The ministry said that now the path had been cleared the submission of bids was expected by May 22.

The competition includes the supply, installation, maintenance, and operation of 90 fixed cameras to detect traffic violations at traffic lights and 20 mobile photo cameras to detect speed.

The duration of the contract, in terms of maintenance and operation of the system will be for five years with the right to extend for another two.

The cost of supply and installation, including the maintenance and operation of the system, for a total period of seven years, according to the estimation of the department of electromechanical services, is expected to amount to €47.8m.

The pilot programme for the introduction of traffic cameras was slated to begin in 2020 but postponed until next year after one of the bidders had taken recourse to the tenders review authority over an issue with the contract concerning a provision included by the contracting authority, which would be the state.

Earlier this year, Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos said ideally the pilot programme was to have started this year if there had been no issues put before the review authority. The goal had been to begin implementation in November.

The initial plan was to have full implementation of the plan for a camera system installation by 2022 following the 2020 pilot programme.

Talks of bringing back traffic cameras after they were briefly introduced over a decade ago and then challenged and withdrawn, have resurfaced over the years without any concrete developments.

Source: Cyprus Mail