The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) expects to boost collections from fines from traffic violations with the installation of 100 additional closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) seven major roads in the metropolis.

The new CCTVS will be installed on Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA), Commonwealth Avenue, C-5 Road, Marcos Highway, Quirino Avenue, MacArthur Highway, and Radial Road 10.

Meanwhile, Milagros Silvestre, head of the MMDA Communications and Command Center, said the agency was able to generate P24 million from long pending unpaid traffic tickets through the MMDA-LTO Interconnectivity from March 24, 2008 to October 15, 2009

A total of 115,197 traffic violations have been paid out of the 506,000 archived through the interconnectivity system.

Meanwhile, more than 390,000 drivers with unsettled traffic violation fines are still on the alarm list of the Land Transportation Office (LTO). Drivers with unsettled traffic violation fines will automatically be prevented from renewing their licenses.

Only after payment of the traffic fines will they be removed from the alarm list and allowed to renew their licences.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando said the augmentation of the CCTVs is needed to improve safety surveillance and traffic monitoring in the metropolis.

The CCTV cameras are monitored by Metrobase, MMDA’s central traffic monitoring center located at the agency’s main office in Makati City.

“Through the additional cameras, we can catch more errant drivers as well as traffic enforcers. Hence, it will strengthen and boost our No Physical Contact Policy and anti-bribery campaign,” Fernando said.

The target completion date for the project is on December 12, 2009. By then, all the cameras are expected to be fully operational.

The MMDA-LTO interconnectivity project was launched early last year to improve the two agencies’ collection of traffic fines, a major source of income for the government.

The project uses the MMDA-Integrated Law Enforcement System (ILES), an Internet-based facility that allows the MMDA to interconnect with the online system of the Department of Transportation and Communications and LTO and exchange information about drivers with pending traffic tickets.

The technology has greatly improved the MMDA and the LTO’s coordination on traffic matters, particularly in the strict implementation of traffic laws and violations, Fernando said.