by Jamie Rosseditt Garcesa
Manila City Mayor Joseph Estrada shares plans to make Manila the ‘City of Light’
(Photo from GMA News)
Envisioning Manila as the country’s “City of Light” like Paris, Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada will set aside P300 million in funds to continue his ongoing street lighting project in the city next year.
Estrada said he wants the entire city lighted up, from major thoroughfares to barangay streets, as an anti-crime measure during nighttime and in continuance of his urban renewal and beautification program for the capital city.
“I would like to see Manila as the ‘Paris of Asia,’ our own ‘City of Lights’ while at the same time ensuring the safety of our constituents at nighttime,” the mayor said as he assured continuous funding for the street lighting project. “No single street or alley will be left unlighted.”
Well-lighted roads, Estrada pointed out, also help promote trade in commercial and tourist areas such as Malate and Ermita.
Highly developed city of Manila
(Photo from Rappler)
Since 2015, the city government has installed new lampposts along a total of 91.1 kilometers of streets worth over P100 million, according to engineer Lorenzo Alconera, city electrical division chief.
These include major roads such as Dapitan, Moriones, M. H. del Pilar, Mabini, Pedro Gil, Onyx, Oroquieta and portions of Roxas Boulevard, Taft Avenue, Vito Cruz, United Nations Avenue and Quirino Avenue, among other places.
The city government recently inaugurated 51 new street lights from Pedro Gil to Quirino Avenue, part of Manila’s tourist belt area. This was followed by 56 more units from Quirino Avenue to Sta. Ana Church.
For 2017, the city official said at least P300 million will be allocated to put up an estimated 800 more new street lights.
“Next year, we’ll be concentrating on District 1, the area of Tondo. Then the entire city target natin na mapailawan na lahat,” Alconera said. “There will be no let-up. The mayor doesn’t like the dark.”
In 2015, Estrada allocated P61 million for the project and P128 million more in 2016; close to 2,000 LED lampposts have so far been installed throughout Manila.
The installation of street lights has drastically reduced street crimes throughout the city, particularly at nighttime, barangay officials confirmed.
The project is also in line with the city government’s urban renewal program — which is aimed at reviving Manila’s old glory — that included improved landscaping, renovation of historic parks and monuments, and more convenient facilities.
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