By Qamar ZJ
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has won the silver medal for its energy-efficient street lighting project under the ‘Best Utilities Project’ at the Partnerships Awards 2020. The judges included 80 individuals representing public and private enterprises. However, netizens are dubbing the honor as a ‘pseudo achievement’ as most of Bangaluru is shrouded in darkness for over a year. Forget the residential lanes, even the traffic-heavy Outer Ring Road is without lights and riddled with potholes for additional company.
Two years in the making
The decision to change all the streetlights in Bangalore to LED was taken more than two years ago, but the project never took off, prompting the BBMP to threaten cancellation. The plan was revived again in 2019, but the project was delayed by the Consortium of Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Pvt. Limited, SMC Infrastructures Pvt. Ltd. and Samudra Electronic System Pvt. Ltd. The Bengaluru Public Street Lighting project was to have replaced one lakh streetlights by April 2020. But nothing happened, prompting BBMP to re-announce the project in October 2020. While the project is good on paper, the problem is in its execution. If this strategy is completed, the plan will save Rs 12 crore for the BBMP every month, and become energy-efficient by 85.5%. Therefore, while the award is a thumbs up to the idea of the project, the residents can only be happy when they see the city lit up in all the LED glory.
Shoddy work
“Haha. Good one,” Arun Vasuki tweeted to the BBMP Commissioner. “I was not aware that you could get this with no street lights as well. Sir, Bengaluru is not just CBD and areas where the ministers, VIPs and you stay. Much more than that.” Ram Mohan called it a ‘pseudo achievement’ as the city is “energy efficient with badly or zero lit roads and streets…..dark age”. Gaurav Agarwal asked the BBMP Commissioner to visit the roads around Kaveraapa layout: “Take a walk here, and you will feel the agony and shame.” Phalanetra wanted the BBMP to show and tell. “Can you please name the street where this street lighting project was implemented?” Ananth Shanka was at a loss for words for the new recognition: “The street lighting across the city is pathetic, including CBD (central business district) areas.” He added that he failed to understand the cause of this award when most streetlights were not working. Viraj Jain gave a better idea to the BBMP: “If you don’t replace some of the light bulbs, you will be more efficient.” Abhishek Gupta, a new entrant to Bengaluru summed it up well: “My realization is, it’s too much to expect.”
And finally…
According to the project’s funders, the International Finance Corporation, the city’s lights are currently costing $34.5 million in electricity charges every year. With this project, 510 million units will be saved per year. According to IFC, the services will also be improved with the setting up of a “control-centre based remote operation, real-time monitoring and predictive repair, complaint management through a centralised call centre, and adequate field crews to minimise downtime”. In addition, the street lighting infrastructure will be integrated with smart-city technologies by creating a communication hub to individually manage the LED streetlights and operate 50,000 internet protocol (IP) cameras to transmit images to government agencies. The project is to be implemented in five phases over 30 months where the BBMP is to shell out $33 million every year for a fully-functioning system.
If the project is not delayed further, the city could be lit up with 1 lakh LED street lights by April 2021, and 4.85 lakh by 2023. And once they are up, the contractor is to maintain them for ten years. Incidentally, the new lights don’t require maintenance for the first seven years.
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