A Sh50 million street lighting project that was set up in February ahead of the sixth Devolution Conference in Kirinyaga County has been vandalised.
Most of the 22km of lit road from Sagana to Kianjiru market has been left in the dark by the yet-to-be arrested vandals who scale the high concrete poles to steal bulbs.
The project was a joint venture between Kenya Power and the Kirinyaga County ahead of the conference.
The matter has so far been reported to the police, according to the KP county Engineer Stanley Watiri. Mr Watiri said the power suppliers were “monitoring the entire lighting system of the affected road”.
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He said the vandals were “individuals well versed with matters electric power” adding it was just a matter of time before they could be arrested.
“What we do not know is where they take the special bulbs they remove from the street lighting project. We just hope the police will be able to arrest the suspects,” Watiri said yesterday.
According to a Memorandum of Understanding between the power distributor and the county government, the former was to install the lighting system while the latter was to continue footing the monthly bills.
Only a few business premises enjoy a 24 hour economy along the busy Sagana-Kutus-Kianjiru road as a result of the vandalism.
Residents assured
Yesterday Watiri assured residents that although the vandals were busy sabotaging the gains made to light up the streets, normalcy would return soon.
