A private advertising company City Clock Kenya Limited has planned to extend its services to Freetown, Sierra Leone following the results of a recent research and feasibility study conducted by its team in the Freetown Municipality.
The aim of the research and feasibility study early this year, done in collaboration with the Freetown City Council according to the Group Chief Executive, Mr. T.W. Proske was to understand the requirements of the council and at the same time conduct site analysis of the city.
The outcome of the research conducted Mr. Proske in his correspondence to the Mayor of the FCC, His Worship George Herbert Williams, shows that at the initial stage the Freetown Municipality will be able to take a minimum of 30 units.
The group Chief Executive in his letter further assured the Mayor that the clocks will arrive in Freetown based on an agreement for an initial two year period and that the FCC would pay City Clock an installation cost which would also take care of the maintenance costs including the spares required from time to time.
City Clock on its part, according to the Chief Executive, would market the units to corporate companies that would be interested in having their branding on their City Clock units. The revenue earned from this project, the correspondence stated, would be shared with the FCC on a percentage to be agreed upon during the two years by both parties. After this period the letter affirmed that the City Clock would be now stable.
The FCC is expected to do the clearing of the Clock units ensuring that the company gets good tax rebate and clearance as an added incentive to City Clock.
It is not however clear whether the FCC has consented to this agreement and when this City Clock project will take off in the Freetown Municipality. But officials of City Clock in Nairobi I spoke to re-affirmed their willingness and commitment to extend their services to not only the capital Freetown but to other cities in the country as their long term plan.
City Clock Limited first put up a clock installation in Nairobi almost two decades ago. Since that date over 30 major urban centres were upgraded by getting the service of a CITY CLOCK unit, followed by Uganda in 1993, Tanzania and Rwanda in 2008.
A CITY CLOCK unit harmonizes perfectly with the most varied urban settings. It is made up of a plastic-coated steel pole, a four-sided illuminated display module and a clock. Installed and maintained by CITY CLOCK, the units perform accurately in all seasons.
The unit is made of chip proof fibreglass reinforced polyester, highly resistant to adverse weather and riots. The publicity casing comprises of four advertising panels each measuring 93 X 136 cms and illuminated from within by fluorescent tubes controlled by a timer or photo-electric cell .
The clock unit comprises of a high-precision master clock with four slave clocks. The lighting is supplied by the mains and is subject to the availability of a constant power supply, which at times proves to be difficult due to the sourcing from a third party. Therefore the clocks are powered independently through a solar panel power system.
Photo: Lumley traffic island, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
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