THE Lagos State Government (Nigeria) and a United Kingdom firm, Low Energy Designs (LED) Limited today (Monday, March 12) entered into a partnership to install 10,000 LED street-lights covering 300 kilometres across the State.
 
The deal, which also includes the provision of around 500 jobs and construction of an LED lighting and Hybrid Energy Power Assembly Plant, is estimated at $7million (about N2.52billion) and is expected to be delivered over the next 12 months.
 
Speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the partnership the State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode said the development was a major milestone and a positive paradigm shift in the provision of street lighting for the State.
 
Governor Ambode said the successful commencement of the partnership signposts a positive progress to the “Light Up Lagos Project,” which is a special initiative of his administration composing street lighting, community electrification and an embedded power programme.
 
He commented: “With this agreement, we are signing today, we are setting a new chart for the future of what street lighting, installation, management and control will be like in Lagos. It is a major paradigm shift.
 
“We have about 33,000 street lights in Lagos under the Lagos State Electricity Board. Now, the LED UK, based on this 300km, will give us about 10,000 street lights. So, technically, they are going to be having about 31 percent of our entire street light infrastructure and this is a major significant development.
 
“The second major significant development is the fact that as from today onward, what we have with LED UK is what will be replicated to power Lagos with respect to street lighting going forward.”
 
Giving details on the agreement, the Governor said with the partnership, there will no longer be any fixed costs with regards to management of street light installations across the State, while all challenges hitherto associated with street lighting would now be a thing of the past.
 
Chief Executive Office of LED UK Limited, Mr Alan Parker said pf the agreement  “As part of this project, we will be employing over 500 local people here in Lagos and investing $7million in the construction and setup of a LED lighting and Hybrid Energy Power Assembly Plant here in Epe. This facility will offer groundbreaking testing, training and education programs on renewable technologies whilst providing the future for all lighting and hybrid energy power systems in Nigeria.
 
“These high-quality products will be built by Nigerians with the support, experience, knowledge and technology supplied by LED UK for all commercial indoor and outdoor applications for the African market,” Parker concluded.

Source: Lagos State Government. Picture: Skyline of Lagos by Benji Robertson – Photograph by Benji Robertson Link to the original at world66.com, CC BY-SA 1.0.