Vientiane in Laos will receive a $35m loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a bus rapid transit system and other transport innovations to improve traffic flow in the capital.

ADB principal transport specialist and project team leader Jeffrey Miller said: "Vientiane is on an unsustainable transport development path and is starting to experience congestion.

"The project will create a pedestrian-friendly urban transport system in a city, where two-thirds of daily trips are taken on motorbikes and public transport accounts for less than 1% of daily trips."

For the past decade and a half, the number of registered private vehicles in Vientiane increased by more than 10% a year, resulting in a rise in traffic leading to more accidents.

"The project will create a pedestrian-friendly urban transport system in a city."

Drawing on the design of other ADB-supported sustainable urban transport systems, the new bus rapid transit system will have more than 11km of dedicated bus corridor lanes, 24 enclosed stations and more than 90 new low-carbon emitting buses.

As part of the five-year project, traffic management improvements such as new signal lights at key intersections and a central control centre will also be funded in the heart of the city.

Vientiane will set up new electronic paid parking and national vehicle registration systems, as well as carry out pedestrian crossings and pavement upgrades in order to improve the city’s walkability.

The project will see the involvement of private sector to finance and operate the parking and vehicle registration systems and incorporates features to ensure the safety and security of women travellers, including priority seating and security cameras.

Co-financing support of approximately $50m will be obtained from the European Investment Bank, European Union’s Asian Investment Facility, Global Environment Facility (GEF), OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), and the private sector.

This would be subject to approval, with the government providing counterpart funds of $14.5m.

ADB will administer the $15m OFID loan and the GEF grant of nearly $2m.

The project is expected to complete in June 2020.