Ithaca among villages to receive street lights

Ithaca, West Bank Berbice is among several villages which will be receiving street lights in a few weeks to improve the safety of the roadways.
The announcement was made by the Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson on Monday at the opening of the Kitty roundabout.
In addition to the much-needed street lamps, the Minister announced that he has made plans for reflective thermoplastic lights to be used along the roadways, to aid night drivers in preventing accidents and promoting safety.
According to Patterson, more than 1000 Light Emitting Diode (LED) street lamps have already been sourced and are soon to be installed in a number of villages, which were promised the lamps, by himself and the Minister within the Public Infrastructure Ministry , Annette Ferguson.
Some of the villages that will receive street lights include Wakenaam, Supenaam to Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast; Meten-Meer-Zorg to Plantain Walk, West Coast Demerara; Bourda Market; and Aubrey Barker Road, Georgetown.
The Minister pointed out that there were several more villages to be improved with street lights when the next batch of 4600 lights is sourced during the next week. Nevertheless, he noted that the installation of these lights should take just about six weeks to be completed.
Earlier this year, the National Park received an $8 million upgrade in lights of this type. The particulars of the project involved replacing the inefficient 250-watt mercury vapour lamps with the more efficient 80-watt solar powered lights.
The integrated solar powered street lights use renewable energy from the sun to charge the batteries, which provide lighting at nights using energy-efficient LED lights.
Some 49,275 kWh of energy is being created and 29,565kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually is being avoided/saved through this investment. This translates to over $2,800,000 yearly in savings in electricity costs.