From Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
Gombe state government has revealed that plans are underway to convert the generator-powered streetlight in the state to solar. According to the commissioner for works and transport, Alhaji Abubakar Bappah, the decision was reached at the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state of failure in sustaining street lighting initiative of the previous PDP government in the state. However, Bappah assured that the N3.40 billion worth of solar power project is set to address the challenges.
He stated that the first lot of the solar power project which is expected to cover about 71 kilometers of roads within the metropolis was save coast of generating power from the gasoline generator system. According to him, the government was spending about N1.14 billion to run the generator system.
Bappah explained that the contract had been awarded and would be completed within three months. He stated that it was agreed that the contractor will maintain manage the solar project for the period of five years after which they will handover to residents engineers expected to be trained by the contractor to take over the maintenance.