Urban Transport in the OIC Megacities
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correctly pricing fuel and reducing fuel subsides. In Indonesia, for example, the government is
pursuing reforms to reduce market distortion. India’s planned “green surcharge” on petrol, “green
cess” on personal vehicles, and “urban transport tax” on the purchase of new cars and two wheelers
are also notable. Raising additional financing through local sources is an important opportunity that
national governments could pursue to fund sustainable transport projects demanded by local areas.
Although local taxing capabilities are very limited in many countries, it can also be an option of local
funding and an opportunity to channel resources to each city’s particular needs (WRI, 2013; World
Bank, 2002).
Finally, in order to ensure the effectiveness of financing it is absolutely necessary to increase the
effectiveness of the current decision making processes that typically fail to take into account the full
economic, social, and environmental consequences of transport policies, programs, and projects.
National governments can increase the effectiveness of financing decisions by following a structured
process starting with needs assessment, planning and policy formulation, implementation,
monitoring, and finally ex post evaluation. Financing based on performance outcomes should be a
practice followed by both national governments and international funding organizations. One
potential method of impact evaluation is a scorecard with mandatory and recommended outcomes,
including safeguards for mitigating environmental, social, and other risks (WRI, 2013).
3.9. Health
3.9.1. Introduction
Unsustainable transport practices, particularly the intensive use of private motorized transport, have
serious indirect impacts on public health. Air pollution is probably the most commonly mentioned
cause of transport related health problems but the urban heat island effect, increased noise pollution
and the lower activity levels are equally important. In addition, it is now widely accepted that the
environmental impact of transport and therefore its impacts on health, are exacerbated in an
unpredictable way by climate change. (Campbell-Lendrum and Corvalan, 2007).
Air pollution from transportation can be caused by several factors such as excessive vehicle use, age
of fleet and technology used, poor maintenance of vehicles, and unavailability or improper use of
appropriate fuels. Air pollution from motorized transport in cities is an increasing threat for public
health in megacities, much of which is generated by motorized transport. Pollutant emissions such as
NOx and PM10 are the biggest concern for local air quality in urban areas as they contribute to a range
of cardiovascular, pulmonary and respiratory diseases, leading to an estimated 3.2 million deaths a
year across the world. For 2010, theWorld Bank estimated the total number of deaths due to transport
related air pollution was at a minimum of 184,000 per year. Urban air pollution is estimated to cost
approximately 2% of GDP in developed countries and 5% in developing countries (Rode et al, 2014).
The impacts of transport on health differ significantly between developed and developing megacities.
Results suggest that some megacities like Los Angeles, New York, Osaka Kobe, Sao Paulo and Tokyo
have very low excess cases in total mortality from transport related pollutants. In contrast, the
approximate numbers of cases is highest in Karachi (15,000/year) characterised by a very high
concentration of total suspended particles (670 μg/m3). The highest cardiovascular mortality rates
are found in Dhaka (7000/year), Beijing (5500/year), Karachi (5200/year), Cairo (5000/year) and
Delhi (3500/ year). The morbidity (hospital admissions) due to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disease (COPD) caused by air pollution follows the tendency of cardiovascular mortality. Dhaka and
Karachi lead the rankings, having about 2100/year excess cases, while Osaka-Kobe (20/year) and Sao
Paulo (50/year) are at the low end of all megacities considered (Gurjar et al, 2010).
Along with the accidents and air pollution, increasing levels of motorization also result in a reduction
in the total physical activity levels. Physical inactivity and its effect on the prevalence of non-