In Madagascar's capital, urban mobility has become particularly complicated. Despite a relatively small number of vehicles, chronic traffic jams hamper all modes of transport. The situation is increasingly problematic for people who spend hours a day moving around a heavily polluted city.
Although recent road projects have alleviated some of the congestion in the city centre, and others are underway or being studied (TaToM project), the road network is saturated every day at rush hour. Several public transport projects are planned (BRT, modernisation of taxi be services) or underway (train, cable car) to meet travel needs. A project to relocate administrative functions to the outskirts of Antananarivo is envisaged by the President of the Republic, who hopes that this will prevent the city from becoming overcrowded.
The Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) piloted by the Municipality of Antananarivo aims to project mobility issues over a 15-year horizon and propose a multimodal strategy, in line with the dynamics of urban development, to meet future travel demand while providing as many solutions as possible to current problems. This is a major challenge in a metropolitan area where two-thirds of the population live below the poverty line ($1.9 a day) and where the population will almost double in 15 years (reaching 6 million inhabitants)!
The Urban Mobility Forum organised by CODATU in partnership with the Commune Urbaine d'Antananarivo and the Ministry of Transport and Meteorology on 24 and 25 April was an opportunity to address these issues. The team from the Transitec-Suez-DVDH consortium presented the outlines of the PMUS approach, which aroused the interest not only of institutional players but also of representatives of local residents.