Cape Town: City Energy teams conducted a streetlight infrastructure assessment in Macassar. It was part of the Energy Directorate’s efforts to improve public lighting in communities across the city.
Reportedly, Macassar forms part of the City of Cape Town’s streetlight infrastructure maintenance and upgrading programme. This aims at ensuring that infrastructure is repaired, maintained and upgraded wherever it is necessary.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Energy – Alderman Xanthea Limberg said that the teams remained active on the ground in all communities across the city. This maintained the extensive public lighting network of over 245,000 streetlights.
Limberg stated that her visit to Macassar forms part of their focused efforts to oversee public infrastructure maintenance and it ensures that all communities remain well lit. In addition, they are closely monitoring the City-wide streetlight burn rate, which currently sits at 87.7% according to the most recent data, just shy of 90% target.
Although, theft, vandalism and illegal connections remain the City’s most significant challenge. Macassar falls within an Eskom supply area by limiting the City’s Blue Downs Depot to only public lighting service requests.
Vandalism in this district alone has already cost the City over R1.9 million from over 2810 logged public service requests. Also, crucial funds that could otherwise have supported critical energy infrastructure needed to drive Cape Town’s economy.
Limberg added that during their visit to the area, they saw instances of extreme vandalism where concrete streetlight poles were chopped in half for their cables. Macassar is one of the areas which sees repeated incidents of theft and vandalism, which places strain on the resources and delays service restoration.
They are prioritising repair and maintenance work in the area, in addition to LED upgrades within the broader district. The City of Cape Town is also exploring high-tech infrastructure protection solutions to take back their infrastructure from vandals who seek to steal and destroy the infrastructure.
She acknowledged that, while their Energy Safety teams and City Law Enforcement officials continue to maintain visibility in hotspot areas, they call on residents to be their eyes and ears and to assist them in protecting the power infrastructure. Reporting vandalism and illegal activities helps them to respond faster and ensures that residents and all communities benefit from reliable electricity services.
Notably, the City of Cape Town has spent approximately R62 million in the past financial year on maintenance and replacement of vandalised or stolen electricity infrastructure.
Protect Your Power is a first-of-a-kind campaign, which highlights the massive impact of vandalism, theft, and illegal connections that leave our communities, neighbourhoods, and roadways in the dark. The City calls on all residents to help them Protect Your Power and build safer, brighter communities by reporting any suspicious activity anonymously to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre (PECC).