Be happy not hasty drivers, urges UAE Road Safety Awareness Campaign

- Older motorists (40+) and male motorists are especially vulnerable

- Peak accident timings are around the mid-morning rush hour from 10-11 am

- Tuesdays are the most dangerous days, Sundays the least dangerous*

Source: RoadSafetyUAE website

The Road Safety Awareness Campaign launched by AETOSWire and RoadSafetyUAE, an initiative that aims to bring about safety to roads in the region, has highlighted the importance of time management to avoid accidents during Ramadhan.

In week 3, the Road Safety Awareness Campaign emphasised on the value of good time management to evade overspeeding.

RoadSafetyUAE Founder and MD Thomas Edelmann said, “Recently-released data by the UAE Ministry of Interior proved that overspeeding accounts for 40% of the total number of traffic accidents and killed 230 people in the UAE last year. Although it’s about 26% lower than 2017’s recorded casualties of 312 deaths due to overspeeding, the number is still alarming.

“It is vital for motorists to manage their time wisely in order not to rush just to make up for lost time and still arrive on the dot. According to studies, leaving 5 minutes late will make you drive 33% faster to reach at your destination at the same time. So do the math, add this percentage to your normal driving speed and it will become dangerous.”

President and CEO of NSG, AETOSWire, and Esmaa News Tony AbiHanna added, “Simple measures like well-preparedness and time-management can make the difference between turning you into a 'saver' or a 'killer' on the road.”

Roads in the UAE, 2009.

In week 2, the campaign focused on motorists exercising self-control to manage their driving behaviour and patterns on the road while fasting.

Ramadhan is typically the peak season for traffic accidents, according to the campaign. A 2015 study in Turkey also found that there are slightly more accidents and deaths during Ramadhan.

With the lifestyle changes due to adjustments in work, sleep, and eating habits, Ramadhan can lead to dehydration and low blood sugar which can in turn cause fatigue, exhaustion, distraction, in attentiveness, and irritation during driving. Knowing these effects can help motorists come up with precautionary measures to cushion the outcome and avoid getting into and causing an accident.

Getting enough rest and sleep coupled with eating nutritious food will help the body buffer the effects of fasting. Whilst hydration is the key to keeping the body functioning well, so stay hydrated until the next round of fasting starts, the campaign said.

AETOSWire is NSG's news distribution arm and the exclusive representative of Business Wire, in the MENA region.

Hashtag: #HappyNotHastyRamadan

Watch the associated videos for:
Week 2, in English

Week 2, in Arabic

Week 3, in English

*The weekend in the UAE is Friday and Saturday.

World Bank loans US$200 million to Lebanon for road improvements

The World Bank Group has earmarked US$200 million for upgrading Lebanon’s road network, seen as a risk to public safety as well as an impediment to urban-rural development and equitable economic growth. The funds will be used to repair around 500 kilometres of roads in the first phase of a broader government plan to revamp the country’s crumbling road sector.

The Roads and Employment Project includes a US$45 million grant from the Bank-administered Concessional Financing Facility (CFF). It is the first time Lebanon has received funding from the CFF, a facility created in 2016 to support middle-income countries that have in the past been recipients of regular World Bank financing, but are currently experiencing unusual social and economic duress.

“This is to help Lebanon continue to offer basic services both to its citizens and to Syrian refugees in the country,” said Ferid Belhaj, the World Bank’s Director for the Middle East. “By hosting refugees, Lebanon is offering the international community a global public good. International financial support needs to increase to match its generosity.”

The presence of more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees has put unprecedented pressure on Lebanon’s already strained infrastructure. It has also fuelled social tensions, and changed the labour market by increasing the workforce by 35%. The road repair works would help provide more low-skilled jobs.

“Historically, the construction sector has been a primary source of income for poorer Lebanese and Syrians,” stated Ziad El Nakat, Senior World Bank Transport Specialist. “And it continues to play this role.”

The Roads and Employment Project would “also improve the quality and safety of the road network, particularly in less developed regions of the country, improving connectivity, reducing the cost of transport, and helping local economies develop through better access to markets and services,” he said.

Lebanon has one the highest per capita rates of road accidents in the world. The World Health Organization estimated the total number of road traffic fatalities in 2015 at 1,088, and their associated economic cost at between 3% and 5% of GDP.

