Cuttack, June 12: The civic body will replace conventional street lamps with energy-saving LED lights from July.

The municipal corporation will install LED lamps that are eco-friendly and cost-effective in localities in all the 59 wards that fall within its jurisdiction.

A civic official said the Cuttack Municipal Corporation would shortly sign an agreement with a company in Hyderabad to replace the sodium vapour lights being used at present with advanced LED lighting systems.

"We have completed the tender process and once we sign the agreement, the installation of LED lamps will begin in July," said municipal commissioner Gyana Das.

Das said the civic body would install LED street-lighting systems by replacing nearly 19,000 sodium vapour lights in a phased manner. It will begin by installing 17,000 LED lamps in the first phase, starting next month.

"The cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 34 crore and we plan to replace all conventional lights by March 2017," Das added.

Major roads, including Badambadi, Cantonment, Mangalabag, Barabati Stadium and railway station, will be included in the first phase.

Heritage sites, including the area near Barabati Fort, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Birthplace Museum, Qadam Rasool and Maritime Museum Road, will also be included in the first phase.

The switch to LEDs is expected to save about 40 to 50 per cent of the current electricity usage. One LED bulb uses one-sixth of the energy used by an incandescent light. At present, the municipal corporation spends nearly Rs 6 crore on electricity charges, which is expected to come down by at least 40 per cent once the LED bulbs are installed.

Civic officials said LED lamps also have a longer lifespan and were easier to maintain.

The civic body had conducted a detailed survey to identify the number of streetlight points and electric consumption to assess the status of existing illumination levels in the city last year.

The survey showed that nearly most streetlight points had become defunct owing to lack of maintenance. Moreover, early 20 per cent of the posts did not have bulbs, leaving several localities in darkness.

"This will be the first time that advanced LED streetlights will be installed in Cuttack. Bhubaneswar has already introduced a similar project. We hope that the lighting scenario in the wards will improve after the project is implemented," said Markatnagar resident Sudhir Pradhan.