Phnom Penh City Hall had signed a contract with the French company Citelum on Monday to broaden and modernise its public lighting system over the course of a 20-year agreement, the French embassy announced yesterday.

The embassy said full oversight of the city’s lights would be transferred to Citelum, which will reduce outages by more than 90 per cent and, per light, cut energy costs by more than 50 per cent and maintenance costs by 60 per cent – while increasing the number of street lights to more than 10,000 and illuminating four monuments over the first four years.

Phnom Penh municipality spokesman Long Dimanche said the project would be a boon to both the environment and the city’s finances.

“The whole city will be installed with lights, so that it will attract more tourists, and people in Phnom Penh will enjoy the decorative lights,” Dimanche said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cheang Sokha at [email protected]