1. 22nd
ITS World Congress, Bordeaux, France, 5–9 October 2015
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Paper number EU ITS-2452
The Why, Where, What and How of ITS – Egypt Case Study
Barry Moore MSc CEng MIET1*
, Jim Dixon MSc CEng2
, Prof Dr Khaled El-Araby
PhD3
1. MoCh Tech Consulting Ltd, 3, Diana Gardens, Bristol, BS32 8DD, United Kingdom.
Telephone: +44 (0) 7971103377. Email: barry.moore@mochtechconsulting.co.uk
2. Traffictec Ltd, United Kingdom
3. Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Egypt
Abstract
Countries without ITS see those systems used by advanced countries and aspire to develop
their own capability. While appreciating the safety and efficiency benefits of ITS, they have
little experience to develop a sustainable capability and will have competing demands on their
budgets. This case study is based on an EU funded ITS Study commissioned by the Egyptian
MoT; it identifies the Whys, Where(s), What(s) and How(s) of developing an ITS Strategy
and Deployment programme. Egypt has around 12,000 road traffic-related deaths per year
giving it one of the worst traffic accident records. The approach we took provides solutions to
the challenges encountered where there is no existing ITS capability and demonstrates a
phased approach to create an ITS foundation, giving positive benefits from saving lives.
However, ITS cannot be seen in isolation, there are other challenges including, institutional,
organisation, driver behaviour and state of the road infrastructure.
Keywords:
Egypt, ITS-challenges, Study
Background
Emerging and developing countries can see the advantages that Intelligent Transport Systems
(ITS) give to the developed ones where it is widely adopted yet there are competing demands
on their budgets from defence, healthcare and education. There are sophisticated
transportation systems in use around the world where the challenge now, for those countries
using them, is how best to support and enhance their legacy systems by being able to do
“more for less”. In both cases, the challenge is how to improve safety, transport efficiency,
operational capability and customer experience, while reducing capital spending on
improvements and managing increasing demands for maintenance and operational resources.
Those countries aspiring to gain the lifesaving benefits of ITS need to careful navigate their
way to meeting their aspirations with informed planning and taking advantage of the
experience gained by those countries already exploiting ITS by optimising the use of
infrastructure and resources to minimise expenditure.
This case study is about such a planned approach and is based on an EU funded ITS study
commissioned by the Egyptian Ministry of Transport (MoT). Broadly, the ITS study
comprehensively reviewed the challenges confronting Egypt and covers the Why, Where,
What(s) and How(s) of ITS. From that study, a Strategic Plan was developed for deploying
ITS on Egypt’s main road network with a staged delivery Action Plan centred on creating an

