Cuttack: The city administration has received government nod to install additional energy-efficient LED bulbs as part of its plans to modernise and improve the quality of localities.

Municipal commissioner Bikash Ranjan Mohapatra told The Telegraph on Sunday that the government had given the green signal to install 10,000 additional LED bulbs in addition to those earlier earmarked.

"These will be used at Greenfield, which has been recently considered for urban development by including it under the municipal corporation," Mohapatra said.

State-run Odisha Infrastructure Development Fund is implementing the Odisha Street Lighting Project for five municipal corporations, including Cuttack, with the old sodium vapour lights being replaced with LED bulbs.

Under the Rs 10.82 crore project for Cuttack, the civic body planned to replace 16,069 conventional bulbs with the long-lasting and energy efficient LED bulbs.

The project that began in December 2017 was set to be completed in 100 working days.

Mohapatra said nearly 10,000 sodium vapour bulbs had been replaced already, while the rest will be completed by the May. The project cost has gone up to nearly Rs 20 crore with increased allocation for the 10,000 bulbs.

"Expenditure for installation of the additional bulbs will be comparatively higher as we have to put up electric poles in most areas of Greenfied," Mohapatra said.

The parameters of the Odisha Street Lighting Project specified 90 watt LED bulbs for roads that are 30ft in width. Similarly, it specifies 60 watt bulbs for road 20ft-wide roads and 25 watt bulbs for 10ftwide roads.

Chairman of the civic body's standing committee for electricity Ranjan Kumar Biswal said: "We have decided to use 45 watt bulbs in place of the earlier planned 25 watts after a survey found that the roads that were previously recorded as 10ft wide had increased in width and 25-watt bulbs would not be sufficient to illuminate those," Biswal said.