A United Kingdom-based firm, Low Energy Designs (LED), has sealed a $7 million (about N2.5bn) deal with Lagos State for the provision of 10,000 streetlights covering 300 kilometres across the state.
The deal, estimated to generate about 500 jobs for the locals, will see LED constructing hybrid energy power assembly plant in Epe. The project is to be delivered within 12 months.
The state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, describes the development as a milestone and paradigm shift in the provision of street lighting in Lagos. Streetlight, a major component of the Ambode-led government from inception, aims at reactivating nightlife and reducing crime in the commercial city.
Ambode, represented by Olawale Oluwo, commissioner for energy and mineral resources, at the signing of the deal with LED, on Monday, said it was a boost to the Light Up Lagos project of the government, which also involved community electrification and embedded power programme.
“With this agreement we have signed, we are setting a new chart for the future of what street lighting, installation, management and control will be like in Lagos. It is a major paradigm shift.
“We have about 33,000 street lights in Lagos under the Lagos State Electricity Board. Now, the LED UK, based on this 300km, will give us about 10,000 streetlights. So, technically, they are going to be having about 31 percent of our entire streetlight infrastructure and this is a significant development.
“The second major development is the fact that going forward, what we have with LED UK is what will be replicated to power Lagos with respect to street lighting,” he said.
Giving a further insight into the deal, Ambode said with the partnership, there would no longer be fixed costs with regards to management of streetlight installations across the state, while all challenges hitherto associated with street lighting would now be a thing of the past.
“With this, as a government, we are not installing poles, we are not providing security, we are not bothering ourselves with diesel, we are not worried on Fridays and Saturdays about people coming back from clubs knocking down our poles.
“All those have been outsourced. We are not going to be worried about that. We just buy light from investment of this LED UK with all their installations; they manage it, they provide the security, they power it and as long as we see the light, we pay. That is what has changed,” the governor said.
Alan Parker, CEO of LED UK Limited, said his firm was excited to partner Lagos in the project, saying within the next 12 months, a British/Nigerian consortium would work to retrofit major roads in the state with urban regeneration project in Ikoyi, Ikeja and Victoria Island.
“As part of this project, we will be employing over 500 local people here in Lagos and investing $7million in the construction and setup of a LED lighting and Hybrid Energy Power Assembly Plant in Epe. This facility will offer ground breaking testing, training and education programs on renewable technologies whilst providing the future for all lighting and hybrid energy power systems in Nigeria,” he said.
