Kathmandu, 22 August 2021, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has decided to launch ‘Bright and Clean City Campaign’ to enhance urban beauty. Under the Bright City Campaign, in coordination and cooperation with the municipalities, modern smart lights will be installed on the main roads, historical and cultural heritages, listed in the World Heritage List and tourist places.
This will enhance the beauty of the city, increase the demand for electricity and also consume electricity wasted at night, said NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising. Ghising also informed that the work of removing unused unnecessary electric poles and wires in the main and auxiliary roads and laying the wires underground will be taken forward under the cleaning campaign. In the first phase, the bright and clean city campaign will be run in the federal capital Kathmandu Valley, Bharatpur and the tourist Pokhara metropolis and then expanded across the country.
Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal had announced to improve the quality of distribution system and expand the distribution system underground in urban areas by increasing the capacity of distribution lines and substations through her action plan. To implement this declaration, NEA is going to launch ‘Bright and Clean City Campaign’.
“Unnecessary poles are no longer in use on the roads. We have started removing them. In the first phase, work is underway in Maharajgunj and Ratna Park areas of Kathmandu to make the electric wires underground. “We are expanding it to the major cities of the country as the underground system will be safer than the existing overhead distribution system and will help maintain the beauty of the wire mesh that is making the city ugly.”
NEA is currently working in the area under Ratna Park and Maharajgunj Distribution Center in Kathmandu to make the power distribution system of Kathmandu Valley underground. In the second phase, the work of undergrounding the remaining places of Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Pokhara and Bharatpur has been started. As optical fiber will be laid along with the electric wire, internet, telecommunication, cable television service providers will be able to provide services using the optical fiber.
Lighting in the road and tourist area
NEA, in collaboration with the local levels, will run a campaign to install smart lights to illuminate historical, religious, cultural, world heritage sites and roads at night. The first phase of smart street lights has been connected with the active participation of Lalitpur Metropolitan City. The work of connecting street lights on the main road of Amargadhi Municipality of Dadeldhura has been completed.
Smart road lights are being installed in Bharatpur Metropolitan City, Kankai of Jhapa, Bhimeshwar of Dolakha, Belka of Udayapur and Bhim Dutta Municipality of Kanchanpur.
The contract agreement for the second phase of smart road lighting connection in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Lalitpur is in the final stage. Executive Director Ghising said that the process of smart light connection has been taken forward by removing the lights placed in Koteshwor-Bhaktapur and Koteshwor-Kalanki road sections of Kathmandu and the main administrative center Singha Durbar under the Ujyalo Sahar campaign.
Currently, additional demands are coming from all over the country and preparations are being made to implement the demands received from about 20 municipalities. Among them are Dhangadhi of Kailali, Kohalpur of Banke, Lamahi and Tulsipur of Dang, Hetauda of Makwanpur, Gaighat of Udayapur, Sundar Haraincha of Morang, Janakpur of Dhanusha, Kirtipur of Kathmandu, Budhanilkantha, Mahalakshmi of Lalitpur, Dhulikhel of Kavre and Bidur of Nuwakot. NEA has demanded proposals from municipalities across the country for smart light connection.
Smart lights will be connected in the ratio of 60 percent of municipalities and 40 percent of NEA. The cost estimate, technology selection, procurement and construction will be supervised by the authority. NEA will provide technical assistance for the bidding process and supervision if the municipalities themselves bid with 100% investment.
Decorated smart lights will be installed in Pashupatinath, Swayambhu, Bouddhanath, Basantapur Durbar, Patan Durbar, Bhaktapur Durbar, Lumbini, Janakpur, Muktinath and other areas listed in the World Heritage List in coordination and cooperation with local municipalities. Large lighting masts will be placed at the main intersections of the road.
“When there is no light, our historical monuments and tourist sites are dark at night and the roads are dark, so we are running a light campaign to put smart lights in such places in partnership with the locals,” Ghising said. On the other hand, it will enhance the urban beauty. ‘