The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday said it is to fund a pilot project that will help cities in the region develop transport systems that are better for the environment and are affordable to the poor.

ADB said it will provide a project preparatory technical assistance grant of 2.8 million U.S. dollars to fund studies for sustainable urban transport systems. The outcome will be transport solutions that could be replicated in cities around the region.

The grant, which will be sourced from ADB's Climate Change Fund, will cover the total cost of the preparatory work. It is expected to last 23 months, concluding in December 2010. ADB will be the executing agency for the project and oversee the administration of all activities.

"The challenge for Asian cities is to deliver an integrated urban transport system that will increase investments in public transport, non-motorized transport and pedestrian facilities and to arrest the rush towards private motorized transport," said James Leather, Senior Transport Specialist in ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department.

ADB said the assistance will be used to identify policies and potential projects in the selected cities that will cut greenhouse gas emissions, improve public transport, increase personal mobility and pedestrian facilities, and restrain private vehicle use.

"The lessons learned from this will be scaled up and scaled out to other cities across the region," Leather said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2009)