Two leading Spanish technology companies have become part of a public-private partnership that will execute various projects in Algeria with the overall objective of modernizing the country’s traffic management and urban lighting systems.
The global consulting and infrastructure technology company Indra and leading international systems integrator SICE have formed Mobeal, a public-private joint venture, in which the Algerian public companies EGCTU (urban transport) and ERMA (public lighting) hold equal shares of 51%, and Indra and SICE systems hold equal shares of 49%.
The Mobeal JV will embark on a variety of ‘smart city’ projects that will include: the installation and maintenance of new traffic lights, traffic management and control systems; and the remote management of urban lighting systems. The first phase of the modernization project will start in Algiers, Algeria’s capital and largest city, and will spread to other large cities in the country in subsequent phases.
Indra is one of the world’s leading companies in the implementation and development of smart technology for traffic and urban public transportation management, with deployments in over 100 cities worldwide. As a major step in advancing toward a ‘smart city’ model, the company’s smart mobility systems provide safer, more efficient and sustainable transport, contributing to the reduction of traffic jams with their associated costs, minimizing carbon emissions, and promoting the use of public transportation through integrated multimodal urban transport services.
Indra is currently carrying out various research projects under the umbrella of R&D&I (research and development and innovation), in order to improve the interoperability of transportation, smart road lighting, energy efficiency, and the integrated management of airport infrastructure operations.
The company has developed a smart lighting system that combines lights with LED technology and sensors for monitoring environmental information, energy use and mobility. The system automatically controls light intensity according to monitored data from sensor networks, reacting to the presence of vehicles or people, or the real-time level of environmental lighting due to weather conditions and time of day.
The company is a growing presence in Africa, where it has been operating since 1995, with projects in most of the continent’s countries, particularly in the fields of energy distribution and management, air traffic control and airport services. Indra has a permanent branch in Algeria, where it has carried out important projects for public administrations and the transport and traffic market. Among the company’s most recent contracts in the country was the award of a project for L’Algerienne de Gestion des Autoroutes (AGA), the organization in charge of managing, operating, maintaining and servicing the Algerian national highway network and its ancillary areas.
Indra is developing intelligent traffic systems (ITS) and toll systems for 236 miles (380km) of the East-West highway, the control center for the entire highway, and the provision of maintenance services for three years. The company has also deployed its Horus intelligent traffic and tunnel management system for the Bouira tunnels, and supplied a public transport ticketing system in the city of Setif.
