City Hall has begun installing traffic lights in three spots along the capital's riverside to ease traffic conditions, with work expected to be completed before the upcoming Water Festival and its influx of visitors.

"We need to install traffic lights at three areas along the river, especially at places with frequent traffic jams," Sa Voan, one of the men working on the installations, said yesterday.

"On Monday, we installed traffic light poles in front of Night Market. Today, we are installing them in front of Wat Ounalom and Chaktomuk Theater," he said, adding that his team had nearly finished and was now awaiting materials such as cameras and lights that were "temporarily unavailable".

Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Khuong Sreng yesterday said the new lights will serve to "facilitate traffic among domestic and international pedestrians".

"We’re going to [make the traffic situation] in the future better, [so] both domestic and international tourists can travel better,” he said, adding that the technical team will "try to complete work before the Water Festival", scheduled for November 13-15.