The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has chalked out a Tk 3.90crore programme to introduce solar street light at Arambagh area initiallyon an experimental basis.
If the programme is successful, the streets in the wholeDhaka city will be brought under solar lighting system, said DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka in an interview with The New Nation.
The DCC has to pay electric bills to the tune of Tk 20 lakhevery month for street lighting alone. A huge amount of money will save withthe introduction of solar street lighting system, he added.
Initially solar street lights will cover the area from theKakrail Mosque to Notre Dame College at Arambagh. Tender has already beeninvited for the work, according to Mahbub Ahmed, Executive Engineer of DCC.
Under the programme, 122 poles will be set up in the areaand each pole will have two street lights of 250-watt each, he added.
Jafar Ahmed, a project director of DCC, said, “Theinitiative to set up the solar street lights has been taken under Bangladesh Municipal Development Fund (BMDF). Earlier, two-expert teams from China andIndia visited Bangladesh to study its feasibility. After the study,both theteams gave positive reports, he informed.
“We have enough sunshine to charge the cells of solarpanels. There will be no switch for the street lights. After sunset, the lightswill flash automatically,” he said.
Solar street lighting system has rapidly gained popularity for low installation expenses and low maintenance cost. Many countries across the world including China, India, Japan, Brazil and USA have introduced this system successfully, DCC sources said.
-With The New Nation input
