Transport Minister, Michelle McIlveen said that an extra £1million funding for street lights will be used immediately to tackle the backlog of broken street lights.
The extra money is included in a £24million allocation by the NI Executive to the Department as part of the November monitoring round to deliver improved public services including repairing potholes and other road maintenance.
The Minister said: “This additional funding from the NI Executive is very good news for the public and for wider employment in the sector. It is clear that the rising number of broken street lights and potholes has been a real cause of concern.
“Broken streetlights are a major cause of concern for the public, particularly during the dark winter nights. While we have reports of over 7,000 lights not working, we expect the real number to be much higher. We have now ramped up the service and TransportNI is working with external contractors to carry out repairs and clear the backlog which is expected to take a number of months.
“To help identify faulty street lights, my Department has developed an online system on nidirect which the public can use to report problems in their area.
“I want to assure the public that this funding will be used immediately to address these issues.”
To report a broken or damaged street light please visit the NIDIRECT
website.
In addition to the £16.5million resource funding for routine roads maintenance and street lights, DRD also received £5million capital structural maintenance of roads; £2million resource for Concessionary Fares and £0.6million resource for Community Transport
