BASIC INFORMATION

Date of Report: Nov 10, 1999

Number and Name of Project

TPT 01/98- Development and Dissemination of a Best Practices Manual to Address Urban Transport Problems in the APEC Region

Name of Committee or Working Group

Safe and Environment-Friendly Transportation Systems Steering Committee/ Transport Working Group

Project Consultant (Name, Title, E-mail Address, Tel & Fax)

Sang-Yong Lee, Ph. D
Head, Urban Transport Research Team
The Korea Transport Institute (KOTI)
2311 Daehwa-dong Ilsan-gu, Goyang-shi, Kyunggi-Do, 411-410, Korea
E-mail : saylee@cis.koti.re.kr
Tel : 82-344-910-3066
Fax : 82-344-910-3225

Project Overseer (Name and Title and E-mail Address, Tel & Fax)

Mr. Soo Kon Kim
Director, International Cooperation Division
Transport Policy Office
Ministry of Construction & Transportation
1 Joongang-Dong, Kwacheon-shi
Kyunggi-Do, 427-760
E-mail : sookon@moct.go.kr
Tel : 82-2-500-4046
Fax: 82-2-503-7304

Brief description of beneficiaries and benefits; linkages with other fora/private sector; contribution to priorities laid down by leaders or ministers; and TILF objectives, including whether the anticipated results have been achieved

The main purpose of the Urban Transport Forum is to provide a channel through which member economies can learn from each other by exchanging information on policies, institutions and technology related to urban transport, as well as their own country’s experiences. Both central and local governments involved in the planning and management of urban transport issues will benefit from the results of this project. The private sector, which includes infrastructure-related business as well as the transport industry, will benefit as well, as the project will guide and encourage them in solving not only their own transport problems but also those of other member economies.

Brief Description of Planned Project Outputs

A safe and environment-friendly transport system is a necessary precondition for achieving sustainable growth and the equitable development of member economies in the Asia-Pacific region. But in developing such a system, the member economies will need assistance. This project will present the most effective ways of developing a safe and environment-friendly transport system. The draft final will be circulated so that member economies can return their comments on it, and the final report will be submitted in a format that satisfies APEC printing requirements. The current project consists of 3 parts as shown below. (Annex 1 provides a more detailed framework for the revised final report.)

1. Urban Transport Problems: Facts and Findings in APEC Region
2. Challenges and Tasks in Urban Transportation
3. Best Practical Policy Options to Solve the Urban Transport Problems

Project Phases (includes both original and adjusted schedules):

Planned

Adjusted

Status

Data Collection

Oct./30/1998

Oct./30/1998

- 2 economies responded

Comments on Interim Report

Oct./30/1998

Oct./30/1998

- 1 economy responded

Draft Final Report

Nov./20/1998

Dec/31/1999

- Distributed but no comments received

- Adjusted at the 15^th TPT/WG Meeting.

- Being revised now, will be redistributed

Final Report

Dec/30/1998

Mar/31/2000

- Adjusted at the 15^th TPT/WG Meeting

Dissemination of Final Report

15^th APEC meeting

17^th APEC meeting

Adjusted at the 15^th TPT/WG Meeting

STATUS/PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS

Status: The 1^st Version of the draft final report distributed, but no comments have been received.

The 1^st version of draft final report was distributed to the member economies on March 30, 1999, via e-mail. Though we had member countries to provide us with their comments, no comments were received. As such, an internal advisory group within KOTI judged the 1^st version of the draft final report to lack sufficient data and information.

Our atempts to collect data from member economies were not successful. KOTI had sent questionnaires to the formal contact points of each member economies several times, but the response was very unenthusiastic. The consultant attended the 14^th meeting of the TPT-WG (Transport Working Group), held in Seoul, October 1998, and asked the member economies for their cooperation. Although delegates from each member economy agreed to support us in our data collection efforts, only two of the economies have actually sent in their data. The consultant has tried every method of collecting good data and information for the study within the budget limitations; he has even visited some of the major cities of member economies to collect data. But because of poor cooperation on the part of member economies, the amount of data collected remains at an unsatisfactory level.

Progress: The 2^nd version of draft final report is being prepared; it will be distributed by the end of December 1999:

KOTI re-organized it project team in order to enhance its ability to conduct the study. As the new project manager, I rebuilt the framework of the final report based on the RFP (Request for Proposal) from APEC (See the Annex). I also changed the data collection approach. I contacted urban transport experts with special knowledge and information regarding certain cities in the APEC region and asked them for assistance with data collection. This new approach proved to be an improvement over the previous approach. We succeeded in gathering more data and information on the major cities of the APEC region, but we failed to locate appropriate information channels for the economies of Brunei and Chile. Also, though we contacted the channels in Malaysia, Mexico and Papua New Guinea, they did not confirm whether or not they would send information.

As an alternative approach, the consultant decided to utilize all the data and information presented at the two Urban Transport Forums, but the data is inadequate since some of the member economies presented very short reports or nothing at all. The consultant also utilized various publications from international organizations such as UN, World Bank, APEC and OECD.

The consultant is now in the process of writing the 2^nd version of the draft final report using all data collected until now. Efforts to collect data will continue. For economies such as Brunei and Chile, which we were unable to located transport experts for, we will contact their APEC delegates for the needed data. If these economies still fail to cooperate, we will have no choice but to write up the final report without their data.

Plans and Future Actions:

The consultant will complete and distribute the 2^nd draft final report by the end of December 1999. We will then distribute it and ask member economies to verify its accuracy. Using their comments, we will then refine, complete and submit the report to the APEC Secretariat by the end of March 2000. The final report will be presented at the 17^th Meeting of APEC TPT/WG.

KOTI is still asking the delegates from each member economy to help in collecting data and information for the current study. We need each member country to supply us with available data on the urban transportation in their major cities, in the form of government reports, research results, or statistics, published or un-published. The current project cannot possiblly produce good results without the cooperation of member economies in the data collection process.

I believe that strengthening international cooperation is one of the main purposes of the current project. Without the cooperation of all APEC, the study may be rendered meaningless.