Guyana Electrical Consultants & Associates

    

A local company has entered detailed talks with the police on replacing traffic lights in the city which have been blank for many months now.

Stabroek News understands that the Police invited Guyana Electrical Consultants to make a presentation on the installation of new traffic signals at intersections.

The company had submitted a document several months ago outlining its proposals to Commander ‘A’ Division, Assistant Commis-sioner Paul Slowe but had not been told anything. However, it was recently contacted and the presentation was made in the Commissioner’s conference room. The company has since been asked to clear up some outstanding issues, Traffic Chief Michael Harlequin told Stabroek News yesterday. Once this is done the possibility of having signals manufactured by the company would be considered, this newspaper understands.

Traffic lights at several busy intersections around the city and its environs, including those along Camp Street have not been working for many months. At some of the light fixtures, such components as the bulbs, faces and hoods have been pilfered or vandalised.

Harlequin told this newspaper yesterday that the situation with respect to the lights remained unchanged but the department is making efforts to ensure an unhindered traffic flow at these intersections.

He said that while records show a decline in vehicular accidents at these intersections since the lights have not been functioning, this is no excuse for not having the signals in operation.    

“We can use the ranks in other areas not normally policed rather than at these intersections,” Harlequin said. He further said, without giving details, that the Ministry of Public Works and Communication is in the process of making efforts to ensure the lights are functional.

Stabroek News several weeks ago had spoken to officials of Guyana Electrical Consultants who said they had the capacity to produce signals at 60 percent below the cost of imported systems.

Their merchandise which would include signals to direct pedestrians, including the visually-impaired, would be specially calibrated to cater for traffic density, a company official had told this newspaper.

The company is however hoping to overcome the issue of pre-qualification requirements from overseas funding agencies, including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Officials at the Public Works Ministry several months ago had indicated that a programme for the rehabilitation of traffic signals, many of them outdated, was expected to come on stream next year.