•On January 29, the government signed Sh17.4 billion from the Korean government to finance the Nairobi ITS project.
•In 2019, The World Bank estimated that traffic jams cost the economy Sh50 million in lost productivity a day.
Image: WILFRED NYANGERESI
The Kenya Urban Roads Authority has commenced the evaluation of consultancy bids for the Nairobi Integrated Transport System project.
This is despite the government having not yet received Sh17.4 billion from the Korean Export and Import Bank for the project.
John Cheboi, Kura assistant director of corporate communications, said they are evaluating the bids for the consultancy and will advertise for contractors to undertake the project as soon as the paperwork is done.
Cheboi said the authority, led by director general Silas Kinoti, was given a go-ahead by the government to start procurement for the ITS project.
He spoke to the Star on Thursday.
On January 29, the government signed Sh17.4 billion from the South Korean government to finance the project.
The National Treasury signed two loans from the Korean Export and Import Bank, with the first loan being Sh10.79 billion and the second Sh6.59 billion.
The loan will be repaid in 60 semi-annual instalments starting July 20, 2031.
The project aims at decongesting traffic in Nairobi by setting up and upgrading road junctions.
Kura’s director general said traffic decongestion in Nairobi cannot be solved by constructing roads and that is where ITS will be used.
In 2019, the Population and Housing Census said Nairobi had 4.3 million residents.
The population grows daily and more vehicles are on the roads.
The National Transport Safety Authority registers at least 7,000 motor vehicles in Nairobi monthly.
The roads carry more than 60 per cent of more than two million registered vehicles, resulting in tangles of traffic stretching for miles.
In 2019, The World Bank estimated that traffic jams cost the economy Sh50 million in lost productivity a day.
This translates to more than Sh17 billion a year.
As a result, Kura is banking on the ITS to end the traffic nightmare.
ITS is a system in which information and communication technologies are applied in managing road transport and infrastructure in terms of how roads are used.
This will replace the traffic police who control and manage traffic on the roads.
The ITS comprises of three components, Advanced Traffic Management System, Advanced Travel Management System and Advanced Traffic Information System.
Kinoti said on February 15, Kura signed Sh16 billion contract with South Korea Export-Import Bank to implement the construction of the Traffic Management Centre and connect 102 junctions.
Phase one will cost Sh6 billion for the construction of TMC and connecting 25 junctions while Phase two, Kura will connect an extra 77 junctions.
The advanced traffic management system is where junctions will be signalised to control traffic where the technology captures vehicle detection and traffic count in real-time.
Traffic Management Centre will collect, analyse and process all information about buses, routes and numbers.
The centre will house a team of traffic engineers, system specialists, traffic police officers and county traffic controllers who will monitor on a continuous real-time basis.
The key stakeholders are the police, NTSA, Namata, ICT ministry and Nairobi government will be housed in the centre under one command for management.
Advanced Travel Management System is part of the ITS which involves communicating to commuters on bus routes through advisory messages.
For communication, Kura is expected to set up screens at various road junctions which will display the advisory messages indicating which routes have less traffic and the congested ones.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris