CMC’s energy-efficient Smart-LED street lighting drive progressing

• Galle Face stretch down Galle Road completed as first phase

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) is on course to roll out energy-efficient Smart-LED street lighting throughout the city, following the completion of the Galle Face stretch down Galle Road, keeping with the committed time lines of the project.

“The Smart-LED lighting system installed is providing well-lit streets for motorist and pedestrians whilst providing more than 60% energy saving. We plan to deploy this solution across Colombo city in phases within the next five years,” CMC sources said.

Colombo city has been undergoing many changes during the last two decades. The CMC has been at the forefront of making the city more livable for both residents and visitors. The CMC on a daily basis, serves approximately 1.3 million people including 800,000 residents. 

Considering that Colombo is an important city to all Sri Lankans, CMC together with various partners, has continually acted to facilitate the changes needed to modernise the city. As a result, Colombo is considered one of the cleanest and safest cities in South Asia, in comparison to other major cities of the same size in the region.

Sources said the vision of the Mayor Rosy Senanayake is to transform Colombo into a smart green city. In line with this vision, the CMC continues its efforts to make Colombo a world-class city and make further plans to modernise further into the future. CMC also states “We aim to create a city that is resident-and-visitor-centered.”

The CMC partnered with Richardson Technologies to install energy-efficient Smart-LED street lighting throughout the city starting this year. The aim is to ensure efficient lighting by leveraging the latest technology and knowhow at no capital cost to the rate payer. The LED lights will be installed on street lamp poles along main and other roads, in consultation with the CMC, to address deficiencies in both lighting and reliability of the street lighting system itself. It will also ensure enhanced safety for vehicular and pedestrian traffic. 

“The time has come to move to more efficient, robust, technology solutions that will enable better control of when the lights come on and off, notify for maintenance issues and other smart lighting features. City councils in Singapore and South Korea, for example, have already done so. It is estimated the city of Colombo will save 60% on energy cost per Smart-LED street light,” CMC sources said. 

The CMC has gone into a Public Private Partnership (PPP) for this project. This partnership requires the private entity to absorb capital costs, in exchange for the ability to monetise over a period of time to recover their cost. In turn, the City gets modernised with efficient and safer services and royalties from any solution successfully rolled out by the partner within the confines of the PPP Contract. It is important to note that the contract also allows Richardson the right to implement other technology offerings on the street lamp. 

Colombo city has approximately 300km of roads that CMC provides lighting for. This works out to approximately 12,000 street lamps in Colombo 1 to 18. 

Sources said the CMC will be continually engaged with the public from time to time to update and disseminate more information about the nature of this project, the oversight duties of the CMC, information on the financial aspects and adherences to perform to the framework of the contract, both in letter and spirit.

“We are confident that this project, known as the Smart City Lighting project, will usher in a new dawn for Colombo and its people,” CMC sources added.