FCTA begins airport road’s  streetlight upgrade

The Federal Capital Territory Authority has commenced the upgrade of the Airport Road, Abuja lighting with intelligent Smart Light Emitting Diode lights.

The upgrade is to actualise the vision of a greater FCT that will complement the ongoing infrastructural development.

The Coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, Felix Obuah, in a statement on Sunday, said there are plans to migrate all major Abuja roads and streets to smart LED.

He stated that the contract had already been awarded, adding that it would be taken bit-by-bit.

“We are ready to light up Abuja,” he said.

Obuah had last week decried the attitude of some streetlight contractors that failed to meet up with standards, threatening to blacklist them.

However, in a statement on Sunday, the Executive Director, Tejaff Multi-Concept Limited, Mrs Ronke Ozoh, said the company in charge of the project, Concrete Thinking Limited, recently commenced the upgrade.

She said that thousands of units of Smart LED will be fixed from the Airport Road area to the Central Area of the FCT to give it the befitting looks of the smart city.

Ozoh, who visited the site last week, noted that LED lighting would result in a reduction of up to 60 per cent of the operations and maintenance costs of streetlight infrastructure.

She said a smart LED streetlight system is one of the enabling technologies for a Smart City, adding that the intelligent nature of this streetlighting system enables remote management of streetlight assets and ensures enhanced

“The intelligent smart LED can give the exact amount of energy consumed. It can also be detected from a central control unit if any of the bulbs is faulty. It will also help inaccurate energy consumption bills from electricity companies,” she said.

Similarly, an Abuja resident, Lennox Adigwe, was quoted in the statement to have urged the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, to extend it to other parts of the nation’s capital.

He said apart from the provision of street lighting infrastructure that will enhance the aesthetics of the FCT and foster an improved night economy, the initiative would also provide jobs to thousands of people as well as ensure the safety of lives and property of residents.