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ITS capability both in the MoT and Egyptian industry; a foundation project was identified to
deploy an initial ITS scheme around the Cairo Ring Road with a sustainable programme to
support, maintain, operate and deploy further ITS schemes. A second part to the project was
to prepare a set of Contract Documentation and Employer’s Requirements (Specifications) to
permit the procurement of Systems and Services.
Improving road safety and efficiency were key criteria in considering the use of ITS. In
Egypt for example, there are around 12,000 deaths per year as a result of road traffic accidents
(WHO Annual Road Statistics, 2010), which leads to the roads of Egypt being amongst the
most dangerous in the world and now being the second major cause of death in Egypt. In
response to concerns arising from that, the Egyptian MoT decided to review new solutions,
including ITS to reduce accidents improve safety and operational efficiencies on Egyptian
roads. As a result, an EU funded ITS study was commissioned and carried out during 2013
and 2014 for the MoT by a team of international ITS experts supported by local engineers.
Egypt has a substantial highway infrastructure but the maintenance and care of it has not kept
pace with demand. Hitherto, there has been limited investment to improve the use of the
highways, tackling driver behaviour which has deteriorated and there has been a lack of
maintenance, with debris and roadside clutter which combined with rapidly increasing traffic
volumes is eroding network capacity.
The Study identified that on the Cairo Ring Road (CRR) alone, with an annual average daily
traffic of more than 130,000 vehicles in some sections, 86 people on average were killed each
year during 2007 to 2011 and there were 488 serious injury accidents out of a total of 854
traffic related accidents. Furthermore, recent statistics suggest that incidents and casualties are
increasing year on year – essentially the situation is worsening. It conservatively estimated
that the deployment of ITS on the 110kms of the CRR would save ten lives every year and
reduce serious accidents by 57 each year, besides bringing operating efficiencies and reducing
environmental impact of roads and surrounding environment. Further, the Study estimated
that those savings would have a nett economic benefit of €9m with an internal rate of return
(IRR) of circa 24% and benefit cost ratio (BCR) of 1.73. If ITS is extended to a further
1,400kms of Egyptian roads considered in the study, a further 130 lives approximately could
be saved annually, with annual accidents reduced by about a further 730.
Introduction
The purpose of the ITS Study for Egypt was two fold, initially to develop a “Strategic ITS
Plan” that outlines the vision, policy developments, benefits and approach to deploying ITS
technologies and its use on the Egypt’s road network, with a secondary goal to prepare the
Client ready to go to Tender and confidently let a Contract as budget permits. Any decisions
and recommendations made by the study should be expected to form the foundation of
National ITS Standards and used nationwide. The work undertaken and covered here, lays out
such a vision with conclusions (Action Plan) and main recommendations to guide the
development and deployment of an ITS capability and the necessary enabling organisation,
systems and equipment to satisfy identified needs. It leaves the MoT with the ability to go to
Tender for a baseline ITS and a capability to meet a set of immediate Stakeholder needs.
Developing the “Vision”
Guiding principles for the Study were that ITS should:
 Enhance safety
 Improve mobility

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 Support economic development
 Enhance road-user experience and quality of service
 Reduce the burden and environmental impact of road-transport
Developing the vision was a key activity of the ITS Study and included comprehensive
stakeholder engagement. That enabled a needs assessment framework to be developed, see
Figure 1 below. In turn it led to developing the “vision” for the application of ITS in Egypt
and a supporting strap line. It also identified an aspiration to:
“Be seen as the leading user of ITS in the MENA region”
Why ITS
With increasing traffic and a planned increase in high-grade roads, such as the Cairo-
Alexandria Desert Road improvements, the Greater Cairo Ring Road and a recently
announced US$10 billion National Road Development Plan, the “need” to operate and
manage traffic at both a tactical and strategic level becomes critical to ensure safer mobility of
passengers and goods. It would also ensure a better overall return from such highway
investments.
Key stakeholders were consulted: they were the General Assembly for Roads, Bridges and
Land Transport (GARBLT); Egyptian National Railway (ENR); Cairo Metro; MoI/Traffic
Police; and Greater Cairo Traffic Authority (GCTRA). From that needs were established and
are shown below in Figure 1 “Needs Assessment Chart”.
From that stakeholder engagement, Incident management followed by traffic operations and
traveller information needs were identified as high priority ITS intervention areas by most
stakeholders.
Comprehensive stakeholder engagement informed the “vision” for the application
of ITS in Egypt; namely,
“To exploit intelligent transport systems (ITS) technology to achieve the
safe and efficient movement of people and goods throughout the network”
That led to the strap line:
“Safer, more Efficient, better Informed Road-users through Sustainable ITS”
Faced with:
 Rising traffic demands and road-user expectations and
 An inability to increase the capacity of existing roads
Many highway authorities are investing in ITS as a more cost effective way
to release latent capacity to improve safety and reduce congestion

