The Public Works Department said Monday it has received three bids for a €7 million project for the installation and operation of a traffic management system touted as reducing journey times in urban areas.
The department said it’s currently reviewing the three bids submitted last Friday. The public contract is for the installation, operation and maintenance of an Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system in Nicosia and Limassol.
The contract is estimated at €7.13 million, and includes a 24-month period of execution and a five-year maintenance period. The UTC system being proposed will be implemented at 125 intersections with traffic lights – 75 in Nicosia and 50 in Limassol. According to the department, it can also connect up to 500 intersections for remote access monitoring.
The three bidders named are: Hellenic Technical Enterprises Ltd; MK TTS Ltd; and Aircontrol Ltd.
Effectively the UTC system will gather data from sensors installed at key points of the road network in urban areas, processing the data in real-time and issuing instructions for traffic light signaling.
Urban traffic control systems use central computers to coordinate and monitor larger numbers of intersections.
UTC coordinates traffic signals in a network by the use of timing plans loaded on a central computer. Special timing plans can be created to cope with traffic associated with regular events such as sporting events or concerts which can generate high traffic volumes over a relatively short period of time. Signal timings may for example be adapted in real-time to give active priority to public transport over other traffic.
The specific project for Nicosia and Limassol is co-funded by the European Union ‘Thalia 2021-2027’ Cohesion Policy Programme. The programme’s total budget amounts to €1.81 billion, of which €969 million comes from EU Cohesion Policy Funds, while the remaining €842 million is the national contribution.
