The project will replace existing street lamps on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota with Light Emitting Diode lamps. A total of 1,225 LED lamps will be installed with 919 lamps going to Saipan, 68 to Tinian, and 238 to Rota. The initial shipment of 995 LED lamps arrived on Saipan on March 9, 2011, while the remaining LED lamps were slated to arrive on March 18.
The project has been segmented into five phases which will cover the following roads: Beach Road, Chalan Tun Thomas P. Sablan Road, Koblerville Road, Chalan Monsignor Martinez Road, Isla drive, Kagman Road, Chalan Pale Arnold Road, Dan Dan Road, Chalan Tun Herman Pan Road, and Chalan Monsignor Guerrero Road.
Installation on Saipan began on March 10 on Chalan Monsignor Martinez Road and will continue from the south end of the island working north until project completion. Installation also began on Tinian on March 15; Rota will begin installation on March 28.
CNMI ARRA IT/communications manager Fred Camacho, stated: “Our office is very pleased to see this project get underway. We have worked tirelessly in collaboration with the Division of Public Works/Energy Division, the CNMI executive branch, and our project manager, RR Group to get this project off the ground. We look forward to having all of the CNMI enjoy brighter safer roads.”
The new LED lamps are more energy-efficient and have a longer life span which will require less labor to maintain and will keep operating costs down. The new lamps are also much brighter than the previous, increasing visibility for our CNMI drivers and lessening the chance for accidents.
“Our office wishes to thank all of the agencies involved in getting this project off the ground. We all put in a lot of hard work and it is very gratifying to see that the hard work will pay off and that the CNMI can now reap the benefits of these new LED lamps,” said Division of Energy Director Thelma Inos.
