In a bid to save costs, the Fiji Roads Authority will be installing solar power streetlights in more remote and rural areas.

FRA chief executive, Jonathan Moore, says all major highways are powered by Energy Fiji Limited and it is easy to connect normal street lights onto the power grid.

However, he says rural areas are not getting enough power supply so FRA is looking at using solar power for streetlights.

_“The actual capital cost of solar power streets lights is far more than a normal street light so we don’t do it everywhere because the capital cost is too much. But in the rural areas we’ll have to lay new cables long distances to supply power to the streetlights and that adds on to the capital cost so we find it more cost effective to put solar street lights in the rural areas rather than connect it to the EFL grid.” _

Meanwhile, streetlight installation in other urban centers are progressing well.

Moore says work on Queens Road will be completed by next month, while the works on Kings Road will be completed by January.

He says they are also working on installing streetlights from Labasa towards Savusavu.