The Partnership for Sustainable Urban Transport in Asia (PSUTA), a Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) pilot program funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) through the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute's (WRI) Center for Transport and the Environment, commenced in 2004 with Hanoi as one of its three member cities. The city-based analysis component of this partnership invited Xi’an to work closely with EMBARQ, Hanoi (Viet Nam), and Pune (India) to develop a framework through the use of indicators that each city can follow to develop a medium term sustainable transport strategy. EMBARQ, in collaboration with CAI-Asia secretariat, took the lead role in implementing the various activities. PSUTA has now entered its final stages and as a conclusion to our partnership, project closing workshops have been held in each partner city.
 |
The workshop was structured to review project results in more detail and highlight some of the challenges encountered during the project timeline. Existing experiences and capacities on sustainable transport in Xi’an were discussed, as well as a set of key indicators on air quality, traffic congestion and safety, which Xi’an should use to develop sustainable transport strategies and policies. Changan University and EMBARQ see great potentials in the continuation of their partnership by further developing the indicators project and bringing it up to a higher level, which will include more detailed analysis and forecasts, linking indicators to real actions and focusing on environmental sustainability.
In addition to the representatives from the Xi’an Municipal Construction Commission and Changan University, also present at the workshop were high level directors from Xi’an Urban Planning Bureau, Municipal Engineering Design Bureau, Environmental Protection Bureau and Environmental Protection Institute, Bus Bureau, Urban Transport Bureau, and Security Bureau (Police).
|
