The Chittagong City Corporation has undertaken a project involving more than Tk 52 crore to bring street lights on 180-kilometer stretch of city roads under solar energy system with an aim to ease the power crisis and reduce power bills.
According to CCC sources, the project would be implemented with the financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank under the Solar Street Lighting Programme in City Corporations.
They also informed that under the project a total of 350-kilometer stretch of city roads would be brought under solar street light system in phases.
CCC sources also said the ADB would provide Tk 50 crore 12 lakh and 60 thousand as loan for implementing the project while the corporation would provide Tk 2 crore and 60 lakh from their revenue income.
Mahafuzul Hoque, additional engineer at the street light maintenance department of the CCC, said initially the road stretch from Kalurghat to Airport, Karnaphuli Bridge to Bahadderhat, Nimtoli to City Gate, GEC intersection to AK Khan Gate, Dewanhat intersection to New Market would be brought under the system.
The city mayor, M Manjur Alam, said the project had already got approval from the Executive Committee on National Economic Council and added that they were optimistic about floating tender immediately for the implementation of the project.
He also said implementation of the project would bring down the power bill of CCC by Tk 2.5 crore and also reduce the use of power supplied by the Power Development Board. ‘There are 37 thousand street lights in 41 wards of the city and we have a plan to replace them with those run with solar energy,’ the CCC mayor said, adding that it would ensure uninterrupted power supply to the street lights in the city.
-With New Age input
