To make Manila the country’s “City of Lights” like Paris, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada will allocate P300 million to his street-lighting project next year.
Estrada said he wants the entire city lighted up, from major thoroughfares to barangay streets, as an anti-crime measure at night and in continuance of his urban renewal and beautification program.
“I would like to see Manila as the ‘Paris of Asia’ and at the same time ensure the safety of our constituents at nighttime. No single street or alley will be left unlighted,” he said on Wednesday.
For 2017, about 800 more new street lights are planned.
“Next year, we’ll be concentrating in District 1, the area of Tondo. Then the entire city will be lighted,” Engineer Lorenzo Alconera, city electrical division chief, said.
“There will be no let up. The mayor doesn’t like the dark,” Alconera said.
Well-lighted roads, the mayor pointed out, also help promote trade in commercial and tourist areas such as Malate and Ermita.
Since 2015, the city government has installed new lamp posts worth over P100 million on 91.1 kilometers of streets, Alconera said.
They were installed on Dapitan, Moriones, Del Pilar, Mabini, Pedro Gil, Onyx and Oroquieta as well as portions of Roxas Boulevard, Taft Avenue, Vito Cruz, United Nations Avenue and Quirino Avenue, among others.
The city government has also recently inaugurated 51 new street lights from Pedro Gil to Quirino, part of Manila’s tourist belt area.
This was followed by 56 more units put up on Quirino Avenue up to Sta. Ana Church.
In 2015, Estrada allocated P61 million for the project and P128 million more in 2016; close to 2,000 LED lamp posts have so far been installed throughout Manila.
The installation of street lights has drastically reduced street crimes throughout the city, particularly at night time, barangay officials confirmed.
The project is also in line with the city government’s urban renewal program aimed at reviving Manila’s old glory. The program includes improved landscaping, renovation of historic parks and monuments, and added convenience in facilities.