Mumbai: BMC's 4-year-old project of changing streetlights to LED is now 97% complete

The BMC has completed around 96.69% work of changing sodium vapour lights to LED lights in the Mumbai suburban section. For this, the civic body paid Rs 55 crore to Adani Electricity from the revenue it generated by selling the old lights as scrap.

The BMC initiated the replacement process four years ago, to save electricity, after instructions from the Central government to install LED lights on Mumbai streets.

Project began in phased manner

Accordingly, the standing committee approved the proposal in 2018 and started work in a phased manner. Adani Electricity supplies power to the eastern and western suburbs, while BEST supplies electricity to Mumbai city and MSEB caters to areas from Kanjurmarg to Thane. The civic body involved these companies to set up LED lights.

The BMC paid only10%of the amount at the beginning of every phase and the rest was paid after the completion of work. As of today, 84,754 street lights in the western and eastern suburbs have been changed to LED lights.

BMC appointed committee to implement the project

To implement the project, the BMC had appointed a committee headed by additional commissioner (eastern suburbs) in 2018, comprising the BEST general manager, chief engineers of Reliance Energy and Mahavitaran, and the deputy chief engineer (traffic). Based on its report, the BMC decided to use LED lights on the streets.

However, after the streetlights at Marine Drive were changed to LEDs, the High Court directed the civic body to replace the white LED lights with yellow ones. The BMC then replaced the white LED lights along the entire Marine Drive stretch from Nariman Point to Walkeshwar.