Bhubaneswar, April 10: The municipal corporation has decided to form a special purpose vehicle to ensure smooth implementation and management of the energy-efficient LED street light project in the state capital.

The special purpose vehicle will be constituted by the civic body's private partner, which is looking after implementation of the project. The International Finance Corporation, a wing of the World Bank, will remain the transaction advisor of the vehicle.

The move aims to construct a professional mechanism for the project.

"The special purpose vehicle for the project will look after its entire modalities. It will look after replacement, installation and repair of the LED street lights across the city," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

According to the plan, the special purpose vehicle will bear the cost of installation and maintenance of the street lights and only be paid upon achievement of a set milestone. "This will bring in transparency and ease the process of maintaining and managing the lights," Jena said.

The municipal corporation rolled out the energy-efficient street light project in 2014, executing the project in a phased manner. In the first phase, it installed about 13,600 LED lights along major stretches of the city, while installing another 6,400 more in the second phase.

In the third phase, which began in November last year, it decided to install another 7,000 lights with a deadline to complete the project by July. Sources said most of the major stretches of the city had already been lit up with LED lights while the civic body was taking steps to install them in different wards in the later phases.

According to an official, the municipal corporation had saved about 80 per cent energy and reduced its power bill by installing the energy-efficient lights. LED lights have more illumination and energy saving capacity than traditional bulbs. Its longevity is around 50,000 hours.

Local residents also hailed the move to use LED lights instead of the traditional mercury vapour or CFL ones, especially because of the carbon footprint that the latter two leave behind.

"It is a good move to replace traditional mercury bulbs with energy-efficient LED ones. It not only saves energy, but also the environment since it creates fewer pollutants compared to ordinary bulbs or CFLs. I hope the civic body executes the project smoothly by forming the special purpose vehicle," said Kharavela Nagar resident Biraja Mishra.