Police on Friday said they hope traffic congestion in Kwun Tong would be eased following the implementation of a new smart traffic management system in the area.

The system, to be launched later this year, was co-developed with the University of Science and Technology’s Great Smart Cities Institute.

Police said they received funding of HK$6.8 million from the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau to develop the system.

It includes installing 11 sets of CCTV cameras across nine streets in Kwun Tong's business area.

Traffic data will be collected round the clock, analysed real-time through AI and shared by the police and the Transport Department.

For example, the system can show vehicle flow on different days and in different periods, as well as give suggestions on traffic lights control.

At a press briefing, police chief inspector Terrence Yu said the collected data would not be used for enforcement and would be deleted after 28 days.

“Our idea was to use technology to better understand the traffic flow in the business area to provide us with the most appropriate arrangement. We won’t carry out enforcement based on the system, but we will make arrangements in areas like deployment of manpower based on the situation, and ask our colleagues to take appropriate traffic control measures,” he said.

Yu said the force does not have specific performance indicators and would review the system in future before considering whether to expand it to other areas.