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A train in China

The loan will fund improvements to transport within the Wuhan Metropolitan Region, which as well as Wuhan includes eight smaller cities within a 100 kilometre radius. It forms part of a pilot project to inform China’s search for a new urban development model that promotes equity and sustainability.

“The project will focus on using technology to enable more seamless trips and reduce congestion, improving public transport and non-motorised transport, and enabling more access to transport for all sections of society, especially the poor,” explained Arturo Ardila Gomez, World Bank team leader for the project.

More than half of the bank’s financing will go to one of the eight peripheral cities in the cluster –Anlu, located within the Xiaogon Municipality – where it will finance road improvements, road safety, non-motorised transport facilities and public transport.

Another major chunk of the financing will be used to strengthen the intelligent transport systems in Wuhan.

These two facets of the project alone will benefit 642,000 residents in Anlu and the 10.3 million residents in Wuhan.

China has promoted equity and environmental sustainability as two of its national goals. The country recently signed a new partnership with the Asian Development Bank in which addressing climate change is a central feature.

The ADB said it hopes to help China realise an “ecological civilisation” through environmental sustainability, pollution control and climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.