New traffic lights in Maputo.

New traffic lights are to be installed at major crossroads in Maputo as part of efforts to improve road safety in the capital. The first phase of the project, which is due to get under way in July, involves the installation of new traffic lights at 18 crossroads, especially along Avenida Eduardo Mondlane and Avenida 24 de Julho. Subsequently traffic lights will be replaced at a further 16 crossroads. It is not clear how long the project will take to complete. Less than a third of traffic lights in the capital currently work, according to the Maputo daily newspaper Noticias. Short circuiting, road accidents and vandalism are all to blame. Last August the director of transport and communications in the city ordered 11 faulty traffic lights to be turned off indefinitely on the grounds that they couldnt be repaired. Traffic lights in the capital were the responsibility of the national electricity company Electricidade de Moambique (EDM) until the 1990s, when they came under the management of the city council.