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Figure 1 Needs Assessment Chart
Where ITS is needed
International studies and research show that well-planned ITS can deliver a wide range of
benefits, both quantifiable economic benefits with real savings and qualitative benefits such as
less stressful journeys and a reduction in environmental pollution.
From a business case model developed on that basis with a fifteen-year horizon, the Study
estimated that the benefits derived from accident savings alone on the 110km Cairo Ring
Road (CRR) are very significant; i.e. based on 2014 prices, deploying automatic incident
detection (AID) alone on the CRR produces a very healthy IRR of circa 24% with a BCR of
1.73 indicated. Extending the business case to other major roads suggested that at least a
further 1,370km of major roads would benefit from ITS, producing accident saving benefits in
the order of €1,596m for a capital and revenue investment of €802m giving an IRR of about
30% and BCR of circa 1.83.
To develop an ITS capability on that scale however, suggests the need for a phased National
ITS programme guided by a National ITS deployment policy.
Phased ITS Delivery
Broadly, in terms of deploying ITS, the
Study concluded that a phased
approach needs to be adopted. That
should apply both to the deployment of
functionality (traffic management,
enforcement, surveillance etc) and to
locations (i.e. which roads to install ITS
on first) where benefits justify ITS
deployments the most. Figure 2 ITS Roadmap Egypt

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As there is no existing Traffic Management System or Centre, the first priority is to establish
an ITS foundation-capability. That requires a Traffic Management Centre (TMC) building to
be established along with acquiring a traffic management system, telecommunication services
and a roadside infrastructure, to give an initial entry level of strategic traffic control covering
elements such as AID, CCTV and Messaging media (fixed and dynamic).
To establish Egypt’s Foundation-capability an initial ITS scheme covering the CRR was
recommended to provide a manageable and affordable (circa €12m) ITS entry level estimated
to give a €9m nett benefit over a fifteen-year horizon. Such a scheme would also provide the
opportunity to develop a client-side ITS Team and enable opportunities for local industry to
gain expertise through partnering with international suppliers.
What are ITS Delivery Needs
Implementing ITS on any scale needs careful planning and the necessary organisational
establishment, with policies to provide governance and the structure to make it happen. There
needs to be a commitment at the highest levels of government to exploit the benefits from ITS
technologies and amongst all stakeholders. That policy needs to be widely understood and
applied as standard to all qualifying road schemes. That should be regardless of who delivers
the scheme or whether a scheme is principally a highway improvement scheme or a new-build
scheme, since ITS provides additional benefits and preserves the initial highway investment.
All major-road schemes should therefore, contain ITS to standard level of provision.
That requires ITS to be embraced as a mainstream roads function and provide the matching
capability (design, procurement, implementation, operation and maintenance) to that found in
teams delivering conventional road schemes. To achieve that, five distinct organisational
elements were identified:
 Administrative: an “Operational Headquarters Team” to set the operating policies with
strategic requirements for ITS and highway operations on major roads and provide
governance.
 A specialist “ITS Division” located as part of the Operational Headquarters Team
providing the “intelligent client” role, developing standards and specifications and
managing delivery.
 Operational Units responsible for maintenance of the ITS roads infrastructure and –
possibly at some future date – for providing mobile traffic patrols
 Access to international expertise, particularly initially to provide specialist support to
the ITS Team to help specify, procure, install and maintain the IT, communications
equipment and ITS Infrastructure.
 A Traffic Management Centre (TMC), initially to provide the Foundation-capability
but later covering the regional network of highways as ITS extends to these. Such
TMC facilities need to be shared between the national road operator and traffic police.
Further findings of the Study included:
 Introducing a National ITS policy supported by National standards for ITS provision
and in support of that:
o Seek international expertise to aid in these policy and organisational
developments
o Encourage the development of a local ITS industry to enable ITS self-sufficiency
and exports
 National ITS Programme: Based on the findings of the ITS Study, establish and
publish a National ITS Programme. That programme should include an

