Vientiane seeks fix to ease transport jam
VIENTIANE plans to improve non-motorised transport and public transport in the face of the rapidly increasing |number of vehicles, which are clogging up the capital's streets.
The project will encourage city people to use sustainable modes of transport, Vientiane Vice Mayor Keophilavanh Aphaylath said on Tuesday when addressing the Intergovernmental Tenth Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum in Asia.
At the meeting in Vientiane, Keophilavanh said the rapidly growing number of motorised vehicles was bringing new challenges. The influx of cars| and motorbikes was causing congestion, air pollution, accidents and rampant parking violations.
With regard to sustainable transport initiatives, Laos has participated in the UNCRD’s Initiative on Environmentally Sustainable Transport and joined the EST Forum from the beginning.
“We have completed a number of significant studies, namely the Vientiane Urban Transport Master Plan in 2008, the Study on Low Carbon Transport System in Laos in 2012, Ongoing Green Freight Transport, and so on,” Minister of Public Works and Transport Bounchanh Sinthavong said.
During the Asean summits hosted by Laos as the chair of Asean last year, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith handed over the Paris Agreement ratification instrument to then UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
Greenhouse gas reduction
The Intended Nationally Determined Contribution for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions was implemented with the assistance of a new project funded by the Global Environment Facility in partnership with UNDP and the Department of Disaster Management and Climate Change.
“Besides these studies, we have been implementing many EST projects such as a new system to improve bus services and piloting electric buses in the capitals of Luang Prabang and Champassak provinces,” Bounchanh said.
“Recently, we have secured almost US$100 million co-financed by the Asian Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the European Investment Bank, the European Union, the Global Environmental Facility, the private sector and the Lao government to implement the so-called Vientiane Sustainable Urban Transport Project.”
The project will improve urban transport operations and capacity in Vientiane through five major components: bus rapid transport, parking facilities, non-motorised transit, traffic management and urban transit management agency.
