DUSHANBE, April 23, 2014, Asia-Plus – A training seminar on methods of efficient road traffic management is being held in Dushanbe today.
The seminar participants include heads of municipal enterprises offering public transport services as well as representatives of Dushanbe mayor’s office, Dushanbe traffic police, transport research institute and other relevant organizations.
Organized in the framework of Support to Sustainable Transport Management in Dushanbe Project, the seminar is expected to give its participants an opportunity to know details of road traffic management and raise awareness of personnel of organizations involved in this sphere.
The Support to Sustainable Transport Management in Dushanbe Project aims to reduce local and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to improve access to and the quality of public transport services for all residents. It is expected that by the end of the project the share of sustainable modes of public transportation will increase from the current 8% to 28% leading to a near 50% reduction in GHG emissions from the city’s transport sector.
To achieve these ambitious targets, the project will develop and help Dushanbe City Government implement an integrated policy framework that includes: enhancing vehicle efficiency and setting appropriate fuel quality standards; improving the quality of public transport services, in particular trolleybuses; increasing opportunities for non-motorized modes such as walking and biking; developing integrated land use/transport plans to reduce demand for travel; and enhancing municipal institutional transformation and governance structure to embrace sustainable transport.
The expected outcomes of the project are the following: lower emissions from vehicles in Dushanbe; increased bus and trolleybus modal shares and speeds; integrated land use and urban transport planning at the metropolitan level; increased walking and cycling modal shares; and institutional transformation of government, businesses and general public to embrace sustainable transport.
The project has succeeded in the development of a comprehensive analysis of urban transport legislation and “Program for Improvement of Urban Passenger Transport System” with a detailed Action Plan to address the identified gaps and issues, which are suggested to result in modification of current urban transport related legislation in 2014-15.
The first cycle lane (5 km) implemented in Dushanbe city as part of the demonstration project (in 2012) has become a landmark for changing the mindset of the Municipality to actually implement such a scheme. Another success of the project has been the agreement by the Municipality that all new road construction and rehabilitation works will include the provision of cycle lanes and bus lanes (where space permits).
The project has also succeeded in strengthening the capacity of project stakeholders via conduction of a study tour on BRT system and a number of training in the field of transport/ land-use modeling, GHG emissions calculation, parking strategy development, etc.
The project is financed by the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
