Bengaluru: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has come out with a new proposal to illuminate the streets, costing Rs. 85.5 crore, just weeks after terminating the contract awarded to a consortium of private enterprises to install over five lakh LED streetlights in the City.
The civic body has sought financial aid from the State Government due to a lack of funds. The BBMP mentioned the need for streetlights in the 110 villages that were added to the City limits in 2007 in its appeal to the government. According to the report, the villages are rapidly developing.
The City need 53,732 new lighting over a 511-kilometer road network, states the BBMP estimation.
The RR Nagar Zone of the Bangalore Municipal Corporation (BBMP) requires the most lamps (11,582), followed by South (9,182), Mahadevapura (8,423), Dasarahalli (7,563), East (2,546), West (3,048) and Yelahanka (4,939).
The BBMP has requested the funds just days after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai approved a proposal in February 2019 to terminate a contract given to a consortium of Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Pvt. Ltd., SMC Infrastructures, and Samudra Electronic Systems.
Despite receiving several warnings, the consortium, registered as Bangalore Streetlighting Pvt. Ltd., did not make any real attempt to undertake the project.
Streetlights are being maintained by the BBMP, which has managed to get hold of private service providers at the ward level. The City spends over Rs. 70 crore a year on streetlight maintenance and pays Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) another Rs. 200 crore in electricity charges. However, there have been many complaints that the contractors do not maintain the streetlights properly.