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implementation strategy based on independent ITS schemes and include, ITS to be
provided by other road improvements or new build schemes
 Phasing the introduction of ITS on high-speed inter-urban highways and hubs, broadly
covering the following Phases:
o ITS Foundations: Implement an ITS scheme which provides a National
foundation for future enhancements and extensions. That needs to provide:
 Traffic management and operations including provision of the TMCs
 Telecommunications “backbone” providing secure connections between the
TMCs and roadside equipment;
 Roadside infrastructure which includes vehicle detection and traffic
monitoring, CCTV traffic surveillance, etc.
 Automatic traffic-regulation enforcement,
 Driver information: tactical and strategic traffic management; incident
detection, in-trip and on-trip traffic information, etc
 To Maximise ITS benefits: introduce life-saving automatic incident detection where
accident savings justify it.
What ITS Packages to use
The short-term priority ITS applications identified in the Study broadly centre on three
application areas:
1. Traffic management systems; including
 Vehicle detection for traffic monitoring through CCTV or radar surveillance;
 Advanced traffic control measures such as speed and lane control and incident
detection;
 Strategic traffic management through traffic re- routing based on variable
message signs (VMS) in combination with a Highway Advisory Radio
broadcast system delivered over a National frequency
2. Automated traffic enforcement including speed and lane enforcement, free-flow
weigh-in-motion, tracking and tracing of illegal vehicles, payment enforcement, etc.
3. Traveller information systems including variable message signs, driver information
covering pre-trip and on-trip information, “traffic Egypt” website enabling and
encouraging third-party value added services, driver information radio channel, etc.,
4. Support Services for Operations & maintenance. It was agreed at an early stage
that as there is no existing legacy systems there is no local skillset or experience
needed to operate ITS optimally. For this reason it was proposed that any ITS
deployment should include an element of support from the supplying Contractor, who
would be secured to operate, manage and maintain the supplied technologies for a
required period. During such a period the expectation was that local staff would ‘learn
on the job’ and assume responsibility after the conclusion of an operate and maintain
(O&M) period.
The following figure (Figure 3 Initial ITS Deployment Plan CRR) provides an overview of
the initial deployment plan of ITS services on the Cairo Ring Road. Such a deployment plan
is planned to be refined, detailed and programmed in the coming period.

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What ITS Architecture
The reference system architecture (Figure 4) for Egypt is organised around four development
phases in line with international system architecture development activities, in particular the
European ITS Framework Architecture (Ref. 1) and the ISO TICS Reference Architecture
(ref. 2)
On the basis of a coordinated traffic management and enforcement approach between the
national road authority (GARBLT) and the General Department of Traffic Police (GDT), the
Figure 3 Initial ITS Deployment Plan CRR
Figure 4 Egypt ITS Architecture

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following figure (Figure 5) provides an outline of the operational conceptual model for the
first deployment of the traffic management and enforcement system
How to Deliver ITS
Delivering ITS involved a range of topics which were considered by the Study. It included
ensuring consistency, inter-operability through National Standards; Procurement methods;
and Risk management. Briefly, the Study included:
National ITS Standards of Provision
The challenge is that ITS has a wide range of functions and capabilities to select from in order
to solve or ease the effects which increasing traffic demand bring. ITS has proven benefits
with positive benefit v cost ratios (BCR) and substantial internal rates of return (IRR).
However, the application of the wrong ITS solution or its deployment in the wrong place
simply on the basis that “ITS is a good thing”, will result in a poor IRR and most likely,
negative BCR. Any unproductive results or adverse comments will rapidly detract from the
confidence in ITS, support will wain and investment commitments will disappear.
To guard against a simple “ITS is widely used therefore it must be good” approach and to
ensure a national consistency across all potential deployments of ITS, a strategic approach is
needed. To achieve such consistency and value for money it is essential to establish:
 A needs based approach which investigates cause and effect to select the most
appropriate ITS functions which can either eradicate the cause and or minimise the
effect, particularly where high accident rates and/or traffic congestion are concerned.
 Develop National Standards which codify the provision of a standard ITS solution,
where there are occurrences of common or similar traffic issues; e.g. accidents and
congestion.
The Study recommended that Egypt adopt such an approach to deploying ITS on its road
network. Such national standards are in existence internationally, which through a needs
based analysis can be easily tailored to meet Egypt’s needs.
Figure 5 Coordinated ITS Archtecture

