Hyderabad: Expressing displeasure at the slow progress in the implementation of the LED street light project in urban local bodies, the state government has instructed Energy Efficiency Service Ltd (EESL), a joint venture company of the Union power ministry, to impose penalties on LED suppliers. The state government has decided to install LED street lights in all urban local bodies in the state so as to cut energy and costs. The project is being implemented by EESL. In the first phase, 32 ULBs will be covered.
However, only five per cent of the work has been completed; in some municipalities, it has not even started. Gajwel Municipality, which is in Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s constituency, and Sircilla Municipality, which is in the assembly constituency of Municipal Administra-tion Minister K T Rama Rao, have both not begun the process of LED electrification. Similar is the case of Suryapet Municipality which is Energy Minister G Jagdeesh Reddy’s constituency. At a meeting to review the project recently, Secretary of the Municipal Administration and Urban development department, Navin Mittal, expressed displeasure at the slow progress of the project, with only five per cent of the work completed.
He was informed that the delay was because of the scarce supply of LED bulbs. Mr Mittal instructed EESL to impose a penalty on the suppliers at two per cent of the cost of non-installed LED lights per week. He also said that the maintenance of cables during the contract period is applicable to all urban local bodies in the state, including GHMC. He told EESL to revise its timeline and follow it strictly. The benefits of the LED bulbs project is better illumination of public places, and reduction in the actual load on power for street lights from 771 KW to 387 KW, and saving in costs of about '3.46 crore cumulative in the seventh year and Rs 2.8 crore every year after the seventh year.
Municipal Administration department officials said that the cost per unit of electricity ranges from Rs 7.22 to Rs 10.76 due to additional charges on account of low power factor, interest charges and electricity duty of 6 paise per unit. In the Greater Hyder-abad Municipal Corpo-ration limits, installation of LED bulbs has not yet started. In Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation, only 364 LED lights have been installed of the 27,097 that have to be installed. Out of the 32 urban local bodies that have to install LED lights, work has not even started in 16.
