American Pakistani
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- May 30, 2010
- Messages
- 15,374
- Reaction score
- 10
- Country
- Location
Road development project in Balochistan success: ADB
Mehtab Haider
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
From Print Edition
ISLAMABAD: Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has termed its multi-million dollar road development project in the impoverished Balochistan province as a successful project which has achieved its objectives.
Overall, the short-term objectives of involving the beneficiaries and Communication and Works Department of Balochistan (CWD) in road benefits monitoring have been achieved, leaving the medium- and long-term goals of the social impact on poverty reduction, said the ADBs Project Completion Report (PCR) on Balochistan Road Development Sector Project exclusively available with The News on Monday.
However, the PCR said the full outcome or measurement of the social impacts will have to wait until two years after completion of the physical works, including roads and it will be done after comparing the state of benchmarks against the baseline socioeconomic survey conducted at the corresponding project sites before and during project implementation.
The report expressed satisfaction over the completion of 120km of national highways and 189km of provincial highways in Balochistan and added a road maintenance mechanism was in place for both the NHA and the CWD. The national highways under the project are well maintained but one of the provincial highways was damaged by overloaded trucks and more funds are required to keep the project highways in good condition.
The ADB provided a project loan of $185.7 million from ADBs ordinary capital resources and a technical assistance loan of $1 million for Balochistan Road Development Sector Project aimed to improve connectivity and allow better access in Balochistan through sustainable road sector development.
Despite highly challenging circumstances relating to security, unprecedented floods, and earthquake, the majority of the project outcome has been achieved. About 120 km of national highways (out of the total 230 km) and 189 km of provincial highways (out of the total 426 km) were reconstructed; the remaining road sections are under reconstruction.
The reconstructed highways have significantly improved the connectivity in the project area. Travel time and the vehicle operating costs on the completed roads were reduced by 59 percent and 2040 percent, respectively. Although the cross-border development component was cancelled, the project is likely to benefit a total of about 761,000 people along the national highways and about 238,700 people along the provincial highways and rural roads, the report added.
The total project cost was estimated at $267.3 million equivalent, for financing by ADB (69.5 percent) and the government (30.5 percent). To facilitate large traffic volume near Quetta, 15.5 km of the QuettaKila Adbullah section was widened to dual carriageway. According to the report, nine contracts were completed with a total length of 189.08 km of improved road while the remaining 6 contracts for 237.1 km of roads (including the section transferred to the Balochistan Development Authority) are still being implemented and expected to be completed by September 2013 with the government funding.
But the report said despite being rated satisfactory, performance needs to be further improved. There was only one member during several ADB review missions and several missions could not visit the project sites due to security conditions.
The project administration was later transferred to the Pakistan Resident Mission and these resulted in challenges to ADB in project administration. ADB needs to enhance project supervision by keeping a project officer as long as possible, fielding regular review missions with adequate expertise, developing the project administration capacity of its resident mission, and enhancing effective coordination between resident mission and the headquarters.
Road development project in Balochistan success: ADB - thenews.com.pk
Mehtab Haider
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
From Print Edition
ISLAMABAD: Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has termed its multi-million dollar road development project in the impoverished Balochistan province as a successful project which has achieved its objectives.
Overall, the short-term objectives of involving the beneficiaries and Communication and Works Department of Balochistan (CWD) in road benefits monitoring have been achieved, leaving the medium- and long-term goals of the social impact on poverty reduction, said the ADBs Project Completion Report (PCR) on Balochistan Road Development Sector Project exclusively available with The News on Monday.
However, the PCR said the full outcome or measurement of the social impacts will have to wait until two years after completion of the physical works, including roads and it will be done after comparing the state of benchmarks against the baseline socioeconomic survey conducted at the corresponding project sites before and during project implementation.
The report expressed satisfaction over the completion of 120km of national highways and 189km of provincial highways in Balochistan and added a road maintenance mechanism was in place for both the NHA and the CWD. The national highways under the project are well maintained but one of the provincial highways was damaged by overloaded trucks and more funds are required to keep the project highways in good condition.
The ADB provided a project loan of $185.7 million from ADBs ordinary capital resources and a technical assistance loan of $1 million for Balochistan Road Development Sector Project aimed to improve connectivity and allow better access in Balochistan through sustainable road sector development.
Despite highly challenging circumstances relating to security, unprecedented floods, and earthquake, the majority of the project outcome has been achieved. About 120 km of national highways (out of the total 230 km) and 189 km of provincial highways (out of the total 426 km) were reconstructed; the remaining road sections are under reconstruction.
The reconstructed highways have significantly improved the connectivity in the project area. Travel time and the vehicle operating costs on the completed roads were reduced by 59 percent and 2040 percent, respectively. Although the cross-border development component was cancelled, the project is likely to benefit a total of about 761,000 people along the national highways and about 238,700 people along the provincial highways and rural roads, the report added.
The total project cost was estimated at $267.3 million equivalent, for financing by ADB (69.5 percent) and the government (30.5 percent). To facilitate large traffic volume near Quetta, 15.5 km of the QuettaKila Adbullah section was widened to dual carriageway. According to the report, nine contracts were completed with a total length of 189.08 km of improved road while the remaining 6 contracts for 237.1 km of roads (including the section transferred to the Balochistan Development Authority) are still being implemented and expected to be completed by September 2013 with the government funding.
But the report said despite being rated satisfactory, performance needs to be further improved. There was only one member during several ADB review missions and several missions could not visit the project sites due to security conditions.
The project administration was later transferred to the Pakistan Resident Mission and these resulted in challenges to ADB in project administration. ADB needs to enhance project supervision by keeping a project officer as long as possible, fielding regular review missions with adequate expertise, developing the project administration capacity of its resident mission, and enhancing effective coordination between resident mission and the headquarters.
Road development project in Balochistan success: ADB - thenews.com.pk
