OREANDA-NEWS. March 26, 2012. The Municipality of Almaty (Akimat), assisted by the United Nations Development Programme in Kazakhstan and with the financial support of the Global Environment Facility (hereinafter referred to as UNDP/GEF), launched a new five-year project ‘City of Almaty Sustainable Transport’. First meeting of the Project Steering Committee was held on March 15, 2012. Members of the Steering Committee are representatives of relevant departments of Municipality of Almaty (Akimat), EBRD, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Transport and Communications.

According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management of Almaty, 170 000 tones (92%) of air pollutants in Almaty are produced by motorized transport. The number of registered cars in the city exceeds 500,000. Concentration of pollutants in emissions of 80% of vehicles (those older than 7 years) greatly exceeds the permissible limits. The problems with parking lots and bus stops are obvious.

During the meeting of the Project Steering Committee (PSC), Deputy Akim of Almaty in charge of urban transport, Mr. Victor Dolzhenkov, presented the current situation and statistics of the urban public transport in Almaty. According to him, today there are 20 road interchanges in Almaty, 60 pedestrian crossings, and another 32 will be built in 2012-2013. “Every overpass or underground pedestrian crossing, each road interchange eliminates a traffic light. Thus, the amount of harmful emissions from transport, running idle at traffic lights may reduce by up to 13%”, - says Mr. Dolzhenkov.

UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan, Mr. Stephen Tull, elaborated on the global UN attitude towards the sustainable development projects. “In terms of the mandate governing the work of UN, sustainable development  is one of the main priorities for the next five years”, - says Mr. Tull. According to him, the work on the ‘City of Almaty Sustainable Transport’ project is important not only for the city, but also for the whole world, improving the global environmental situation thereby.

Project Manager, Ms. Yelena Yerzakovich, presented the ‘City of Almaty Sustainable Transport’ Draft Inception Report, discussing the objectives, expected results and a detailed work plan for 2012, as well as the results of the Inception phase of the Project and Risks Analysis provided by international expert.

The objective of the ‘City of Almaty Sustainable Transport’ project is to reduce the growth of greenhouse gas emissions from transportation in the city of Almaty, while improving the urban environment by: 1) improving the management of public transportation and air quality in Almaty, 2) building capacity for holistic planning and improvement of efficiency and quality of public transportation in Almaty, and 3) building capacity for integrated planning and implementation of integrated traffic management in Almaty, 4) demonstration project to raise awareness and increase knowledge about sustainable transport. The project aims to increase the number of trips made in public transport by 50% by 2016 and, thus, reduce the greenhouse gas emissions.

Members of the Project Steering Committee approved the final list of participants of the PSC, the Work Plan for 2012, the Draft Inception Report, and provided recommendations for further implementation of the project. Thus, members of the PSC noted the need for coordination of various transportation projects in the city, so as not to duplicate the actions.

The meeting discussed the need to work out and finalize the Strategy of Almaty Urban Transport Development for the next ten years as soon as possible, as the Strategy is the foundation for all projects in public transport and transport infrastructure in general. Representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Mr. Abbas Ofarinov, noted that the development and adoption of such a Strategy will enable implementation of big systemic projects in future and will attract funding not only from the development banks, but also from private banks as well.

Representative of the Ministry of Environment, Ms. Galiya Karibzhanova, noted the need to replicate the project in other cities of Kazakhstan. “The pilot project in Almaty is nice, but you need to bring the results of the project in terms of improving the monitoring of emissions from transport to the national level”, she says. Also, Ms. Karibzhanova recommended the Project to take into account provisions of the Memorandum on Cooperation in Environmental Protection between the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Municipality of Almaty (Akimat), and “Samruk-Energo” JSC of March 2, 2012.

The meeting was also invited to work with educational organizations to develop a procedure for introduction of new training courses and programs for the transportation industry, in particular for the service and maintenance of CNG buses, as well as changes and/or amendments to the existing training programs, training and retraining of specialists for transport companies.

The project partners are the Municipality of Almaty (Akimat), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The project also engaged international transportation experts from the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Belarus, France, Germany and other countries. The urgent objectives of the project for 2012 are to run studies and to work out a model for Almaty transport development, and to examine the issues with building the LRT line, improve the quality of public transportation management, etc.

Members of the PSC stressed the urgency of the project and the need for awareness-raising among the public and the operators concerning the need for reforms in the management of public transport and transition to the principles of sustainable transport, which will ultimately improve the quality of life in Almaty.