PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Rural Development (KPLB) with the cooperation of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has installed 29,487 lighting units in the rural areas of Peninsular Malaysia under the 2019/2020 Village Street Light (LJK) Programme.
KPLB secretary-general Datuk Ramlan Harun said this included 22,520 units of high pressure sodium vapor (HPSV) lights and 6,967 units of light-emitting diode (LED) lights involving an allocation of RM32.10 million.
Ramlan said the LJK project which started on Dec 27 2019 was fully completed on Nov 17, 2021 and the lightings were installed at village street intersections, cemetery compounds, surau and houses of worship.
“The LJK programme is aimed at illuminating the coverage area to give a cheerful atmosphere and allow economic, social and leisure activities to continue into the night with better security.
“All LJK projects that are completed will be handed over to TNB in Peninsular Malaysia for continuous operations and maintenance,“ he told a press conference after the handover of the 2019/2020 Peninsular Malaysia LJK projects here today.
Ramlan said under the same programme, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (KeTSA) also installed an additional 25,000 LED lighting units under a separate allocation.
He said KPLB is currently conducting a pilot study on the use of solar LED street lightings for village areas without utility pole facilities.
For this purpose, he said solar LED lightings have been installed in Hulu Perak and Lawas (Sarawak) and were being installed in Orang Asli villages in Perak, Johor, Perak and Kelantan by the Public Works Department.
“Though solar LED lighting installation involves high costs, including logistics cost, in the long-term it has the potential to solve the problem of the lack of electricity poles in rural areas,“ he said.
At the event, there was also a briefing on geographic information system (GIS) a technology tool used by TNB for capturing, storing, managing, analysing and displaying geospatial data in a coordinated system. - Bernama
