Twenty-eight new solar-powered street lamps turn on

Twenty-eight new solar-powered street lamps turn on in Kabul Wednesday during a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by more than 50 people. This light turned on after Kabul Maj. Muhammad Yunus Nawandish spoke to a crowd of more than 50 people to share his vision for the street-lighting program.
The lights are expected to improve the quality of life for Afghans by enabling shop keepers to extend their open business hours, thus helping them generate more revenue to live on. The lights will also help increase the safety for pedestrians along the busy streets.
The 28 solar-powered lights, poles, solar panels, and batteries were part of a pilot project costing U.S. $200,000. Lessons learned from similar construction projects in Iraq were applied to the program here, including keeping the batteries and solar panels elevated to prevent theft and vandalism. Two more proposed projects is expected to cost more than $1 million each and are scheduled to be completed by 2012.