WB taps UP, AAP for $.3-million road safety project

MANILA, Philippines - The World Bank has tapped University of the Philippines (UP) and the Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP) as its private sector partners for a $300,000 road safety project.

Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will be the public sector partner in implementing the national road safety project under the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF).

The GRSF was established to generate funding and technical assistance for global, regional and country-level activities designed to accelerate and scale-up the efforts of low-and middle income countries to build scientific, technological and managerial capacities to prepare and implement cost-effective road safety programs.

Through a financing agreement with the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP), the project will inspect more than 4,000 kilometers of the country’s major roads, including the nearly 2,000-km Daang Maharlika Highway that stretches from north to south of Manila.

It will also identify cost-effective improvements that could help reduce road deaths and injuries.

According to the World Bank, the inspections would focus on more than 50 different road design attributes that are known to influence the likelihood of a crash and its severity. These include intersection layout, road cross-section and markings, roadside hazards, facilities for motorcyclists, and footpaths and safe crossing points.

In a separate statement, Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose de Jesus said the iRAP road safety assessment project will be included in the country’s road safety action plan currently being developed by the DOTC.

“The road safety assessment project is also expected to contribute to the preparations of an infrastructure investment plan,” De Jesus added.