International Transportation (67) 1 | 2015 30 MoveWindhoek - Sustainable urban transport in Namibia Challenges and solutions for an African lagship project in-urban transport development Sustainable transport, urban transport, middle-income country, Africa, public transport, Namibia Moving Windhoek’s transport system to a sustainable, afordable, accessible, attractive and eicient transport system focusing on public and non-motorized transport is the aim of a coalition of the Government of the Republic of Namibia, represented by the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development 1 , the City of Windhoek and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. In the scope of the joint project, a Sustainable Urban Transport Master Plan 2 has been developed that will enable decision makers in the transport sector to implement measures according to a long-term vision for sustainable transport through public participation. Authors: Gregor Schmorl, Michael Engelskirchen A cross the world, cities and urban areas are facing increasing environmental, social and economic challenges caused by ineicient urban transport systems. This results in reduced accessibility and afordability for the urban poor, traic congestion, increasing cost and space for streets and parking facilities, traic accidents, high consumer costs, high pollution and energy dependence, plus inadequate mobility for non-drivers. Initial transport situation in-Windhoek Obviously Windhoek is no exception, though on a smaller scale compared to other capital cities. Car-oriented transport planning with inadequate consideration of nonmotorized and public transport has become a key challenge for sustainable development in Windhoek and other Namibian cities. Namibia’s capital is growing at the fast pace of approximately 4.3 % per annum, mostly in informal and unplanned settlements along city borders. Within the next twenty years Windhoek will have to cater Best PractIce Sustainable Urban Transport All photos: GIZ International Transportation (67) 1 | 2015 31 Sustainable Urban Transport BEST PRACTICE for the mobility needs of over 800,000 residents. Hence it is now the moment to set the right course for sustainable urban transport development. Making suitable land-use and transport planning decisions now will turn Windhoek into a lead example of sustainable development in Africa and ensure that the mobility needs of current and future generations are met. Population growth is not the only issue, as more and more citizens will have the desire and the inancial opportunity to purchase their own cars. Accordingly, it is estimated that if no major alterations in traic management are introduced, traic congestion in Windhoek will be six times more severe by the year 2030. However, despite all eforts, large parts of the population will still be unable to aford their own car in 2030 and will have to rely on public transport by bus or taxi. The current public transport situation with its limited bus network and high prices for taxis excludes many citizens from participating in the economic, social and cultural public spheres of Windhoek. The urban poor currently spend up to 25 % of their income on their mobility needs, or are even forced to walk long distances to reach their work place or school, which exposes them to severe safety and security risks. The current public transport system is mostly shaped by the policies set down in the 1995 White Paper, which favored private provision of public transport. This is why taxis clearly dominate the market for urban public transport, leaving only a marginal role for municipal public transportation (igure 1). The system can best be described as a school-bus system picking up domestic and factory workers in low-income areas in the morning and taking them to work in industrial areas or well-of suburbs, followed by the reverse process in the evening. The main problems in public transport are a lack of full-day bus service, a lack of interchanges connecting diferent routes within the city, an aging bus leet that comes not even close to meeting peak-hour demand, as well as poor route planning resulting in irregular service. Moreover, Namibia’s capital is in urgent need of more eicient and integrated transport and land-use planning. Current technical and inancial restrictions do not allow for state-of-the-art transport planning and implementation. Planning The City of Windhoek and the Ministry of Works and Transport decided to change course in urban transport planning with the assistance of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, represented by its implementing agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The said institutions have been cooperating in the development of the “Sustainable Urban Transport Master Plan for Windhoek including Rehoboth, Okahandja and Hosea Kutako International Airport (SUTMP)”. The Master Plan will ensure an accessible, eicient, safe and afordable transport system for Windhoek and is also intended as a blueprint for the whole of Namibia and the development of similar plans in other urban and rural areas. This Master Plan has produced a clear and realistic vision for the development of a sustainable urban transport system for the next 20 years, and generated strategies and policies to help make that vision a reality. For the Master Plan, scenario techniques were used in order to determine appropriate measures. Transport scenarios were calculated based on diferent land-use concepts. The two main scenarios developed, the ‘Business As Usual 2032’ and the ‘Sustainable Transport Scenario 2032’, served as the basis for deriving diferent bundles of interventions. The plan recognized that not only public transport, but also measures aimed at non-motorized transport as