Netherlands Embassy marks World Bicycle Day encouraging Cycling to Work
COLOMBO – The Netherlands Embassy in Colombo marked World Bicycle Day on June 3, with a dual event that saw the winners of the Bike to Work call for proposals being awarded for their creative and practical solutions, and an exchange of ideas on how Sri Lanka could drive sustainable mobility forward through the shared examples submitted in the proposals with a group of local stakeholders.
These included representatives from various government, private sector and advocacy led groups including the Urban Development Authority, Road Development Authority, Department of Motor Traffic, United Nations Development Program, CITRA, Bank of Ceylon, PICKME, UBER and Ride For Life, who discussed their current and pipeline projects, and agreed the current challenging situation in Sri Lanka could also be a window of opportunity to push a mind-set change on sustainable mobility, including cycling and public transport in Sri Lanka.
The Bike to Work call, seeking practical solutions to stimulate work-home cycling in Sri Lanka, was launched earlier this year during a webinar series on sustainable trade and investment between Sri Lanka and the Netherlands in the context of 70 years of bilateral diplomatic relations
World Bicycle Day draws attention to the benefits of using the bicycle: it is an affordable, healthy and sustainable means of transportation. The bicycle is also cheap and contributes to a healthy lifestyle as well as less congestion and cleaner air. Indeed, a sustainable transport system that promotes economic growth, reduces inequalities while bolstering the fight against climate change is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
A statement from the Embassy of The Netherlands, said although the kingdom is the world’s leading cycling nation, today, it was not always the case. An oil crisis in the 1970s contributed to a mindset shift leading to many Dutch people adopting cycling for daily activities and their commute – rain, snow or shine, it noted, adding that the shift was supported by urban planning that promoted safer roads for cyclists, parking facilities and incentive schemes.
The statement also highlighted that there was an increasing interest in the benefits of cycling, in Sri Lanka, and that following up on earlier activities to encourage sustainable mobility in Sri Lanka, the embassy had convened the stakeholders meeting in conjunction with awarding the winners of the call for proposals.
The winning Bike to Work proposals, the embassy said, were chosen with the support of two Dutch organizations that support shifts to sustainable mobility worldwide, namely the Dutch Cycling Embassy and the Iganga Foundation, and the local organization Ride for Life that advocates for adopting cycling as lifestyle mobility option in Sri Lanka.
The winner of the call for proposal was WISHQUE pvt Ltd that proposed to develop an open source app solution focused on ease of use, safety and incentivise cycling to work for the use of companies and organizations. Citizens’ Development Business Finance PLC was awarded the second place, having already adopted bike to work within their organization and in recognition of the solutions and incentives developed such as concessionary loan scheme for purchasing bicycles. The third place was shared between Ecoware, Save a Life, Green Life Generation and Gampaha Wickramarachchi University – Faculty of Indigenous Social Sciences and Management Studies who were all awarded consultancy hours to support further development of their proposed solutions that focused on community focused mobility solutions and coupled cycling with waste management, entrepreneurship and advocacy for sustainable mobility solutions.
To join in and find out more on sustainable mobility in Sri Lanka connect with Ride for Life Sri Lanka at rideforlifesrilanka@gmail.com or the Embassy at col@minbuza.nl
-ENCL