First stakeholder meeting held in Constanta in August
On the 31st of August 2023 Constanta Metropolitan Area Intercommunity Development Association organized the First stakeholders meeting in Constanta in the framework of SPOTLOG.
The main objective of the event was to present to local, regional and national stakeholders the SPOTLOG project, with a special focus on Constanta`s activities and target in the project, respectively the update of its Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and also to present the general framework of SUMP implementation in Romania and some best practice examples of different projects implemented within this framework.
The event was organized in a hybrid format with 35 people participating in person to the works and 48 persons attending online. Among the participants there were representatives from the National Government (Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration and Ministry of Transport), from the National Federation of Metropolitan Areas, from local public administration, different NGOs and private sector (especially urban mobility start-ups), including the coordinators of EIT Urban Mobility in Romania.
The event was divided in two main parts, the first part was dedicated to free discussions regarding the new legislative framework, the new law on urban mobility, and the targets Cities in Romania have to achieve in the next periods until 2030. The second part was a more formal one were presentations were made by different participants, including two presentations regarding SPOTLOG: a general project presentation held by Mr. Mihai Gradinaru from SCOR Cluster; and a Constanta SUMP a presentation held by Mrs. Ani Viorica Merla the delegated administrator of Constanta Metropolitan Area.
As a main conclusion, it was stressed out that metropolitan public transport improvement is a crucial aspect for sustainable urban mobility in cities and their Urban Functional Areas that has to be tackled in order to achieve a clean, inclusive, safe and energy efficient transport.
The sector dedicated to freight transport represents another mandatory aspect to be tackled in all strategic documents and especially in SUMPs and to become a mandatory item on the agenda of discussions regarding this field.
In the current context of the intensification of freight transit through Constanta Port as a result of the armed conflict in Ukraine, updating the SUMP with current inputs, specific to this type of transport, is a priority.
Also, taking into account the challenges of achieving the targets established for the indicators assumed by the EU on the reduction of GHG emissions, another important aspect of the freight transport is the goods supply of various economic agents, especially those that carry out their activity in the center of cities, with focus on the necessity to identify and encourage sustainable solutions.