The city will be saving at least 69 percent from its power bills once the city’s streetlights will be converted from the conventional high pressure sodium (HPS) to the state-of-the-art Light Emitting Diode (LED) fixtures, one of the major projects of the present administration.
Engr. Richard Molina, electrical engineer of the City Engineering Office (CEO), said that from the over P3.5 million monthly power bills of the city for streetlights, the same will be reduced to over P1.1 million once all the nearly 8,500 HPS fixtures will be replaced by LED fixtures.
He disclosed the city’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) already conducted a public bidding for the multi-million barangay LED streetlighting project but the bids of the proponents are still being evaluated by the members of the technical working group (TWG) prior to the formal award to the declared winning bidder.
The city’s electrical engineer added the implementation of the project will be 360 calendar days from date the project is awarded to the winning contractor for the realization of the long overdue aspiration of the city government to put in place cost saving and energy efficient LED fixtures in its street lighting system.
See more stories:
Earlier, the city government earmarked some P112 million for the implementation of the proposed replacement of the city’s streetlighting system from the traditional HPS to LED fixtures as part of the city’s efforts to embrace state-of-the-art energy efficient bulbs.
The city government will be coordinating with the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) on the meters of the city’s streetlighting system under its custody for the proper turnover of the same to the city for such meters to be used in the existing fixtures to be replaced with LED by next year.
According to him, the BAC is given a maximum of 90 days to determine the winning bidder and award the barangay LED streetlighting project to the complying and responsive bidder so that the replacement of the existing fixtures will be realized soonest.
Molina explained the plan to replace the existing HPS fixtures to LED is part of the overall initiative of the city to effectively and efficiently address the numerous complaints from barangay officials on many busted streetlighting fixtures that had not been replaced for a number of months.
Initially, the city government started the replacement of existing HPS streetlighting fixtures to LED fixtures along major roads in the central business district using the P18.7 million that was previously allotted for the said purpose.
He assured that the LED bulbs and fixtures have better illumination of the unlighted areas in the different barangays compared to the conventional HPS and that the same will help in the city’s cost saving efforts that will significantly lessen the monthly power bills of the city.
The barangay LED lighting project is aligned with the overall efforts of the city government in achieving its desired Smart City status with the putting in place of the integrated command system in the future.
By Dexter A. See
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis
You might also like:
