PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID)
CONCEPT STAGE
Report No.: AB5246
Project Name / China: Weihai Green Transport Corridor ProjectRegion / EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC
Sector / General transportation sector (100%)
Project ID / P117654
Borrower(s) / PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Ministry of Finance
San Li He Street, Xicheng District
China
100820
Tel: 8610-68551124 Fax: 8610-68551125
Implementing Agency
Municipality of Weihai
No. 40, Wen Hua Dong Street
Weihai, Shandong Province
China
Tel: (86-631) 5215-201 Fax: (86-631) 5215-201
Environment Category / [ ] A [X]B [ ] C [ ] FI [] TBD (to be determined)
Date PID Prepared / December 22, 2009
Estimated Date of Appraisal Authorization / June 29, 2010
Estimated Date of Board Approval / December 2, 2010
I. Key development issues and rationale for Bank involvement
1. Weihai, with an urban population 750,000, is a prefecture-level city and a major sea port in Shandong province. Located in the eastern part of Shandong peninsula, the city is famous in China for its environmental protections and high quality of life. It was honored as the first national Environmental City in China as well as one of the first national Model Cities for Environmental Protection in the 1990s. In 2003, it won the United Nation’s “World Habitat Awards” for its “outstanding contribution in improving habitats and city environment”.
2. During the past ten years, as one of the open coastal cities in China, the city’s economy has grown very fast. The average annual growth rate of GDP (between 1998 and 2007) has been as high as 24.3%, with contributions from manufacturing, marine industry and tourism. As cities all over the world have demonstrated, rapid economic development can result in enormous social and economic benefits, but in the meantime, it also brings significant challenges.
3. The economic growth in Weihai has led to rapid motorization - the number of registered vehicles has grown at 10.7 % per year in the past five years, a growth rate that is expected to accelerate in the next 5 years. With the rapid growth of the city’s extent, population and motorization, Weihai is confronting a number of increasingly critical challenges. Among them several come from the urban transport sector, including: (i) increasing traffic congestion in the city center; (ii) increasing air pollution from vehicular emissions; and (iii) decreasing performance of public transport services, which makes public transport less attractive than private vehicles, including cars and motorcycles.
4. Constrained by mountains and the sea, Weihai 's spatial development trend is north to south along two linear axes within a relatively narrow band(see map). The amount of vehicular travel through the linear corridors currently is up to 930,000 person trips per day, or almost 90% of all trips made in the city on a typical weekday. This spatial development pattern makes Weihai very sensitive to traffic congestion. As population, employment and motorization increase rapidly, the congestion on the central corridors is expected to become even more intense and much more pervasive.
5. Overall, the air quality in Weihai remains better than many Chinese cities because the city government has made great efforts on controlling industrial emissions, a major source of pollutants. However, since 2001 there has been steady increase in the level of pollutants generated from mobile sources, such as NOx and PM (particular matter), and their concentration along major transport corridors is particularly high. This increase is severely threatening the air quality of the city and the health of citizens, especially pedestrians and cyclists who are travelling along the roads. The growing number of vehicles on the roads and growing congestion in the city center appear to become the major contributors to the increasing air pollution in the city. Additionally, the current bus fleet has also been identified by the city as a major polluter, as about 40% of the existing, relatively old, buses do not meet national vehicular emission standards.
6. The public transport system is comprised of a total fleet of 734 buses (including mini and regular buses), running on 60 urban routes and 19 suburban routes. Regular buses are operated by two government owned companies, and mini-buses are operated by individual owners who are licensed by route. While the private bus operators are all making a profit, the public bus companies need a significant government subsidy, which has increased dramatically since 2004. However, unlike the regular publically owned and operated buses, the minibuses are not obligated to provide free or discounted fares to the elderly and students. Furthermore, the mini-buses often wait an excessive amount of time at busy bus stations to collect more passengers, causing congestion and reducing the reliability, quality of service and market for the public buses.
7. Total public transport ridership has increased 62.5% from 1998 to 2008, which is slightly higher than the growth rate of the urban population during the same period. Recently conducted surveys suggest most passengers are satisfied with the current public transport services (and most complaints relate to mini buses). However, the surveys also show the performance of public transport service is deteriorating due to increasing traffic congestion in combination with several other factors (including operational reasons mentioned above). Average bus speeds are declining, especially in the central areas. Waiting time in major corridors is getting longer and less predictable – buses are on-schedule only about quarter of the service time.
