The Kerala State Electronic Development Corporation (Keltron) has raised objections to the Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Limited’s tender for setting up a system integrator for the Traffic and Safety Command Control Centre in the city Corporation office and an Adaptive Traffic Control System on the city roads.
Initially, Keltron had filed a writ petition over some of the tender clauses. Later, it withdrew the petition and filed a complaint with the Local Self-Government Department. The LSGD has now set up a three-member committee consisting of the Additional Chief Secretary of the Finance Department, the Law Secretary, and the Industries Secretary, to look into the tender. The committee has been asked to submit a report before September 25.
Three companies
According to Smart City officials, three companies had responded to the tender. Keltron’s objections were over the period of the operations and maintenance contract.
“Keltron had specified seven years, which makes it the lowest bidder. But Smart City Limited, as per its request for proposal, is opting for a five-year contract. It is an error on their part when they submitted the proposal,” said a Smart City official. Keltron officials handling the particular section were not available for comment.
The command control centre would provide the Corporation with real-time data from the ground on everything from street lights to water supply to traffic situation.
The traffic lighting system in the city is also set to be modernised into an adaptive system under the Smart City project. A new traffic and safety control centre at Nandavanam along with the integrated command control centre at the Corporation office are part of the project.
Adaptive traffic lights
The proposed adaptive traffic light system is not time-based. It will scan the number of vehicles at a junction and change the lights accordingly, so that vehicles need not wait needlessly at a red light even when there are no vehicles from the other side.