Municipality: 'Traffic Model' is a Planning Project, Not an Investment Targeting Profit

Sahar Al-Ajil, Director of the Structural Planning Department at the Kuwait Municipality, affirmed that the feasibility of the second phase of the Continuous Update of Kuwait’s Traffic Model is not measured by direct financial returns, but by the planning, technical, and strategic benefits it delivers in enhancing planning efficiency, improving the accuracy of project evaluations, and supporting decisions related to the transport system and urban development. This statement was made in a letter addressed by Al-Ajil to the Director of Financial Affairs at the Municipality, in response to a request from the Ministry of Finance to clarify whether any revenues have been generated from the first (current) phase of the Continuous Update of Kuwait’s Traffic Model, specifying their amounts and sources, if any, to complete the relevant financial procedures and studies and take the necessary actions.

Al-Ajil stated that the National Traffic Model for Kuwait is a national project with a planning and strategic character, rather than an investment project aimed at achieving direct financial returns. It consists of specialized software for modeling traffic movements and estimating future trip volumes and transport demand at the national level, by linking traffic movement data with road networks, land use, population distribution, and development indicators.

She added that the model enables the simulation and analysis of the current traffic situation, the preparation of future forecasts, the testing of planning alternatives, and the assessment of the impact of projects and urban expansions on the transport network. It is also one of the planning tools linked to the State’s Third Structural Plan, issued under Emir Decree No. 255 of 2008. Its data and outputs serve as a fundamental technical reference relied upon by planning and traffic studies and structural planning works across the country.

Al-Ajil emphasized that renewing and updating the National Traffic Model is a planning and technical necessity to ensure that its data and inputs keep pace with urban, demographic, traffic changes, and new development projects. This allows for the continued development and updating of the State’s General Structural Plan, the preparation of traffic and planning studies, the assessment of strategic and development projects, and the testing of their future impacts on the road network and transport system. Therefore, renewing the model is not merely a technical update, but rather the renewal and sustainability of a fundamental national planning tool upon which the State relies for future planning and supporting its strategic decisions.

Al-Ajil concluded that the Municipality’s Financial Affairs Department possesses all invoices and financial documents related to the purchase of the National Traffic Model by engineering offices and qualified companies tasked with preparing traffic studies since 2012, thereby documenting the actual and continuous use of the model and its reliance by specialized consulting agencies.