G.O. (Ms.) No. 145, Energy Efficient LED Street Light Projects, 2022

What the document does

Government Order G.O. (Ms.) No. 145 dated 14 October 2022, issued by the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MA2) Department, authorises two loans from the State Urban Infrastructure Development Fund for municipal LED street lighting projects. The approved loans carry interest at 5% per annum and have a repayment period of 6 years.

The State Urban Infrastructure Development Fund was formerly called the Metropolitan Infrastructure Development Fund. Its expanded scope allows it to provide soft loans to urban local bodies across Tamil Nadu for infrastructure requirements.

Projects approved

The Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MA2) Department approved:

• Rs. 342.85 crore to convert 3,00,796 conventional street lights into energy efficient LED lights in 8 City Municipal Corporations and 76 Municipalities.
• Rs. 8.00 crore to install 5,106 new energy efficient LED lights in 11 Municipalities, including added and left out areas.
• Project implementation subject to the appraisal conditions and the approval given by the State Level Sanctioning Committee.

The proposal estimates that power consumption will fall by up to 40%, producing savings of about Rs. 65.00 crore each year for urban local bodies. The stated benefits also include improved brightness, traffic safety, lower maintenance costs and environmental safety.

Conditions for urban local bodies

Each participating urban local body must:

• Pass a council resolution for borrowing from the Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited.
• Use a third party monitoring agency to check light quality and review energy savings.
• Ensure monthly energy savings reports are submitted to the Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited.
• Include contract terms covering replacement, new lights, operation and maintenance for 10 years.
• Give priority to repaying the loan from street light energy savings.
• Open a separate escrow account to manage savings and loan repayment.

Where savings are inadequate, the Director of Municipal Administration must ensure that the balance loan amount is adjusted against State Finance Commission grants.

Relevance to property owners and buyers

Government Order G.O. (Ms.) No. 145 concerns municipal street lighting finance and implementation. It does not set out changes to private land ownership, title, land use, registration or property charges, but residents in participating urban local bodies may see existing street lights replaced or new LED lights installed.