Most of the solar street lights that were installed in Harare, particularly those along Airport Road are no longer functioning.

Harare City Council contracted various companies for the solar lights installation project in exchange for advertising rights.

In an interview, Harare City Council corporate communications manager Mr Michael Chideme said council would look into the matter.

"Thank you for alerting us on the issue. What we are going to do now is to send our engineers on the ground to assess the situation so that corrective measures may be undertaken," he said.

The solar lights installation project -- dubbed an environmentally friendly initiative -- was launched in 2016 in a bid to "light up the city in an affordable way".

Ms Josephine Ncube, who was the then acting town clerk, said the project would be done in two phases, targeting the installation of 10 000 solar lights around the city.

Besides the Airport Road, the solar lights have also been installed along Robert Mugabe Road, Churchill Road, Borrowdale Road and Simon V. Muzenda Street among others.