DAVAO City Councilor Bernard Al-ag said that the City Council will keep the ball rolling for the proposed conversion of street lights of the city to a much more energy efficient lights.
Al-ag, during the Pulong-Pulong ni Pulong media forum at City Council Councilor's lounge on Tuesday, September 26, said that he will pass on first reading a proposed ordinance for the conversion of lights.
"In our session, I will present a proposal to convert the existing sodium light to energy efficient LED lights and how will this affect our existing agreement with the Davao City Light and Power Company (DLPC). We will refer this to the committee on energy and we will be conducting public hearings for the proposal," he said.
Al-ag said the city is currently spending around P18 million a month for the payment of electricity bill or around P200 million a year.
He said with the use of LED lights, the city will cut its electricity bill by around 30 to 40 percent.
Al-ag said they have been receiving a lot of proposals.
In previous reports, the Davao Light Power Corporation (DLPC), a subsidiary of the AboitizPower, had talks with the city government of Davao on their plan to convert the lamp post lights in the city from high-pressure sodium to LED lights to reduce power consumption.
"It's a joint project of the city with Davao Light. The objective is reduction of power consumption because LED is brighter but with less energy," DLPC executive vice president and chief operating officer Rodger Velasco said.
They demonstrated using LED lights for the lamp posts along C.M. Recto and San Pedro streets utilizing about 100 lights. The streets are still using the same LED lights until now.
If pushed through, they target that the project would use about 40,000 LED lights for the entire city. Velasco said whether the use of LED lights be permanent will have yet to be discussed with the city government.
Al-ag added that the conversion will cost about P700 million and the legislative department will work hand in hand with DLPC to push the project.
"Right now we do not have P700 million. What we want to explore is that DLPC will be the one to shoulder the cost, including the maintenance," said Al-ag.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, in her State of the City Address (Soca) last September 12 at City Council said the City Government has initially asked DLPC to install LED lights in the highway island outside Davao International Airport, San Pedro, Bolton, and Magallanes streets.
Duterte-Carpio said the installation was made so Dabawenyos can decide which kind of light is best to use. (With reports from JPA)