Tuesday, 12 September 2023
The ongoing problem of a lack of street lighting which has led to accidents to motorists and pedestrians still remains unaddressed, Yeniduzen reports.
This applies not only to main roads but other places in the inner cities where there are street lights but they are not functioning.
Citing a recent traffic accident on the Nicosia-Güzelyurt main road, when 18-year-old Fatih Can lost his life, unlit roads came to the fore once again.
Yeniduzen asked the relevant authorities why many roads were still unlit. The response was lack of resources and confusion regarding responsibility.
According to the Minister of Public Works and Transport Erhan Arıklı, the project for the replacement of street lighting with solar panels was ready, but the recently updated Law on Municipalities was an ‘obstacle’.
“According to the law, the control of the lighting of the roads was given to the municipalities. Therefore, there is an ambiguity in the middle. Now we need to find the answer to the question of who is responsible for the lighting of these roads. If they are municipalities, we can do it and give it to the municipalities. After all, we know that municipalities do not have the power and capacity to do this”.
Meanwhile the Director of the Highways Department, Dürdane Abi Acı, pointed out that there were financial difficulties and emphasised that work was carried out using a solar energy system.
However, Mehmet Avcı, President of the Association for the Prevention of Traffic Accidents, stated that the focus is alway on street lighting, but road signs are also very important for drivers.
[Yeniduzen published a similar article in September 2019. Ed.]
