Singra Municipality of Bangladesh has been selected as a winning candidate of the first TUMI Global Urban Mobility Challenge 2018.

The Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) enables leaders in developing countries and emerging economies to create sustainable urban mobility. It offers technical and financial support for innovative ideas. In TUMI the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has brought together some of the world’s leading institutions working on sustainable mobility with city networks and think tanks to implement projects on site where they are needed most. Partners include ADB, CAF, WRI, ITDP, UN-Habitat, SLoCaT, ITDP, ICLEI, GIZ, KfW and C40.

TUMI aims to support projects, leadership development and career building for urban leaders, decision-makers, planners and students; ultimately connecting 1000 leaders worldwide. It has been also targeted to capacity building, mobilisation of investments and supporting approaches on the ground as the most effective measures to follow the set goals and achieving a more sustainable urban future.

TUMI partners kicked off the first Global Urban Mobility Challenge at COP23 in Bonn.

Receiving applications from all parts of the world, the jury consisting of one representative per TUMI partner selected the most promising projects for the TUMI Global Urban Mobility Challenge 2018. A project proposal was submitted by Singra Municipality of Bangladesh in collaboration with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and has been selected as one of the innovative projects and qualified in the first round as a winning candidate.

Singra city situated in the northern part of Bangladesh and surrounded by the historical Chalan Beel, a body of water that moves seasonally in and out of the city. The city suffers from regular droughts and floods. ICLEI South Asia had helped the Singra Municipality to develop a City Resilience Strategy through the Rockefeller Foundation supported ACCCRN Project, using ICLEI ACCCRN Process toolkit in 2014.

The project is titled ‘Promoting e-Rickshaws as a Public Transport and Emergency Health Supporting Services’ with an overall objective to promote modernised, low-cost and eco-friendly public transportation system. The project is also targeted to reduce fuel consumption and air pollution, efficient energy usage and reduce carbon emissions from transport, establish management system for e-Rickshaws, create employment and revenue earnings, promote quick and free health supporting transport services, and encourage a sustainable public transportation system.

The project includes of purchasing e-Rickshaws and e-Ambulances to be used for public transportation and emergency health supporting services for the municipal people. It plans the construction of a stand cum garage including vehicle parking, servicing and recharge facilities and establish an independent Service and Management Centre for overall management works. The project will include trainings for the beneficiaries, stakeholders and management staff. Income from this project will be reserved for municipal revenue to cover the operation and maintenance costs of this project.
  
Singra city has been invited at the TUMI Event of International Transport Forum, which will be held on 22 May 2018 in Leipzig, Germany for the awarding ceremony.