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Developing the Employers requirements
After having agreed the scope and style of ITS deployment to be delivered for managing the
CRR a specification in the form of the Employer’s Requirements was produced. This
established the technologies and services needed to deliver the project. They included
definition of functional requirements and where necessary, recognised standards the supplier
needed to adhere to. This defined the MoT’s needs whilst leaving the actual technologies free
for the contractor to propose, safe that they would deliver specified needs and requirements.
The Requirements ensured that the Client would get the essential base systems in terms of the
hardware, software and functionality it needed to form the foundation of a practical,
deployable, sustainable ITS system that could function and grow as needs and applications
required. Whilst no specific national standard was stipulated at this point it was understood
that since the initial system formed the foundation capability, future procurements would be
compatible and interoperable. Establishing the core ITS system and its components would
provide a good basis for future expansions and easier integration. Internationally accepted
standards and protocols were used wherever possible to help achieve that, thus opening up the
potential for ‘market shopping’ without total reliance on the initial supplier.
To support the above needs and requirements complimentary support services were also
included, to be supplied by the contractor for a number of years post commissioning. This
would place the responsibility for optimised operation on the contractor, subject to meeting
agreed KPI’s. The Contractor would also be responsible for the maintenance and servicing of
the equipment to ensure optimal performance and investment is value retained.
The Bidder / Contractor will assume responsibility for completion of the Detailed Design, to
be ratified by the Engineer’s Office.
To ensure delivery of the Employer’s Requirements, complimentary Terms & Conditions of
Contract were drawn up. These were based (see below) on the FIDIC “Gold Book’, suitably
modified to reflect local needs and requirements.
Procurement – best practice
To get the most out of the international ITS supply-base, the Study recommended that
contracting partners would react more favourably to an internationally standardised form of
contract which is agreeable to both parties. Adopting such a policy lessens the likelihood of
miss-interpretation, unsatisfactory performance, increased costs and disputes; i.e., risks are
best managed where parties to a contract have the right experience. By reducing contractual
risks, through using standard conditions of contract, tenderers should not need to make
financial provision for unfamiliar conditions or perceived risks.
Various procurement methods were examined and the conclusion reached that a conventional
form of contract provides the best option rather than a PFI as the value and scope of the ITS
works and services required, is such that private finance is unlikely to be attractive. The Study
therefore, recommended using a Design, Build, Maintain and Operate (DBMO) form of
contract to supply, install and commission ITS with the minimum of a five-year maintain and
operate period, once the system is in operation.
As the FIDIC form of contracts are widely used in the Middle East and Europe, the Study
recommended the appropriate FIDIC documentation known as ‘Gold Book’ should be
adopted to cover the scope of ITS works and Services on this project.

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To enable that in an initial foundation phase and the transfer of knowledge and experience to
the client ITS Team as outlined above, the Study recommended the adoption of a team of
Senior Technical ITS Experts, including the contractual necessity of an Employer’s
Representative, be formed to act as the intelligent client and oversee such a DBMO contract,
particularly for the initial deployments of ITS.
Once ITS is established in Egypt and there is a national ongoing programme for its
deployment, the procurement of additional ITS functionality or deploying more of the same to
other roads, can take various forms. For example, the commoditisation of ITS equipment
lends itself to central procurement where a reduction in equipment costs in the order of 15%-
20% can be achieved. The Study recommended that the use of commoditised procurement be
kept under review along with the development of local expertise, knowledge and ITS
industrial capability.
The expectation is that a Prequalification notice and evaluation period be advertised after
which a shortlist of approved Bidders be invited to tender their full technical and fiscal offer.
Any procurement will then be subjected to Detailed Design activity, Factory and Site
Acceptance Tests and be required to pass a fault free commissioning period before
acceptance.
Risk Management
Risk management is an essential part of delivering any successful project or scheme. Public
Private sector Partnerships (PPPs), as the name implies, are “partnerships” where best risk
allocation should always be driven by the main objective to mitigate or prevent the future
impact of unpredictable or predictable events. Beyond this fundamental principle, the
allocation of risk depends on the experiences of the parties and what they are able to control
or not. It can also depend on the negotiating power of the public partner, provided that this is
not abused to distort the balance of risk sharing – inappropriate allocation of risks usually
results in higher costs, time over-runs and lower quality.
Typical ITS Risk Management
The objective of risk management is to
identify hazards which cause risks and
then to minimise the occurrence of those
risks and their effect on project delivery.
That is to ensure time and cost budgets
are maintained while delivering the right
quality and ultimately ensuring outcomes
for the project are achieved.
However, risks are dynamic topic and
need to be reviewed regularly and up-
dated throughout the life of a project. To
that end, planning and identifying
hazards which cause risks, analysing and
then constantly reviewing and managing
them, needs to be undertaken at frequent
intervals.
Figure 6: Risk Management Process Model

