City earmarks P17.5 million to purchase LED lamps

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government has earmarked P17.5 million for the purchase of light-emitting diode (LED) lamps to replace high intensity discharge (HID) lamps used in the city’s street lighting.

This shall cover initially the lights within the City Hall square and the whole stretch of Osmeña Boulevard.

The amount shall be included in Supplemental Budget No. 5 that is expected to be discussed during the council’s special session on Tuesday.

Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias, chairman of the council’s committee on infrastructures, said that they cannot replace all streetlights one time because of the huge money that it will cost the city.

One LED lamp costs about P25,000 to P30,000, which is five to six times higher than the price of a sodium lamp.

Cabarrubias however said the savings that the city will generate from the electric bills will be doubled or even tripled the amount it spent for the lamps.

LED lamp is known to be the most energy efficient of all kinds of lamp so far, Cabarrubias said.

While sodium lamps use 250 watts, LED lamps only require 70 to 80 watts.

LEDs have 50,000 to 100,000 burning hours as compared to sodium lamps that only have 24,000 burning hours.

If all streetlights in the city will be replaced with LED lamps, the city estimated to generate savings of up to 40 percent of its P8.5 million monthly electric consumption for street lighting alone.

Since the city announced its plan to shift to LED lighting, Cabarrubias said that some five suppliers have already come to City Hall to offer their products.

The P25,000 to P30,000 cost per lamp may still be reduced once it is bid out, he said.

Two Korean companies, two China companies and one European supplier have so far expressed interest to supply the LED lamps to the city.  (FREEMAN)