OREANDA-NEWS. May 23, 2014. The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved two loans totaling USВ250 million to the People’s Republic of China to help provide safer, more accessible and more efficient transport to residents in Jiaozuo Municipality and Honghe Prefecture.

The Jiaozuo Municipal Government has launched a new economic growth strategy focused on utilizing the rich tourist attractions such as natural landscapes and cultural relics, but the inefficient road network and inadequate public transport services are an impediment to the city’s attractiveness as a tourist destination. At the same time, rapid motorization and growth of private car ownership is leading to increased traffic congestion and road accidents.

Designed to help address these challenges and realize the city’s vision for being a Green Tourism destination, the Jiaozuo Green Transport and Safety Improvement Project, partly finance with a World Bank loan of USD100 million, will support efforts to develop and implement an integrated package of engineering, education and traffic regulation improvements on the selected transport corridors, establish a green corridor dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists, and assist Jiaozuo Municipality to improve the service quality of its public transport system. 

Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture in China’s southwestern Yunnan Province has a population of 4.5 million, almost half of which are ethnic minorities. The Yunnan Honghe Prefecture Diannan Center Urban Transport Project, partly financed with a World Bank loan of USD150 million, will be implemented in the prefectural capital, Mengzi City, and Jianshui County in the prefecture. Both places are facing challenges to their urban transport systems. Many links are missing in the existing road network, hampering the mobility and accessibility of the entire area. In addition, public transport services are inadequate and traffic management systems are under-developed, resulting in low satisfaction ratings on public transport and high road safety risks.

The project will support integrated transport management on the major transport corridors, provide the infrastructure and equipment to improve public transport services, and construct some new road links in both Mengzi and Jianshui. A school transportation demonstration program will be implemented in Mengzi to improve the transport safety for school children.

More than 490,000 residents in Jiaozuo and about 750,000 residents in Honghe Prefecture are expected to benefit from the two projects respectively, through more efficient and safer movement for road users, more pleasant travel environment for pedestrians and cyclists, reduced travel time and more reliable services for public transport users, and better accessibility to jobs, schools and public services and improved air quality for all residents.

“Urban transport affects the daily lives of residents. The two projects will to contribute to the improvements of people’s mobility and accessibility in the project cities, and make the cities more livable,” said Fei Deng, World Bank’s Senior Operations Officer and task team leader of the two projects.