Phnom Penh is looking to improve its traffic light system and will fit more than 30 unregulated intersections with traffic lights by February next year, City Hall has announced.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is assisting the city, has prioritised the system as a better way of managing traffic in the capital, it said on Monday.

“We are planning to upgrade the whole traffic light system in Phnom Penh in number and technology,” Egami Masahiko, who leads the JICA urban planning working group, said.

Phnom Penh has 69 intersections with traffic signals. JICA and the city plan to increase that number to 100 in the next eight months.

An advanced traffic light control system that incorporates traffic congestion surveillance will also be introduced, Masahiko said.

“The traffic signal system in Phnom Penh is very primitive as it is isolated and operated with a single fixed timing, regardless of the morning and evening peak hours.”