MUMBAI: Bloomberg Philanthropies, a foundation headed by former New York Mayor and media czar Michael Bloomberg, will assist the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to reduce accidents on the city roads.
The foundation is all set to ink an MoU with the Maharashtra government on Tuesday in this regard. The charitable arm of Bloomberg has chosen Mumbai, along with nine other cities across the globe, for its road safety initiative, which is aimed at reducing fatalities and injuries resulting from road accidents.
Bloomberg will launch the initiative here in presence of CMDevendra Fadnavis. “We will provide technical assistance to improve the city’s traffic management. We will also run a media campaign in the city, spreading awareness about fastening seat belts and safe driving,” Kelly Larson, director of the foundation’s Road Safety Dept., told Express.
She said that Mumbai had been chosen for the project because the number of road accident deaths was disturbingly high in the city.
“There were 20 entries for the project. We have selected Mumbai because the administration showed a bigger interest in it. There is already a good traffic awareness drive being run in the city. We will enhance it,” Larson said.
Bloomberg has committed $125 million over five years for the programme to be implemented in 10 cities. It will work at both the national level, to strengthen road safety legislation, and the city level implementing proven road safety interventions.
The other cities chosen for the programme include Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa and Bandung (Indonesia).