The expected installation of street lighting has started on Wakenaam Island.
According to a Department of Public Information (DPI) report, Maria Johanna, Noitgedacht, Domburg, Fredericksburg, Sans Souci, Belle Plaine and Sarah are the villages that are currently benefitting from new LED street lights.
Community Development Officer Perry Birbal explained that the first shipment of lights is not enough to cover the entire island. “…We don’t have for all the posts around the island but I am guided that this is just the first shipment. We are to expect more light in the second shipment and in due time the entire island will enjoy street lights. So, I am appealing to areas that have not yet received to bear with us a little more, as slowly the good life is coming to all of us,” said Birbal, who is also the Regional Councillor representing the island.
He also commended Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, who had announced the plans for the installation of the lighting, for delivering.
“This is real improvement to the highest. Imagine what we thought could never happen is unfolding before our very eyes. Who could have thought that Wakenaam of all places will get street lights? This is just wonderful and anybody that criticises this move just like punishing,” Jermaine Roger, a resident of Maria Johanna, was quoted as saying in the report.
Another resident, Julian Roberts, of Noitgedacht, told DPI that people are scared to traverse the road at night because there are a lot of snakes around the farming community. “Countless times the poisonous labaria would be sleeping on the road and people got bitten already. With the lights now, some amount of fear is removed and we welcome this level of development,” Roberts said.
