The city government has completed its street lighting projects in Barangays San Pedro and San Manuel, spending some P99.8 million.
Mayor Lucilo Bayron led the inauguration of the projects on Monday in San Manuel, five months after they started installing 740 LED bulbs in the two barangays.
Bayron vowed to speed up the same work in other barangays.
“Mahigit 7,700 bulbs ang kailangan natin [to meet this target]. Ngayon nasa 740 pa lang tayo so that is about 10 percent. Kung 10 percent ang gagawin natin, sa three years di natin kaya. So ira-rush natin,” he said.
Of the 740 bulbs, 688 are smart light bulbs, while 52 are manual bulbs.
Bayron said the project is just Phase 1 and his target is to also install lights in Brgys. Irawan, Sta. Lourdes, and even in the city poblacion.
He said the project aims to make the city streets well-lighted and spur more tourism businesses, he said.
The contractor for the project is the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) and Signify Philippines, formerly Philips Lighting.
Jagan Srinivasan, the country leader of Signify Philippines, said the streetlights were installed in Purok Matahimik Road, San Manuel roads 1 to 3, Dacanay Road, Solid Road, Cervantes, Dagot, Tarabidan, and Darigold in San Miguel.
In San Pedro, they were installed in BM Road, Cabanag, Lanzanas roads 1 and 2, Libis, Macabalu, Sheenas, Tabang, Herederro, Delos Reyes, Jalandoon, Andres Sumandal, Enriquez, Hagedorn, and Peneyra roads, and the street parallel to Factor.
Earlier, Srinivasan told Palawan News their system will allow the controller to remotely access every single light bulb using a computer.
He also said the LED bulbs have a life span of 50,000 hours.
The engineer only needs to monitor it using his laptop and could already determine exactly how many hours that streetlight has been burning, he added.
The smart light has built-in artificial intelligence that remotely adapts to the city’s level of darkness and activity and automatically adjusts its brightness depending upon the need, he said.
“The City Engineer now has everything in his fingertips sitting in front of his laptop,” he added.
Vice Mayor Nancy Socrates said the project not only strengthens the security of Puerto Princesa but gives the public additional convenience.
“Katulad po ng food, shelter, and clothing, light is now a basic necessity, especially in our modern society… we need light for safety, peace and order. We need light for the convenience of our residents and visitors,” Socrates said.
Ronaldo Torres, chief operating officer of MERALCO’s subsidiary MServ said Puerto Princesa was the first in the country to have this smart lights.
Earlier, Bayron said it was when the city government decided to shift using light emitting diode (LED) bulbs from the existing ordinary lights along Rizal Avenue that there was a “dramatic decrease” in the city’s electric bill.
The project was funded from the 20 percent development fund of 2019.
