Balkan car busters A sustainable transport project carried out in Skopje and Belgrade distinguished itself as one of best among more than 70 sustainability initiatives supported through a REC grant programme. The project focused on alleviating air pollution, noise and congestion caused by rising private car use in the two Balkan capitals. Funded with EUR 21,710, the project lasted one year, finishing with activities to promote alternative transport on September 22, the pan-European Car-free Day. Among other results, the project led to the publishing of bike maps and bus timetables in both Skopje and Belgrade; promotional campaigns for car pooling and park-and-ride; and a media campaign yielding 30 articles in print media, 10 stories on TV and more than 70 on radio. Skopje-based NGO Proaktiva served as project leader while Belgrade-based Serbian Town Planners Association assisted. The project was part of the Regional Initiatives for Sustainable Development in the Western Balkans, a EUR 716,000 grant programme funded by the EuropeAid Cooperation Office of the European Commission. The effort targeted Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Kosovo (territory under interim UN administration).

REReP Record Home