Vinh City gradually builds 'city of light'

Upgrading public lighting system

Vinh City is a first-class urban area of ​​Nghe An province, aiming to become the economic and cultural center of the North Central region. With that position, the city pays attention to investing in urban beautification. In particular, the lighting system on streets, constructions, public places, etc. is always given top priority in upgrading.

In fact, in recent years, the upgrading of the urban lighting system has been carried out synchronously by the Vinh city government, contributing to the goal of building a city of light according to the set roadmap. Key projects that have been renovated and upgraded with lighting systems include walking streets, Cao Thang night street, Vinh Citadel food street, roundabouts, intersections, parks, welcome gates, etc.

Streets such as Ho Tung Mau, Nguyen Van Cu, Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Le Nin Avenue, Phan Dinh Phung, etc., after being re-lit, have shown an aesthetic effect and a vibrant atmosphere every night. Nguyen Van Cu Street - the section from Le Hong Phong Street to Nguyen Sy Sach Street has just been upgraded by the city in October 2023.

Here, the entire old lighting system has been replaced with 72 new technology lighting lamps, the old electric poles have also been replaced with 28 capacitors, ensuring safety, saving electricity, creating synchronization, and increasing urban beauty. In addition to investing and upgrading the lighting system from the State budget, the city's residents have also voluntarily contributed funds to renew the lighting system and decorative lights in the alleys.

In block 1, Hong Son ward, for a long time the streets and alleys were quite dark at night, now there is a synchronized lighting system built from funds donated by the people.

Mr. Vo Trong Nhat - Head of Block 1, Hong Son Ward said: As a block with many businesses, the lighting system is very important. In 2023, people have socialized to renovate the alleys. For example, in alley 2 and alley 14 on Nguyen Cong Tru Street, 25 households in 2 alleys contributed about 300 million VND; alley 4 on Ho Xuan Huong Street has 17 households with a total amount of 140 million VND; alley 2 on Le Huan Street has 45 households contributing 210 million VND... This money, in addition to renovating the road, is also used to renew the lighting system. People buy light bulbs, electric wires, erect poles... to help the street light up at night.

People in Hung Binh ward also participated in donating to upgrade the lighting system. In 2023, people in block 19 donated 176 million VND to upgrade the road and lighting at lane 2, lane 4, Nguyen Xuan On street; lane 34, 36, 38 Kim Dong street; the total number of newly installed light bulbs is 150.

Mr. Hoang Anh Tien - Deputy Head of Vinh City Urban Management Department, said: The lighting system in the city, in addition to the State budget investment, the contribution of the people is very important. Almost all blocks and hamlets of 25 wards and communes agree and support the renovation work and are always ready to contribute social resources to make the city more civilized and modern. Not only contributing in terms of material aspects, people also spend working days to install, erect electric poles, connect wires...

Prioritize energy-saving devices

At the Dialogue Conference between the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee with department-level managers and experts in the Bloc of Agencies of Nghe An province on May 11, 2023, the Provincial Party Secretary suggested in a meeting with Vinh City leaders about building a city of light. Artificial lighting at night, if organized in a complete, sophisticated and selective manner, will become a very potential open direction to promote economic growth, save budget and make it easier to control the scale and quality of construction investment than other infrastructure sectors. Investing in urban lighting will be the right way to realize the night-time economic development strategy that the Government has proposed in recent years, soon becoming an integral part of the overall economy, becoming a symbol of the vitality of Vinh city.

In reality, despite being renovated and upgraded, the urban lighting system in Vinh City is still quite modest, with shortcomings in planning, design, construction investment, and operation management; the system still lacks uniformity, identity, and is not attractive.

Currently, Vinh City is completing the Draft Project on building a city of light for the period 2023-2025, taking into account the year 2030 with specific goals, aiming to standardize existing "street lighting", minimize inadequacies in budget use, invest in a targeted and economical way in operation, enhance the appearance of the city at night; renovate landscape lighting in a friendly direction, bring "correct and sufficient" light back to public spaces with high usage value.

Accordingly, the lighting system in Vinh City will be invested in each category, including: street lighting (streets, alleys, traffic islands, overpasses, welcome gates, etc.); architectural lighting of buildings; landscape lighting (parks, squares, river banks, lake banks); commercial lighting (lighting of concentrated business areas such as shopping centers, supermarkets, shopping streets, walking streets, night markets) and event - festival lighting (holidays, Tet, festivals, etc.). After completing the draft, a workshop will be held and submitted for appraisal for approval by superiors.

Through the discussion, the representative of Vinh City leaders said: The construction of the city of light is being directed by the city to departments, units, wards and communes. If the lighting system is invested and upgraded synchronously, it will help to raise the level of Vinh city in many economic, cultural and social fields, creating an impression for people and tourists when coming to Vinh city.

However, when investing heavily in lighting systems, saving energy consumption is a top priority. Therefore, during the implementation process, the city will prioritize the application of modern, energy-saving technological solutions, and recommend replacing existing high-pressure lamps with LED lamps, because this type of lamp, in addition to saving energy and being environmentally friendly, also helps improve urban lighting, helping to minimize traffic collisions. The city's goal when building a city of light is to both ensure urban aesthetics and save energy according to the general global trend.