By Valentina Castaño
Beginning in 2022, the Medellín Mayor’s Office, hand in hand with EPM, announced the modernization of all public lighting in the city. The new lights would be LED technology and promised to save up to 44% energy, as well as improve the perception of security at night.
“This is a more efficient technology, here we are going to consume less energy. It is a technology that illuminates better, is more comfortable, and additionally brings security. Medellín has the right to have a 24-hour life and this allows it. We must reiterate our gratitude for trusting in EPM for this project”, said the general manager of EPM, Jorge Andrés Carrillo at the time.
This news was extremely important for the center of Medellín, a territory that is constantly affected by insecurity and where complaints about night lighting abound. One year after the announcement of this renovation project, how is the situation in Comuna 10?
White light, a blessing
The center is one during the day and the other at night, it is no secret to anyone that once the sun goes down, businesses rush to close and the busy streets empty quickly, giving way to a lonely and somewhat gloomy scene that becomes even more gloomy in the dim orange glow of the old light fixtures.
However, today the scenario is different. At 8 at night the cars go through the El Palo street with entire blocks well lit, where crime can happen, but it is hardly hidden. The same happens in other main roads such as Oriental, La Playa, Palacé or Bolívar.
And although the odd orange bulb still slips through the long rows of LED lights, the difference in the spaces that modernization has reached is undeniable.
“We are happy with the change, it has been enormous, the amount of light emitted by the new lamps is much greater, and they also make the environment a thousand times more pleasant than orange drinks,” says Luis Fernando Muriel, an employee of a 24-hour restaurant located on Maracaibo.
The lamps are installed with modern arms and accessories. In some cases, new poles have been placed, taking into account the designs previously made for each zone, the type of roads, the public lighting manual and lighting compliance.
In addition, its useful life is up to 23 years, ranging from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand hours without degrading the quality of light.
In addition to the new luminaires, other lighting projects for spaces in the center have also contributed to bringing life back to the nights in the territory. For example, 1,500 square meters of the facade of the Hotel Nutibara were illuminated with environmentally friendly technologies last May, in addition, other Assets of Cultural Interest such as La Naviera and 29 facades of the Prado heritage neighborhood have been illuminated.
There are several streets in the center of Medellín where the lights have not yet been changed.
Still missing
Despite the fact that the importance of the new LED lights becomes obvious when passing through any street where they are already installed, there are still several streets in the center where there is not a single renovated luminaire. Tenerife, Bomboná, Cundinamarca, Los Huesos and several other main thoroughfares continue to retain the dim orange glow that used to be seen throughout the center.
The same situation can be seen in more residential neighborhoods like Las Palmas, Boston, Los Angeles and even Prado, where much of the public lighting is still orange.
Given this, the Undersecretariat for Territorial Management and Development, in charge of the issue of lighting, argues that the intervention has not yet concluded:
“The entire commune 10,. La Candelaria will be modernized with the project. Right now we are in more than 80.2% of the execution. A batch of luminaires was detected which presents a localized failure in one of its components (flashing/intermittence). This novelty required an immediate intervention plan between EPM, the District and the supplier, which has been proactively accompanying this task as part of the guarantee contemplated in the contractual process of these assets. Faced with these irregularities or thefts, so far 5,071 lights have been changed in execution of the shock plan. It is noteworthy that the detection of luminaires with these failures is a complex task, since it is a batch that was distributed to different communes within the framework of the total modernization of the public lighting system to LED technology, so it is of It is vitally important that the community report any type of irregularity,” spokespersons for the undersecretary told CENTRÓPOLIS.
The customer service line that citizens should call to have the luminaires replaced quickly is 604-4444115, although it can also be done through the ReportesMed mobile phone application.
This modernization project throughout Medellín, for which almost $100,000 of public resources were allocated, has undoubtedly achieved positive and significant changes in the city center, a territory that was crying out for better night lighting. We hope it is completed successfully and the entire Comuna 10 can enjoy the benefits.
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