JICA in the News

OSLOBODENJE (BiH Newspaper)

Ministry of Traffic of Canton Sarajevo and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held a kick-off meeting on 16 December 2020, to launch the "Project for Formation of Sarajevo Public Transport Management and Operation Capacity Development Plan".

The Project aims to improve the public transportation service in Canton Sarajevo, which would result in the mitigation of the traffic congestion and air pollution. During the project period (October 2020- October 2023), Japanese and international experts will support Ministry of Traffic of Canton Sarajevo to review the public transport policy, strategy and regulation. They will also assist public transport operator, GRAS, to enhance its management and maintenance capacities. In addition, the promotion plan of the public transportation will be formed to encourage people to use more public transportation.

In Canton Sarajevo, about 250,000 people used the public transportation per day in 2019. Public transportation occupies 35% of share on weekdays, but the number of public transport users has been decreased by 20 % between 2000 and 2019. Public transportation in Canton Sarajevo is facing some challenges such as insufficient service due to the discrepancy between the plan and the actual operation, missing fee collection, maintenance of aging fleet, etc.

In order to address these challenges, the activities such as Traffic Survey, Formation of Overall Public Transport Operation Plan, Training in Japan or in third countries are planned in the framework of cooperation.

On the occasion of launch of the Project, Mr. Adi KALEM, Minister of Traffic of Canton Sarajevo, said that "the Ministry of Transport of Canton Sarajevo and the JICA have successfully implemented "Data Collection survey on Public Transportation in Sarajevo Canton" in 2019. The new project will enable the Canton Sarajevo to do the missing studies and to learn good practices in the public transport sector from the friendly country, Japan. Japan is a country known for state-of-the-art innovations in public transport and their experiences will surely contribute to the improvement of public transport in our Canton".

Taking into consideration the impact of COVID-19 in the public transportation sector, the Project will consider new transport policy for the post-corona era, through the analysis of passengers' behaviors' change due to the pandemic.

Japanese assistance in public transportation sector has a long history back to the post-conflict era, supporting rehabilitation of public transportation in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar in 1990s and 2000s. Through these projects in the past, Japan assisted the improvement of infrastructure of the public transportation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With newly launched project, Canton Sarajevo and Japan will focus more on intangible elements in the development of the public transportation, utilizing the latest technology.

• Japan will try to put GRAS in order (OSLOBODENJE (BiH Newspaper)) (PDF/1.41MB)