Civic agencies are set to get additional funds to strengthen the operation and maintenance of the Chennai Metropolitan Area Intelligent Transport Systems.
Tendering will start once the civic agencies get ₹240 crore in additional funding after getting the concurrence of the State government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is funding the project. The funding, in addition to the ₹660 crore, is expected to be crucial in monitoring, upgrading and maintaining applications and infrastructure to offer efficient services to residents.
State officials will have a series of meetings with line agencies this week to finalise the key aspects of the funding requirements for operation and maintenance. The tendering of various sub-projects will start after the revised administrative sanction is obtained from the State government.
In the first phase, the project will cover 168 junctions in the core city, with loan assistance from JICA. The project is meant to construct an efficient traffic system to meet the increasing traffic demands in the Chennai Metropolitan Area that covers the Greater Chennai Corporation and other local bodies in the suburbs.
The major components are the Chennai Traffic Information System, the Traffic Management System and the City Bus System. After the collaborative funding of ₹660 crore by JICA and the State government was decided, companies from Japan and Canada were selected for consultancy services for Intelligent Transportation Systems. The study pointed to the need for a Traffic Information and Management System for the Chennai Traffic Police. The adaptive traffic signal control system will be developed at 165 junctions. The Chennai Corporation will carry out junction improvements at these locations. A system for vehicle incident detection will cover 58 locations. A variable message sign system will be implemented at 17 locations.
A red light violation detection system will be installed at 50 junctions. A speed-limit violation system will be developed at 10 locations. Automatic traffic counters and classifiers will be commissioned at 115 locations.
The city bus system for the Metropolitan Transport Corporation will include facilities for tracking buses, depot management and passenger information.
The system will be developed in 18 months. It will be able to assess the real time traffic conditions, counting the number of vehicles and classifying them, leading to a reduction in the number of accidents and improved pedestrian safety.
