By Thokozani Mazibuko
A life was lost after a kombi lost control along the Nhlangano-Hluthi route on Tuesday.
Sources have disclosed to Eswatini Daily News (EDN) that the local kombi, filled with passengers, from nowhere suddenly lost control and rammed into the bridge.
“One person died on the spot while others were rushed to hospital after a kombi servicing the Nhlangano-Hluthi road developed a mechanical fault resulting in the accident.
The other passengers are currently being treated at the Nhlangano Health Centre,” Deputy Police Information and Communication Officer, Assistant Superintendent, Nosipho Mnguni told this Publication.
In a landmark move, the World Bank has established a dedicated Road Safety Unit, making it the first multilateral development bank (MDB) to do so.
This development underscores the World Bank’s unwavering commitment to addressing the global road safety crisis.
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It should be noted that, according to Word Bank Group, road crashes result in almost 1.2 million deaths every year and are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29.
According to the World Health Organization, 92% of all fatalities occur in low and middle-income countries.
Nicolas Peltier-Thiberge, the World Bank’s Director of Transport, in a report, emphasized the significance of the new road safety unit, stating,
“Road traffic crashes are preventable tragedies with an unacceptably high toll for developing countries. The World Bank is a big supporter of the global road safety agenda, and we regularly work with client countries to make road transport safer for all users.
The establishment of this new road safety unit demonstrates our dedication to this issue, which we aim to elevate to an even higher priority level,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that the newly created Road Safety Unit is embedded within the Global Transport Department of the World Bank and will house the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF),
a multi-donor fund that supports efforts in low and middle-income countries to halve their road traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
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Moreover, the establishment of the unit marks the fourth major milestone in the World Bank’s increasing commitment to road safety over the past two decades it follows the establishment of GRSF in 2006,
the inclusion of road safety in the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Framework in 2018, and the adoption of a road safety requirement for all World Bank Road and urban transport projects in 2020.
“This is a major development in global road safety and comes as we approach the middle of the second UN Decade of Action for Road Safety,” says Said Dahdah, who will manage the new unit and also leads GRSF,” Thiberge was quoted.
It should be noted that as part of this strategic shift, the World Bank has also restructured GRSF as an Umbrella Program,
A powerful financing instrument designed to catalyze road safety development financing from the World Bank and other MDBs.
It is said that over the five years between 2018 and 2022, MDBs collectively approved $3.6 billion of new financing for road safety.
The restructuring of GRSF aims to amplify country-level investment opportunities, to double collective MDB financing for road safety over the next five years.
