By Deepak Raj Gautam, Birgunj, June 15: Over 4,000 street lights have been installed in seven out of 32 wards of Birgunj Metropolitan City in the last 12 months.

The metropolitan city had planned to install 13,390 street lights under the Ujjyalo Birgunj scheme. Of this, 4,300 street lights have been installed in seven wards of the municipality within a year.

The Metropolitan City signed a contract with Suryodaya Energy and Top Sun Energy JV on July 14, 2020, to install 13,390 street lights. The Ujyalo Birgunj project is being completed with an equal budget of the metropolis and the Planning Commission.

Engineer Prakash Adhikari of the metropolis informed that the contract was signed to spend Rs. 239.6 million excluding value-added tax to install 100, 60, and 40 street lights in the listed areas of the metropolis.

According to Adhikari, the metropolis provided the contract to Suryodaya Energy and Top Sun Energy JV to complete the project in 13 months.

With the joint investment of the National Planning Commission and the metropolis, street lights are being installed on roads wider than eight meters and in areas where no solar lights were installed before.

Till now, the lights have been installed in Ward No. 1, 2, 8, 13, 15, 16, and 17 of the metropolis. The contracted company had imported 10,000 lights from India's Nasa Light. The installation work was delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The construction company has stated that the remaining works including installation of poles, an extension of wires, and connection of lights will be completed within six months. The quality was questioned after some of the connected street lights stopped working.

According to Adhikari, some of the lights stopped working due to the freezing of carbon in the copper wire used in the lights and they will start working after removing the carbon.

The installed street light manufacturer company has sent the quality test and the lights will work for 50,000 hours, according to the Planning Division of the Metropolitan City.