Thaindian News

Islamabad, Nov 28 (IANS) The Islamabad administration will soon replace the traditional sodium lamps in its streets with the more efficient light-emitting diodes (LED) with the help of a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) says sodium lamps have been a “bit heavy” on its limited funds, and that it was desperately looking into ways to make the street lighting system in the capital more efficient, the Dawn reported.

The LED lights have a 20-year life and have improved night visibility. And unlike conventional lights that need to be switched off, the LED lights have smart technology that enables them to automatically turn off when dawn approaches.

The CDA spends Rs.400 million annually on maintaining the lights from its Rs.6 billion non-development expenditure. The cost of maintaining the street lights has increased by 30 to 40 percent in the last couple of years.

The CDA has around 400 employees in the electrical maintenance department.

However, the authority earned only Rs.2 billion through taxes, and is “squirming” over its financial liabilities, the report said.

In 2010, the CDA and the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) chalked out a plan under which every third street light would be lit instead of all the 65,000 street lights in the capital.

Though the plan was implemented, there was no visible financial impact on the CDA.

However, the CDA got a breather when the ministry of water and power obtained a $780 million loan from the ADB for LED projects all over the country.

The CDA project will cost $70 million, of which $55 million will be from the ADB loan.

It is believed that the CDA will save between Rs.800 million and Rs.1 billion per year.