The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has installed street lights within the Metropolis to end years of darkness that has come to characterize the streets of Tema.

The installation of street lights has become necessary to halt the activities of criminals who take advantage of the darkness to commit all kinds of crime within the city.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the TMA, indicated that the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Tema, Mr Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, in an interaction with residents assured them of fixing faulty streetlights and installing new ones in the Metropolis to help reduce robbery attacks.

Mr. Asante said, that “the MCE acted on his promise and mobilized support to get about 200 streetlights after the police brought up the same issue to the notice of the assembly.”

He added that the Assembly had targeted the central business areas in Communities One, Four, Seven, Eight and Nine which required immediate attention.

He said the 200 streets lights were far below what was expected, but it was a good start for the Assembly whilst they waited for more to be added.

Mr Asante also observed that the bad situation of the street lights was also due to the fact that some people dressed like Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) only to steal the photocells which was an important part of streetlights.

Mr Kwesi Hanson Smith, a resident of Tema Community One, in appreciating the work of TMA in installing new lights, recounted how Tema used to have street lights all over in the 1970s “but now it’s an eyesore.”

He told of how some miscreants went about collecting refuse for a fee and because there were no lights, they dumped them anywhere instead of sending them to refuse assembly point, making the city dirty and contributing to outbreak of diseases.

“So lack of a lighting system within the city was worrying us a lot. It also affects security, because there are places one couldn’t pass at night, because criminals may be hiding at such places,” he said.