LED street lighting project delayed by six months

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) ambitious project to save energy and provide brighter street lighting could be delayed by six months since it is yet to begin the process.

In February, the Palike issued the work order to a firm to replace 4.75 lakh streetlights with Liquid Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs under the ‘energy saving’ model.

While the project was scheduled to begin post the elections, it could be put off until later this year. “We’ve recently floated tenders to appoint consultants (for the project) in all 198 wards,” said a senior BBMP official, while speaking to DH.

“It might take two months for them to start work and they’ll have to submit the specification of streetlights according to the condition of the roads in various wards. The work (in reality) will only start in November,” he added.

The BBMP said it would take 30 months to replace the 4.75 lakh bulbs, after which the company providing the LED bulbs would maintain the lights and the polls for the next ten years.

The civic body has been paying Rs 200 to the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (Bescom) towards electricity and maintenance. It hopes to cut down the bills by Rs 3.5 crore each month. The BBMP will take over the maintenance of the lights after the ten year period.