The City of Windhoek has launched a N$12-million project to digitally map and inspect its entire streetlighting network to improve public safety, reduce maintenance delays and modernise infrastructure management.

The citywide streetlight survey, which started on 15 July, will run for 28 months and cover more than 17 000 municipal streetlight poles across the capital.

This was announced on Saturday by city spokesperson Lydia Amutenya in a statement.

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"It marks the first comprehensive digital mapping and verification of Windhoek's streetlighting assets," she says.

She says the survey will record GPS coordinates, electrical supply points, pole and lantern types, wattage, structural condition and other technical information needed to create a complete digital asset register.

She adds that the electricity department has already developed a digital field data collection platform and a real-time monitoring dashboard, while specialised field devices have been procured to allow survey teams to capture and transmit information electronically.

To support the project, Amutenya says the city is recruiting 34 fixed-term technical staff members, with 30 already appointed and trained.

She says the digital register will improve fault tracing, maintenance planning, budgeting and future expansion of the streetlighting network.

It will also allow planned preventative maintenance instead of relying mainly on faults reported by residents.

Residents, businesses and neighbourhood watch groups have been encouraged to continue reporting faulty streetlights, damaged poles and vandalised infrastructure while the survey is underway.