well as transport demand management have to play a role in addressing the needs of diferent user groups. Based on future transportation demand, land-use development and current transport management, various transport systems were discussed and their suitability for implementation in Windhoek was analyzed. After the analysis of deiciencies in the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure and the forecasted demand for non-motorized transport, areas of improvement were identiied. The entire process of drafting the SUTMP was guided by a Steering Committee consisting of the key stakeholders of the project, i.e. representatives of the Ministry of Works and Transport, the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, the City of Windhoek, the Polytechnic of Namibia Department of Land Management, and the GIZ Transport Project in Namibia. A major achievement in this respect is that the necessity of combining land-use and transport planning is endorsed. This is unique in Sub-Saharan Africa, and when properly applied and enforced, will set benchmarks for the entire region since it helps to increase the attractiveness and eiciency of public and non-motorized transport and considerably reduce the environmental impact of transport. The re-design of an urban transport network leads to drastic changes in city layout and appearance, which requires extensive stakeholder consultations and public information and participation. The SUTMP was designed in a participatory and inclusive way by the diferent institutions, experts and citizens involved. The public was invited to contribute to the development Figure 1: Modal share in Windhoek: Taxis dominate public transport, and walking is clearly the main mode of non-motorized transport. “We want to develop an integrated public transport system that combines the taxi industry as feeder service and a high-quality bus system that connects all parts of the city.” Prof. Dr. Heinrich Semar, Team Leader, GIZ Transport Namibia International Transportation (67) 1 | 2015 32 BEST PRACTICE Sustainable Urban Transport process in order to identify deiciencies in the current public and non-motorized transport system in the study area. This type of public participation process was a novelty. A broad mix of tools was used to sensitize the citizens to change, collect data and generate a rich fund of ideas for a new mobility strategy. The tools included for instance Social Media engagement, an online “Shared Map”, and moderated public hearings (figure 2). Implementation After inalization of the SUTMP and its approval by Namibia’s Government in 2014, it is time to turn the vision of an accessible, afordable and sustainable transport system into reality. As the Master Plan proposes a large number of interventions, the individual measures are being assessed separately. Therefore a variety of legislative and institutional processes, feasibility studies and social and environmental assessments are currently underway. These expert studies will enable the Government of Namibia and the City of Windhoek to plan accurately for the future needs. The MoveWindhoek project is in the process of developing new and modiied bus routes and an operational concept that will result in a cohesive bus network while integrating the taxi industry. The City of Windhoek has started to modernize and expand its bus leet and purchased new busses. The new bus system and the new busses are scheduled to be introduced in late 2015 together with the introduction of a new fare system on the basis of the existing smartcard system. For the irst time, Windhoek will then have a bus network covering large parts of the city. At a later stage, more advanced systems like Bus Rapid Transit or Light Rail are envisaged for some of the routes with the highest passenger volumes. The project is divided into the design of a new network (service hierarchy, development of bus routes, standard and express routes, interchanges etc.), operations (optimum modes for route volume, time points and running time, cycle and layover times, schedule development, vehicle blocking, leet requirements etc.) and inancial and staf requirements. Developing technical speciications, drafting tender documents, developing a maintenance plan and advising the City of Windhoek on contract design is the key task of the MoveWindhoek project team for the ongoing bus procurement project. The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the City of Windhoek have jointly provided funds to increase the capacity of the current bus leet. The procurement of these busses will go hand-in-hand with a re-branding of the bus leet. The City of Windhoek has started to implement non-motorized transport infrastructure in line with the SUTMP. Cycle paths and paved sidewalks have been included in scheduled roadworks projects. In order to foster the development of a nonmotorized transport network, the City of Windhoek will develop a comprehensive non-motorized transport strategy based on the SUTMP’s identiication of a bicycle core network and gaps in pedestrian infrastructure. As a irst step, transport and land-use planning are integrated in the concept for the revitalization of Windhoek’s CBD. The urban design framework takes up the planning principles of the MoveWindhoek project and has been developed in close cooperation with the respective departments of the City of Windhoek. To address existing capacity constraints, MoveWindhoek enables various employees of Namibian institutions to attend professional training courses and develop their skills at international conferences and workshops. In this way, Windhoek will ultimately be able to introduce, operate and maintain their own transport system without the need for outside experts. Still, the execution of the measures