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Main Conclusions
 There is little ITS in use in Egypt particularly on the main inter-urban corridors but there
are a number of past studies which identify the need for it.
 ITS measures are part of a national transport strategy for Egypt covering urban and rural
road networks and different modes in an integrated manner
 There are significant benefits which can be gained to justify the deployment of ITS
through saving lives and improving operational efficiencies, besides reducing the
environmental impact of road travel and improving traveller experience.
 There is a need to develop institutional structures supported by governance, processes,
procedures, procurement methods and national ITS standards.
 For longer term sustainability the client needs to develop an ITS capability and local
industry needs to be involved in the delivery – both learning from international ITS
partners during initial deployments
 A staged approach to deployment is required to enable a foundation-capability to be
established which comprises a Traffic Management Centre, an initial on-road deployment
of ITS and telecommunication services connecting roadside devices to the TMC. That
should provide the client and industry with the experience to become self-sufficient in
future ITS projects
 Procurement of the foundation capability be procured through a single Design Build
Operate Maintain (DBOM) contract – a one-stop-shop approach to reduce contractual
interfaces, place delivery risks where they are best managed and avoid split
responsibilities
 Similarly, functional performance specifications should be used in the procurement
allowing the bidders to provide a conforming detail design which the successful bidder is
contracted to deliver.
 Subsequent ITS deployments need to conform to a National ITS programme, be governed
by National standards and consider central procurement of commoditised items such as
standard roadside equipment including VMS, cabinets, detectors etc
Some Pre-requisites for Successful ITS
Additional conclusions which arise from the ITS Study and for ITS to be sustainable, include:
 Modified driver behaviour through a programme of information, encouragement and
enforcement (carrot and stick approach), from;
o Improved publicity covering the benefits of ITS and highlighting what is good for the
individual is good for all,
o Enforcement, particularly for speeding, over-weight vehicles and illegal stopping or
parking on the carriageway or hard-shoulder
 Free latent capacity through cleaning up roads, improved maintenance and creating a de-
cluttered and improved roadside environment.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Egyptian Ministry of Transport (MoT) for their foresight in
commissioning the ITS Study and the European Union (EU) for funding it. They also wish to
thank the stakeholders for their co-operation during the Study and Idom Ingeniería y
Consultoría for project managing the Study and providing facilities for it to be undertaken.
The authors also wish to thank Dr J Miles for his advice and guidance on institutional and
governance matters.

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Disclaimer
The authors also wish to state that the views and conclusions expressed in this paper are those
of the authors and should not be taken as those of the MoT or as an indication of the intent or
direction the MoT may take in deploying ITS.
References
1. European Commission (2004), European ITS Framework Architecture FRAME, version
3, DG Information Society, European Commission, Brussels, November 2004. (web-site:
www.frame-online.net)
2. ISO/TC204. Reference Model Architecture for the ITS Model, Parts 1-6, ISO #14813