NDMC to replace 5,500 faulty water meters, upgrade street lighting in Lutyens' Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) The NDMC will take up a series of infrastructure upgrades aimed at improving water billing accuracy and modernising street lighting across Lutyens Delhi, beginning with the replacement of defective water meters, officials said on Friday.

In an upcoming Council meeting, NDMC is planning to approve the lowest bid of Rs 13.24 crore for providing and fixing new smart water meters in place of defective meters on consumer connection lines.

Around 5,500 faulty meters, identified by the commercial department, will be replaced as part of the project.

NDMC Vice-Chairman Kuljeet Chahal said the move is expected to address long-standing issues linked to mechanical water meters, which have a shorter life span of about five years, require frequent repairs, and often record inaccurate readings due to trapped air.

"In contrast, smart meters offer higher accuracy, longer operational life, tamper-proof features and automatic readings through a Meter Data Management (MDM) system, reducing manual intervention and billing errors," Chahal said.

He added that alongside the water metering project, the Council will go ahead with major works related to street lighting under Phases 2 and 3 of its ongoing modernisation programme. Approval has been granted to award the work of replacing conventional streetlight poles with octagonal poles and re-installing existing LED fittings and cabling to the lowest bidder at a quoted cost of Rs 15.86 crore, in line with the terms and conditions of the Notice Inviting Tender, Chahal said.

Earlier, NDMC had undertaken bulk procurement of materials for the project. A total of 15,566 LED streetlight fittings worth Rs 64.87 crore were procured using Smart City funds, while poles and cables costing Rs 14.73 crore were purchased against the approved estimates, officials said.

The scope of work includes laying RCC foundations for new octagonal poles, erecting 6 and 8-metre poles, drawing and handling underground cables, dismantling and re-installing LED fittings ranging from 60 to 240 watts, earthing works, and removal of existing steel tubular poles.

The new system will use energy-efficient warm LED lights with intelligent control systems.

Officials said that once completed, the upgraded street lighting network is expected to provide uninterrupted illumination, improved safety, lower energy consumption and reduced maintenance costs. The system will also enable real-time monitoring and function reliably in all weather conditions.

NDMC officials said the replacement of around 5,500 octagonal poles is expected to take approximately 240 days, marking a significant step in upgrading civic infrastructure in the NDMC area. PTI VBH VBH HIG HIG