City traffic lights await fine-tuning

City Hall has admitted that the project to control traffic is not yet fully operational as buck-passing on who is to blame for its delay continued.

While the county government of Nairobi owns the project, it is supposed to implement it alongside traffic police and other government departments.

Traffic police early this week accused the City Hall of side-lining them in the implementation process, and it is this lack of coordination that is believed to be delaying the project.

On Wednesday, county executive in charge of Roads, Public Works and Transport Mohamed Abdullahi denied any rivalry between them and the traffic police, saying, the project had been delayed by shortage of CCTV cameras and signals.

Mr Abdullahi dismissed claims by police spokesperson Gatiria Mboroki that they have not been involving the officers in the project.

He said the county had involved traffic police in Nairobi and other government departments in all their meetings to discuss the project’s implementation.

However, Nairobi traffic police boss Edward Mwamburi said that although City Hall had lately involved them, they have no control over it.

“This is not a police project and we are only involved in it because we are also players in the traffic management of the city,” he said.

DOUBT CASTED

Mr Mwamburi doubted the effectiveness of the automated system he said they had tested in March.

“When we tested the traffic lights, they all stopped working in the entire city... The lights did not regulate (traffic) as expected,” he said.

They long to see the new system work so as to withdraw their officers from the roads and streets where they are sent every day to control traffic flow, he said. Mr Mwamburi also denied claims by an official at the governor’s office that traffic police have been frustrating the project to continue manning the roads.

“If the lights are working, why should we have traffic officers controlling motorists?” he asked.

However, Mr Abdullahi told Nation in an interview: “The digitalised system is in place, but it needs to be enhanced because some junctions are not synchronised and they are therefore not connected to the control room.”

More CCTV cameras are needed in some roads, the county roads executive said.

According to him, one control room is at City Hall, while the other one, which he said in a backup, is at the Nairobi Traffic Police headquarters.

However, Mr Mwamburi said he’s not aware of such a control room at any police department in the city.