Nairobi’s chronic gridlock could soon meet its match as Kenya kicks off a competitive procurement process for a city-wide intelligent transport system — with the contract ring-fenced exclusively for South Korean companies. The Sh11 billion project is among the most ambitious road technology undertakings the capital has seen, and the race among Korean firms to land it is already under way.
The Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) is managing the tender, which is backed by an $83.8 million loan from South Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF). As is standard with tied-aid financing of this nature, the loan conditions require that the implementing contractor be a Korean firm — locking out all other international and local competitors from the bidding process.
The scope of work is substantial. The winning company will be responsible for installing smart traffic lights, automated Vehicle Enforcement Systems, CCTV cameras, vehicle detector systems, and Variable Message Signs along Nairobi’s busiest transport corridors. Tender documents make clear that all design-build works must be wrapped up within 30 months of the official commencement date.
Obligations do not end at handover. The successful contractor will be required to remain engaged for a further four years after project completion, providing operational support to ensure the system runs smoothly while local managers build capacity to run it independently. That post-completion commitment is seen as critical for a technology rollout of this complexity.
One of the most closely watched features is the system’s automated enforcement capability. Using cameras and sensors, it will flag motorists who block intersections, jump red lights, or commit lane violations — all in real time and without traffic police needing to be stationed at every junction. Proponents say this could bring far greater consistency to traffic law enforcement across a city where manual policing has long struggled to keep pace with the volume of vehicles.
The project also involves meaningful physical upgrades to Nairobi’s road infrastructure. A total of 60 junctions will be redesigned, one entirely new bridge will be constructed, and two existing bridges will be extended — changes targeted at easing flow at some of the city’s most notorious chokepoints.
For commuters who lose hours each week to bumper-to-bumper standstills, and for businesses that haemorrhage billions in productivity losses annually, the stakes are high. If the system performs as designed, it would signal a significant shift in how Nairobi runs its roads — moving away from a dependence on boots-on-the-ground policing toward a smarter, data-driven model capable of managing traffic around the clock.
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