The importance of regaining public confidence by investing in the road sector is highlighted in a five-year, US$510 million government plan. The Bank-financed project is aligned with this, and will help the government mobilise other international development partners to provide additional funding.

The first phase of the plan has four key objectives:

i) the rehabilitation and maintenance of existing road networks;

ii) the improvement of road safety systems;

iii) the purchase of equipment for emergency roadworks; and

iv) the capacity building to improve management and efficiency in the sector.

The project will include a survey of up to 6,000 kilometres of primary, secondary, and tertiary roads in all Lebanese regions to identify those in most need for rehabilitation.

The non-grant US$155 million loan portion of the package is repayable over 32.5 years, including a seven-year grace period. With this new package, the World Bank’s current commitment to Lebanon in grants, loans, and other concessional financing rises to US$1.3 billion.

MARC decides Senai Desaru Expressway rating remains BBB-IS

MARC has affirmed its rating of BBB-IS on Senai-Desaru Expressway’s (SDEB's) RM1.89 billion Islamic Medium-Term Notes (Restructured Sukuk) Programme with a stable outlook.

The rating incorporates the improving traffic volume on the expressway and the accommodative payment structure under the programme, which provides SDEB with headroom to improve its cash flow coverage. Under the restructured sukuk, initiated in 2014, the step-up profit rate structure eases liquidity pressure in the early years of the programme’s tenure, allowing for cash buildup to meet its back-ended principal obligations. In addition, extension of the concession to 2053 from the initial 2038 allows for upside benefit from traffic volume growth generated from planned developments in the expressway’s service areas. The rating also takes into account SDEB’s continued weak credit profile, characterised by persistent negative shareholders’ funds.

MARC notes that total annual traffic volume on the Senai-Pasir Gudang-Desaru Expressway (SDE), which comprises a 77km tolled inter-urban expressway between Senai and Desaru with a connecting highway to Pasir Gudang, increased 17.6% year-on-year (YoY) to 292.4 million passenger car unit-kilometres (pcu-km). The growth was 10.6% higher than the projected traffic volume. The improvement, despite a toll hike in October 2015, has been attributed to increased development activities along the expressway, widening works on the toll-free alternative, and the ongoing projects in Pengerang, where the multi-billion ringgit RAPID project is in progress. Given the actual traffic CAGR of 6.9% over the last three years, traffic volume growth would need to at least sustain to meet traffic projections: the SDE is projected to achieve CAGR of 8.3% from 2016 to 2022, normalising to 7.4% until 2038 before declining to 5%.

The sensitivity analysis on SDEB’s cash flow projections demonstrates that the company can withstand a drop of 7.4% in traffic volume from the base case projections throughout the sukuk tenure and a higher-than-expected operating cost of 4.8% per annum. MARC notes that in the absence of toll hikes and no government compensations given, SDEB’s debt servicing ability would come under pressure starting in FY17. The sensitivity results also show that delays in the RAPID project would weigh on SDEB’s traffic volume and, consequently its cash flows to meet principal repayment of the sukuk, which commences by FY2039.

The back-ended amortisation structure provides SDEB headroom to strengthen its liquidity position in order to maintain compliance with the covenanted finance service cover ratio (FSCR) of 1.25 times, a requirement that commences from June 30, 2018 and runs throughout the remaining tenure of the restructured sukuk.

As at 8MFY2016, the company’s cash and cash balances stood at a low RM26.6 million relative to its financial obligations. MARC remains concerned on SDEB’s sizeable obligations under the concession agreement to widen and upgrade the Cahaya Baru-Pasir Gudang and Ulu Tiram-Cahaya Baru stretches in 2016 and 2017 respectively. However, due to the low usage of the aforementioned stretches, SDEB is seeking a deferment from the government as it will need to incur costs of about RM373.6 million to carry out the upgrading works. The sukuk holders have given SDEB an extension until June 30, 2016 to obtain approval, failing which a technical breach would occur.

The stable outlook reflects SDEB achieving sustainable traffic performance and timely receipt of government compensations as demonstrated in the recent years. Any revision to the rating and/or outlook would depend on the outcome of deferment on the upgrading works or any material deviations from the assumptions set out in the projections.

Interested?

