Around 17,000 streetlights in capital out of order.

Byline: MUHAMMAD ASAD CHAUDHRY

ISLAMABAD -- The residents of the capital are facing problems, as over 17,000 streetlights are out of order at present-turning several parts of the city into darkness soon after sunset.

According to the sources, there are 40,000 streetlights installed across the city by Streetlights Division of the Directorate Of Electrical And Mechanical Maintenance so far on its about 1,600km long network, however, around 17,000 are not working properly.

The aforementioned total number of streetlights includes the lights on major avenues, service roads, streets, markaz, parks and grounds.

About a decade ago, under former chairman Kamran Lashari, most of the streetlights in the city were functional, but as time went on the lights began developing faults. The majority of these faulty streetlights are in older sectors, such as G-6, G-7, G-8, G-9, I-9 and I-10.

In addition to old sectors, the Kashmir Highway from Peshawar Moor to onward and a road leading to Pir Sohawa and Monal is also lacking streetlights.

Sources told that the lights on Peshawar Mor Interchange are also not working, as the project is not handed over to the Capital Development Authority so far.

An officer informed on the condition of anonymity that the concerned formation is only trying to fix the problems on major avenues like Islamabad Highway, Margalla Road and posh sectors like F series.

Officials from the Capital Development Authority and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad said that at present, the directorate responsible for streetlights is focused solely on lighting on main roads, which are being run using solar power.

The Director Electrical and Mechanical Maintenance Muhammad Mozam while responding on the issue accepted that a large number of streetlights are out of order but said: 'I am not in a position to confirm the...