Colombo and its suburban streets have plunged into darkness at night, posing significant challenges for pedestrians and fostering an environment ripe for illegal activities.
The Sunday Morning has observed that the primary cause of this darkness is the reduction in the number of functioning street lamps. Although each Local Government authority has been allocated a quota for street lamp maintenance, many lamps are in disrepair, failing to illuminate the streets effectively.
Despite the pressing need for adequate lighting, the implementation of solar-powered street lighting systems has yet to commence. While some walking paths in Colombo feature solar-powered lighting as part of previous beautification initiatives, there has been no concerted effort by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to introduce these systems on a larger scale.
The absence of solar-powered street lighting projects is particularly concerning given the current reliance on traditional lighting methods, which have proven inadequate and unsustainable.
The introduction of solar-powered systems could offer a viable solution to the darkness afflicting Colombo’s streets, providing sustainable illumination while reducing dependence on conventional electricity sources and the burden on the national grid.
Legal provisions for street lights
The Urban Councils Ordinance empowers Local Government authorities to enact by-laws concerning street lighting within their respective areas and enables them to recover costs from ratepayers for these services. Additionally, at the national level, the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) has the authority to establish effective standards for street lighting and regulate energy consumption.
Moreover, the Ministry of Power and Energy holds policymaking authority concerning street lighting. The ministry has already issued several circulars aimed at controlling energy consumption for street lighting, limiting it to 2% of the overall demand and providing general guidelines for street lighting design.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), as the regulator for the electricity industry, has imposed limits on public street lighting energy consumption (a maximum 2% of the total demand) for each of the five distribution licensees (four licences held by the CEB’s four distribution regions and one licence held by Lanka Electricity Company [LECO]).
Electricity demand and consumption
Street lighting consumes about 1.5% of the total demand for electricity in Sri Lanka. Most of the street lamps out of the estimated 700,000 installed are hung on Medium Voltage (MV) or Low Voltage (LV) poles used in the distribution network and dedicated street lighting poles are limited to urban areas.
Most of the street lamps are installed by the local authorities/municipalities and thus design standards are yet to be fully imposed as there are numerous decision-makers with some legal authority, according to the PUCSL.
Since most of the electricity consumption for street lighting is not billed or paid for by the local authorities, the PUCSL has imposed limits to control the impacts on electricity consumers who collectively bear that electricity cost, since most local authorities that collect rates for such services are not willing to bear the cost.
However, there is a small minority of local authorities that have come to agreements with the electricity utilities to manage street lighting and are bearing the costs. In addition, the Road Development Authority (RDA), which manages the national road network and expressways, has agreements for the dedicated street lighting installations and thus pays for the electricity.
Concerns with current street light system
There are several issues regarding street lighting, including adequacy, safety, management, and cost recovery. While national electricity utilities are capable of developing standards for street lighting, institutions such as the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI), the SLSEA, the Ministry of Power and Energy, and the PUCSL lack full authority to enforce them. This has led to poorly-lit roads and public spaces, with inadequately designed, maintained, and operated street lamps.
Due to the absence of national standards, local authorities often make decisions about street lighting based on political considerations, neglecting factors such as energy efficiency. Additionally, many street lamps are installed on distribution poles owned by utilities, but local authority employees often undertake installation, maintenance, and operation without utility supervision, posing safety hazards.
There is a legacy element where local authorities traditionally handle street lighting, but utilities may be reluctant to take over due to management issues such as public complaints and political interference. Furthermore, since most local authorities do not pay for electricity consumption for street lighting, there is little incentive for energy conservation. Ideally, users of street lighting should bear the cost, but current arrangements pass this burden onto electricity consumers.
A proposed management strategy involves imposing technical standards for street lighting design, installation, and maintenance by the SLSEA in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
Utilities would be responsible for the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of street lighting, with local authorities permitted to conduct these tasks under utility supervision. Standardised procedures would govern requests for new installations, ensuring compliance with national criteria. The costs would be borne by the respective local authorities or relevant road development authorities.
In such a backdrop, when contacted by The Sunday Morning, a senior official attached to the CEB management, who wished to remain anonymous, said the local authorities could devise their own proposals for street lighting systems and that there was no necessity of requesting permission from the CEB even to implement such a system.
“We don’t have any current projects or proposals received by the CEB on solar-powered street lighting systems,” the official added.
Ongoing maintenance
Meanwhile, when contacted by The Sunday Morning, RDA Director General S.M.P. Suriyabandara said the RDA had replaced the street lights on the Katunayake Expressway several weeks ago. However, upon reinspection, they had found that the wires had been cut off and the lights were not working.
“This has become a huge issue on expressways. The expressway Police have already attended to the matter and they have informed the IGP as well. According to international regulations, street lights should be available only at the interchanges of the expressways,” he stressed.
When asked whether solar-powered street lamps were available on expressways, Suriyabandara said that the street lamps had to be connected to the national grid, even if they were solar powered. “We still don’t have solar-powered street lamps on expressways. However, we are planning to introduce a new project in the future,” he said.
Highlighting the street lamps on other roads, the RDA DG stressed that at the time the roads had been constructed, the RDA had built the infrastructure for the street lamps and handed it over to the respective authorities. “The authorities are responsible for maintaining the street lamps,” he added.