THE city of Lautoka has about 400 streetlights that are either out of order or in need of maintenance.

These defective lights have sparked a wave of complaints, ratepayers lodging their concerns with the Lautoka City Council, the Fiji Roads Authority and this newspaper.

Council CEO Jone Nakauvadra said the responsibility of repairing streetlights was with the Fiji Roads Authority but this has not prevented unhappy ratepayers from taking their grievances to the council office.

“Every day there will be a complaint from a resident saying their streetlight is not working,” he said.

“Even though FRA has taken over, we are still doing our job by getting ratepayers’ complaints and following up with the authority and their contractors.

“What concerns us is the inconsistency of the repair works and the late response to our concerns. We keep following up with them and they do their inspections but in some areas nothing is done.”

Dr Vijendra Naidu from Chenab Place in Rifle Range, Lautoka, said the streetlight in front of his house has not been working since January this year. He and his neighbours have contacted the FRA, LCC and all other concerned stakeholders.

The light caters for about 10 homes.

“We pay our rates, so we should be provided service,” Mr Naidu said.

Mr Nakauvadra said yesterday they would follow up Mr Naidu’s complaint with FRA.

“We do our own inspections and advise FRA about what needs to be done.

“Our main concern too is the safety of our rate payers because most of these streetlights are in residential areas.”

FRA maintenance manager Dale Nicholls acknowledged the numerous complaints received from the public.

“For Lautoka, we have begun with our maintenance work and that began in mid-March. We’ve begun with replacing wholesale streetlights and have been working with the council and the police to find out places where there could be a crime problem,” Mr Nicholls said