 UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka has signed a comprehensive memorandum with the International Union of Public Transport (UITP) to give new impetus to research and monitoring of global urban transport trends.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the association’s World Congress in Helsinki, Finland, last week. UITP, based in Brussels, Belgium, represents a US$22 billion-a-year industry including public transport operators, authorities and public transport vehicle manufacturers. “Sustainable urbanization cannot even begin to occur without taking into account the role public transport plays in securing quality of life in our cities and towns,” Mrs. Tibaijuka said. In their joint research and monitoring, the two organizations will global trends in transport as well as capacity-building for improved public transport planning and management in developing country cities. It will remain in effect for three years and is also intended to promote the development, use and evaluation of a range of institutional, financial and technical options to meet community transport choice, with a special emphasis on responding to the transport needs of the urban poor. |
