robberies on the roadway since many persons are traversing the areas in the dark.
“Is a big area that don’t have power so when people walking, they getting robbed. It happening a lot to many people. Then when we have blackout, the entire place have no lights so if you go out, the place is so dark that you can get robbed and nobody around here would know,” another resident added.
Concerns were also raised over students who have to use the stretch of roadway to return home after lessons. In many instances, a resident noted bandits are lurking along the unlit path and thus, relieving the children of their belongings.