News
Colombo roads slink in darkness; CMC and Electricity Board slam each other
View(s):By Tharushi Weerasinghe
Parts of Colombo’s main roads and roads right outside of Colombo are in darkness due to non-functional streetlights, putting drivers and pedestrians at risk at night.
“We were travelling from Ambalangoda to Kalutara and only a handful of street lights were functioning,” said one 57-year-old driver. He noted that the visibility was so bad that it took over 4 hours to get to his destination as he was driving with the light of his car’s headlights. “The problem was that other vehicles along the road were having to do the same thing so I was either driving in the dark or being blinded by someone else’s headlights.”
Another driver noted that roads in parts of Borella and Maradana were also in the dark. “These are areas that have vehicles going back and forth, especially at night because people go home from work or their recreational activities- the risk of accidents is so much higher because of this.”
Dalugama
The Colombo Municipal Council claims that the lights are not working because the Ceylon Electricity Board has disconnected power supply due to non-payment of bills.
Media Spokesman for the Ceylon Electricity Board Eng. M. H. Dhammike Wimalaratne vehemently denies this. “The CMC has jurisdiction over this and all we do is provide the power – which we do not cut under any circumstances because of the obvious safety risks.”
Noting that it was a serious issue Eng. Wimalaratne claimed that the lights would be out of commission either because the bulbs were burnt or the poles themselves were out of commission. He added that the general public can make complaints to the CMC to draw their attention to the specific streets.
“CMC makes periodic lump sum payments and even when they don’t we don’t resort to cutting power,” he reiterated.
Contradictorily, Colombo Municipal Commissioner Palitha Nanayakkara has attributed the termination of power supply to streetlights along key roads across the district to an outstanding bill of Rs. 48 million.
“Back then the CEB bore the cost but now we have been sent a bill and we cannot afford to pay it,” he noted.
He stated that the CMC’s high daily expenses are being addressed in collaboration with the Road Development Authority, with specific roads lacking streetlights already identified.
“We presented this in a District Coordination Committee meeting last month and have not received a response yet – we hope they will consider the dangers and give us relief,” he said.
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