8. Available 2006 data shows the modal share in Weihai (see table below) is still in favor of public transport (16.1%) and non-motorized transport (44.2%), the modes which are more energy efficient and more environmentally sustainable than private vehicles. However, there has been significant decrease in use of bicycles and significant increase in use of cars and taxis since 1996. Further, there has been an extremely rapid growth of motor vehicle ownership in Weihai since 2006 (30 percent annually to 90,000 in 2008), which could have resulted further in increases in the use of private motorized transport.
Car / Taxi / Motorcycle / Bus / Bike / Walk / Others2006 / 19.2% / 4.6% / 6.2% / 16.1% / 9.3% / 44.2% / 0.5%
1996 / 10.6% / 1.5% / 2.5% / 4.7% / 33.8% / 44.4% / 2.5%
change / 8.6% / 3.1% / 3.7% / 11.4% / -24.5% / -0.2% / -2.0%
9. Despite these challenges, the Weihai Municipal Government (WMG) has adopted a development strategy which envisions Weihai’s future as a high-quality ecological and livable city, which is in line with the policy direction given by the central government to promote ‘people-centered development’ and ‘scientific development’[1]. As part of the strategy, the goal for urban transport sector is to develop a green public transport oriented city. To achieve such a goal, the WMG has taken a number of active actions, including completing an Integrated Urban Transport Plan, participating in the GEF-WB-China Urban Transport Partnership Program and is currently developing a public transport strategy for Weihai with the World Bank and GEF support, and starting to prepare a green public transport corridors demonstration project.
10. The World Bank is ideally placed to support Weihai in implementing the development priorities as established by both the municipality and national government and strengthen the city’s capacity for urban transport planning and management. The World Bank has been China’s urban development partner for about twenty years and has provided over $1.5 billion for 11 urban transportation projects, supporting Chinese cities with coordinated urban and transport development, public transport improvement and reform, mobility management, people-centered transport development, and improvement of planning, investment and management practices. A World Bank-financed intervention provides an opportunity to help Weihai identify and implement a priority investment program consistent with the above-mentioned goals and priorities that incorporates international best practice and lessons from past World Bank urban transport interventions in China and elsewhere.
II. Proposed objective(s)
11. The Development Objective (DO) of the proposed Project is to “support Weihai to realize its goal of being a green public-transport oriented ecological and livable city” by improving the quality of public transport and non-motorized transport systems in critical corridors in Weihai for citizens who travel on those corridors. By providing high quality and efficient transport alternatives to private motor vehicle use, the project will improve the city’s quality of life as well as induce a much more sustainable development trajectory for this rapidly growing and environmentally conscious city.
12. Four kinds of outcomes will be measured: travel time between selected origins and destinations which would be expected to decrease as a result of the intervention; increase safety on the corridors which would be expected to translate to lower levels of accidents and fatalities, increased ridership on the public transport system, and higher levels of consumer satisfaction.
III. Preliminary description
13. This objective would be achieved through implementation of the following project components(preliminary cost estimation: $145million, including a Bank loan of $56million):
13.1. Component 1: Purchasing 150 eco-vehicles, and upgrading (modifying) the exiting 400 vehicles in several batches to make them more environmental friendly; constructing maintenance center for eco-vehicle modification and maintenance.
13.2. Component 2: Development of a comprehensive BRT network including: i) Component 2A. Establishing BRT transit ways in 3 corridors, N-S Qingdao Road, E-W Shichang Avenue and Wenhua Roads. ii) Component 2B. Building four passenger transfer stations equipped with bicycle parking and tourism facilities. iii) Component 2C.Building 25 BRT station along 3 transit corridors, and building or updating 176 bay-style bus stops, equipping bus waiting facilities and dynamic information displaying board; constructing 7 terminal stations and 1 bus depot. iv) Component 2D. Upgrading non-motorized traffic lanes and building pedestrian walkways. v) Component 2E. Extending Tongyi Road to the south, which starts from Western Mountain Park in Qijiakuang and ends at Weihai Station (9.8 km).
13.3. Component 3: ITS for public transport including bus dispatching, passenger information, and bus priority signaling.