View MARC's list of rating definitions (PDF)

Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces adds more masterpieces, highlights Silk Road

The Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces (VCM) has grown by five members in the past year, it was revealed at the annual meeting of the Trustees of the VCM at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore on 19 and 20 November, 2015.

Jointly led by Jos Takema, Project Manager of the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands and Yun Hye Chung of the National Museum of Korea, the VCM now boasts 135 member museums from 35 countries and 183 new masterpieces for a total of 2,514 available online.

In December, the VCM introduced a new highlight on the Silk Road. A dedicated Silk Road button on the VCM Search for Masterpiec es page provides instant access to relevant masterpieces. Pictured is a folio from an 8th century large Quran from the collection of the Asian Civilisations Museum (copyright Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore), which turned up during the search. 

According to the VCM, the museum acquired this folio in 1999. It is likely from a monumental Quran in Tashkent, Uzbekistan attributed to the Caliph Uthman (reign 644 to 656) and might have been carried along the Silk Route. The item has been carbon-dated, and there is a 68% probability of a date between 640 and 705 and 95% probability of a date between 595 and 855. 

The VCM website development is sponsored by NAVER, Korea's top search portal. The VCM also began new social media initiatives on Facebook and Instagram this year.

The VCM was originally a project of ASEMUS - the Asia Europe Museum Network. It features online versions of masterpieces of Asian origin from the collections of contributing museums to promote mutual understanding and appreciation between peoples of various and different cultures. Each museum contributes a selection of 25 masterpieces from their own collections.

PLUS Malaysia gears up for Hari Raya traffic

PLUS Malaysia (PLUS) will temporarily open up several stretches of highway at the current fourth lane widening project areas to facilitate smoother traffic flow on the North-South Expressway (NSE) and the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) this coming Hari Raya (Eid) holidays.

The highway stretches are: KM16.3 – KM14.7 (southbound) between Damansara and Subang, KM13.3 – KM9.65 (southbound) between Subang and Shah Alam, KM25.0 – KM28.5 (southbound) between DBKL arch and the Segambut Bridge, KM445.26 – KM447.63 (southbound) between Rawang Interchange and Rawang Selatan, KM282.2 – KM280.4 (southbound) between Bandar Baru Nilai and the Recron factory and KM280.4 – KM268.6 (southbound) between the Recron factory and the New Seremban Interchange.

PLUS Managing Director, Dato’ Noorizah Hj Abd Hamid said, ”These critical stretches will be temporarily opened starting from 23 July. It is aimed at facilitating smoother traffic flow as well as distributing traffic during the holidays.”

PLUS also anticipates the traffic on the NSE to increase by 25% to 1.5 million vehicles per day on the peak days which are 25 to 27 July and 1 to 3 August as compared to 1.2 million vehicles every day on normal days.

“As such, PLUS urges members of the public to plan their balik kampung (returning home) travel for Hari Raya based on our travel time advisory (TTA) which has proven to have contributed to smoother traffic flow during peak periods in the past,” Noorizah added.

The TTA lists recommended staggered travel times for various destinations from the Klang Valley to major states and cities in Kedah, Perlis, Penang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor and to Singapore. It is aimed at distributing traffic and reducing congestion on the mainline, major toll plazas, rest areas and lay-bys during peak periods.

“This time, the TTA provides travelling times for the public plying the NSE between 25 and 27 July (for balik kampung journey) and between 1 and 3 August (for balik kerja journey). Based on the TTA, those heading towards farther destinations are advised to leave the Klang Valley earlier, while those heading towards destinations that are nearer to the Klang Valley are advised to enter the highway at later hours,” Noorizah added.

Noorizah was quoted at a media briefing to highlight preparations and initiatives that will be taken by PLUS in coping with the traffic increase during the Hari Raya holidays at Persada PLUS.

Apart from temporarily opening up several critical stretches at the 4th lane widening project and issuing the TTA, other new additional initiatives include the introduction of the PLUS Traffic Portal to disseminate the latest highway traffic information and the deployment of motorcycle patrolling teams for the existing highway mobile workshop service, Workshop on Wheels at strategic locations on the highway.

Other routine preparations include stationing additional staff and opening up more toll counters at toll plazas to facilitate faster toll transaction, increasing the number of PLUSRonda teams and so on.