Contractor Who Failed to Implement LED Streetlights on Time MCC Gives Extra Time
Mangaluru: The City of Mangaluru which was supposed to have all the streets with LED lighting has been delayed for a long long time, and a few of the streets are totally dark The reason behind is that the contractor who was given the work has going on a slow pace and not completed the work fully. However, for a last chance, the Mangaluru Smart City Limited (MSCL) is planning to give one more extension of time (EoT) for the consortium partners, who have failed to complete the implementation of the LED streetlights project, which is being implemented on a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
Though the work on replacing the conventional street lights in Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) limits with energy-efficient LED streetlights was taken up under the MSCL in 2021, the consortium has not completed it yet. The contractor has replaced only around 17,000 out of the 65,870 streetlights, with LED. Officials said that a meeting of the MSCL board of directors will be held today, January 4 to make a decision. Mayor Sudheer Shetty Kannur said that MSCL chairman LK Atheeq, who is also the district in-charge secretary, had given directions to give EoT for the consortium partners to complete the work to install LED lamps on city roads. The contract to replace conventional streetlights with LED lamps was awarded to a consortium of partners involving three firms.
Despite handing over EoTs many times in the past, the contractor failed to complete the work, he said. In fact, the MCC and MSCL are not investing in the project, where the contractor has to install LED streetlights and maintain them. The amount saved in the electricity bills of streetlights would be used to pay the contractor every month. Once all 65,870 streetlights are converted to LED, the city corporation can save about 55% of the energy consumption, according to officials. Corporators of the 60 wards in the MCC limits have been demanding the city corporation find an alternative measure to replace defunct streetlights in the city.
Corporator Abdul Ravoof said that the city corporation has not been granting funds to replace defunct streetlights in the city as the MCC and MSCL have handed over the responsibility to the consortium.