13.4. Component 4: Capacity building and institutional development.
14. The BRT corridors and most of other proposed major physical investments are included in the Integrated Urban Transport Plan of Weihai City. While the Bank Team has agreed in principal with the client on the overall project concept, further project preparation work is needed to enable the Team to evaluate each component (including cost estimates). The ongoing work on a comprehensive public transport strategic plan may also result in minor changes in the structure and design concept for some of the project components.
15. To realize the city’s vision of a green-transport city, the Team has recommended that the municipality consider complementing its focus on public and non-motorized transport improvements with other related actions. Considerable international experience from Europe (London, Stockholm, Germany) and Asia (Singapore, Seoul) has demonstrated that cities need to and can take a range of complementary actions to bring their vision of ‘green transport’ to fruition as incomes increase rapidly and urban growth accelerates. These include a focus on spatial development patterns that support public transport over auto access, encouragement of non-motorized travel modes (walking and cycling) and measures to discourage solo auto driving (including restrictions and charges on parking, auto ownership and auto use). It was agreed that such issues would be discussed as part of the project dialogue in the coming months, which may result in a new component or subcomponent, i.e. a TDM (transport demand management) component.
16. Additionally, the City has agreed with the Team that service planning for public transport is a critical issue. It recognizes that the public transport components (BRT, etc.) will need to include rationalization or restructuring the current bus route network and an operations approach to take full advantage of the new facilities to be constructed. This exercise will focus on establishment of a “hierarchical, functionally classified” public transport network service plan, with an emphasis on integration among BRT and other types of bus services (e.g., local bus, community circulators in tourist areas, etc.).
17. The city is currently hiring a consultant to carry out detailed feasibility study on the proposed investments. It has agreed in principle to undertake a consultative public participation process as part of project preparation, reflecting the experience and good practices gleaned from other World Bank supported urban transport projects in China. Simultaneously with the preparation of the feasibility studies, there would also be a need to prepare the environmental assessment (including an environmental management plan) and resettlement plan compliant with local regulations and World Bank policy guidelines.
18. Implementation Arrangements. Similar to other Bank-funded projects in urban transport and urban environment sectors in the Province, a Project Agreement will likely be signed with the Shandong Provincial Government. The project funds will be channeled through the Provincial Finance Bureau to Weihai Municipal Government which would carry out project preparation and implementation activities. Under the on-going Weihai GEF project, a Project Management Office (PMO) and a cross-department leading group chaired by a vice-mayor have been established since 2007. The city intended to utilize the same PMO and the leading group for preparation of the proposed project. Implementation arrangements relating to the project implementation stage will be finalized in the coming months.
IV. Safeguard policies that might apply
The initial assessment is that the following safeguard policies may apply: environmental assessment and involuntary resettlement. A fuller assessment of the policies would be made during project preparation. There is no expectation that particularly sensitive or challenging circumstances will arise on safeguard policy issues. The project cities and the provincial authorities are committed to carrying out the necessary actions including consultation and information disclosures in accordance with the Bank safeguard policies.
V. Tentative financing
Source: / ($m.)Borrower / 75
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / 70
Total / 145
VI. Contact point
Contact: Shomik Raj Mehndiratta
Title: Sr Transport. Spec.
Tel: 5788+7730 / 86-10-5861-7730
Fax:
Email:
Location: Beijing, China (IBRD)
[1] These guidelines remain somewhat difficult to translate and interpret outside the Chinese administrative context where they have been coined and are widely used. However, both of these terms are important enough in the Chinese planning context to merit mention and discussion. ‘Scientific development’ can be interpreted as a push towards rational planning, based on technical (such as levels of demand) and environmental considerations to replace a tradition of administrative diktat. ‘People-centered development’ can be interpreted as prioritizing the needs of the common citizen. This phrase was widely used in the context of a clause of the 2004 National Road Safety Law which placed the onus of of guilt on the driver of the motorized vehicle in case of all motor vehicle – non-motorized vehicle crashes. In the context of urban transport – this phrase can be interpreted to mean prioritizing the needs of pedestrians, (safer and high quality walking environment, at-grade safe and convenient pedestrian crossings), cyclists (safe crossings, safe separated cycle lanes), and public transport users (priority lanes, high quality infrastructure and service).