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| [PHOTO: D. Fuka/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0] |
Manila: More public buses with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
will soon be deployed on the roads of major cities in the People’s Republic of
China (PRC) as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) helps bus operators shift their
fleets to cleaner fuel.
ADB has earmarked
$275 million for up to five top-tier financial leasing companies in PRC to
finance leased buses that run on cleaner fuel – such as compressed natural gas
(CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) – as well as electric and hybrid buses.
“This program will
help roll out more green buses onto the streets by easing the funding
bottleneck of financial leasing companies and bus operators,” said Philip
Erquiaga, Director General of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department. The
program will provide critical long-term finance and may help leverage
cofinancing to promote the development of clean bus leasing business in the
PRC.
The program is
expected to finance the leasing of at least 5,000 clean buses by 2018. From
2019, the program will help avoid GHG emissions of 1.31 million tons per annum.
Several leasing
companies have shown significant interest in participating in the program. ADB,
through its contacts with provincial and local governments, is also helping
leasing companies reach potential clients who are adding clean buses to their
fleets.
The expansion of
“green” bus services will directly benefit millions of low-income commuters,
improve air quality and reduce GHG emissions.
The program is ADB’s
first nonsovereign loan program to support sustainable transport in PRC, and is
fully in line with the $175 billion commitment of multilateral development
banks made during the Rio+20 Summit for transport in developing countries from 2012
to 2022.