AP govt eyes installing LED streetlights in all civic bodies by June

Urges industry to supply 5,000 lights a day starting April, to achieve this objective

The Andhra Pradesh government has set an ambitious target of installing energy-efficient LED streetlights in all municipalities and corporation bodies by June this year, according to the state Urban Development Minister P Narayana.

“By June-end, 110 municipalities in the state would be installed with LED street lamps. We want the industry to supply 5,000 LED street lights each day starting from April,” the minister said at an electronics and electric lightning systems’ CEO conference here.

Though the state government is aggressive on procuring the systems from all available means, the industry, however, is of the view the state should concentrate on improving the supporting infrastructure to leverage the long-term power savings.

While the state government is hopeful it could replicate the successful installing of 100,000 LED street lights in less than a month in the aftermath of Hudhud cyclone in Visakhapatnam last year, industry heads at the event said the state should come out with rationalisation of value added tax (VAT) on LEDs to 5 per cent from the present 14.5 per cent besides earmarking orders for MSME manufacturers.

Speaking at the event jointly held by Centre's Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and the Andhra Pradesh government today, Philips Lightning Solutions South Asia CEO Harshavardhan Chitale said the company was "ramping up its operations to meet the growing demand", and added the state would have to upgrade the associated infrastructure to be able to realise the targeted energy savings.        

Other recommendations include the government should bifurcate the role of component suppliers with that of installing and monitoring the functioning of systems. This, they said would lead to a faster implementation and improve the efficiency of the installations. Participating companies included Surya Roshini Ltd and HPL Electric and Power Private Ltd.