Showcasing new solar-powered lights in Kabul, Kabul

Showcasing new solar-powered lights in Kabul, Kabul Maj. Muhammad Yunus Nawandish flips the switch Wednesday to manually turn on the first solar lighting as more than 30 Afghan and foreign reporters, broadcasters, and photographers document the historic event. Earlier in the evening, the mayor spoke to a crowd of more than 50 people as he shares his vision for this first and future phase of 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.