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By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 28 November 2016:
The Presidency Council’s minister of Transport Milad Mohamed Matouk has attended the first-ever global conference on sustainable transport in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat. The three-day conference which brought together governments, international institutions and organizations and the private sector, is aimed at setting new standards for transportation throughout the world.
Matouk was accompanied by Ahmed Abuwudan, head of planning at the ministry, and Bashir Buragatah, head of land transport.
Explaining Libya’s transport objectives until 2030, the minister said that emphasis would be put on new traffic and transport safety laws, plus major investment in transport infrastructure with international partners.
Sustainable transport in Libya has, nonetheless, clearly a long way to go. At present, there are no public transport systems in any towns or cities. There are small busses in some, but everyone is effectively encouraged to use a car. Petrol is at 15 girsh (150 dirhams) a litre – the second cheapest in the world after Venezuela – and hundreds of thousands of cheap second-hand vehicles have been imported since the revolution.
Quite apart from the environmental costs, one of the results is the highest road mortality rate in the world.
The link between uncontrolled car usage and road mortality was highlighted in a pre-conference press briefing in Ashgabat by UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo, who noted that more than 1.25 million people are killed annually in road traffic accidents.
The appalling traffic jams in Tripoli are another consequence.
Meanwhile, construction of a national rail network has been on hold since the revolution and that is likely to remain the case until there is stability and security.
Plans for a public bus service in Tripoli within six to 12 months’ time was announced last August by Mayor Abdulraouf Beitelmal but so far nothing has emerged – again security being an issue.