cannot rest on the shoulders of one single institution or person. The implementation stage, too, requires joint responsibilities on various governmental levels (national, regional and local) operating within a given legal and inancial framework, and a shared approach using formalized and informal interrelations to re-create the participative approach used for developing the Master Plan. In order to efectively accompany, guide and enable the intended sustainable transport development and to spread urban transport solutions to other regions, the Intergovernmental Sustainable Urban Transport Committee for Namibia is to be established to guide the way forward. Conclusions The MoveWindhoek project serves as an African example for sustainable transport in medium-sized cities (figure 3). Functioning as a blueprint for other projects in Namibia, the award-winning project aims to reduce transport-induced poverty and to improve traic safety not only in Windhoek. “Many people walk on unpaved walkways along many roads. Their trip becomes a dangerous adventure since they are forced to walk in unsafe riverbeds and to cross high-speed highways.” Erkki Nghimtina, Minister of Works and Transport (2010-2015) Figure 2: Public participation was a major success factor for the project. International Transportation (67) 1 | 2015 33 Sustainable Urban Transport BEST PRACTICE MoveWindhoek recently inspired the plans for a transport master plan for the northern regions of Namibia and gained international recognition when the project was presented at conferences on sustainable transport in Washington, Geneva, Munich and Johannesburg, and received the UITP Africa Grow with Public Transport Award for Integrated Mobility in May 2013. There are diferent factors that have signiicantly contributed and still contribute to the on-going success of the project: • Thorough analysis of the local situation and development of adapted and appropriate measures that can be operated and maintained in the long-term. • Involvement of stakeholders and the public through diferent means adapted to the speciic target group, such as public hearings, events, newspapers, websites and social media. The residents usually know the weak points and have good ideas. • Securing ownership of the responsible institutions in a transparent planning process as well as by deining oicial structures for joint development and implementation in close cooperation with counterparts and stakeholders. This can be ensured by regular Steering Committee meetings and the approval of intermediary results by decision-making bodies such as the City Council and the Ministry Administration. This considerably increases the chances for a sustainable implementation. • Identiication and efective use of a local champion with the necessary clout and political backing. Champions are most passionate and dedicated to getting things done if they link the project to their career. • Building healthy working relationships with counterparts on diferent levels by making use of good personal contacts with the responsible colleagues in diferent institutions to promote activities. This makes it possible to discuss and prepare decisions prior to oicial meetings. • Use of diferent inancing options on national and international level and deinition of measures according to the speciic focus of diferent inancing institutions. International awareness and good communication will help in inding suitable partners. • Support through local research institutions such as universities. This leads to in-depth scientiic input for certain areas of the project, land-use in this case, and additional capacity-building on student level. ■ 1 The former Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development was renamed to “Ministry of Urban and Rural Development” in March 2015. 2 Ministry of Works and Transport; City of Windhoek; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (2013): Sustainable Urban Transport Master Plan for Windhoek including Rehoboth, Okahandja and Hosea Kutako International Airport: Final Report. Windhoek. Gregor Schmorl, Dipl.-Kfm. Technical Advisor, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, GIZ Transport Namibia, Windhoek (NA) gregor.schmorl@giz.de Michael Engelskirchen, Dipl.-Ing., Dipl. Wirt.-Ing. Technical Advisor, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, GIZ Transport Namibia, Windhoek (NA) michael.engelskirchen@giz.de Figure 3: A vision for sustainable transport in Windhoek Project background Windhoek’s challenges in a nutshell • Lack of reliable data • Car-oriented transport planning • Car as a status symbol • Cycling is seen as an inadequate mode of transportation because of safety issues • Bus system lacks extensive service delivery capabilities • Integration of existing private-public transport operators, i.e. especially the taxi industry • Institutional and individual lack of capacity and human resources • General lack of public participation in political decision processes MoveWindhoek project achievements-so far … • Project partners jointly developed the Sustainable Urban Transport Master Plan in a participatory approach. • The SUTMP was launched at the end of 2013 and approved by the Government in late 2014. • Cycling and pedestrian infrastructure according to SUTMP is being included in upgrading projects for urban streets. • Project received the UITP Africa Grow with Public Transport Award for Integrated Mobility at the UITP World Conference in Geneva, Switzerland on May 26, 2013, and was presented to the United Nations. • Inspired by the planning approach in Windhoek, a Scoping Study and Master Plan for Sustainable Transport in the regions Oshana, Ohangwena, Oshikoto and Omusati was launched in October. Further information www.movewindhoek.com.na