Subproject packaging and procurement. During procurement for civil works packages, the response to bid was low. Some packages received no response, even after the 7th call. Repackaging and rebidding for such contract packages slowed down the procurement process. In the meantime, the ADB procurement review revealed that a number of contractors had been awarded more than one contract and that most of them submitted bids for multiple contracts within a district. This indicates that the size of the packages should be determined in close consultation with the implementing agencies to suit the technical and financial capability of local contractors. Time requirements for completing a subproject. Following the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadhak Yojana (Prime Minister's Rural Roads Program) guidelines, each civil works contract has a stipulated completion period of 12 months. However, 12 months were found to be inadequate, especially considering the pre-construction activities, contractor's capability, and weather conditions in the project area. At least 18-24 months were found to be needed for all project activities. Proper timing of signing the civil works contracts, in relation to the monsoon period, may avoid the loss of construction time to the monsoon. This should be incorporated and considered in other similar projects. Fostering local contractor industry. All civil works contractors for the project were local, and some of them were small and lacked working facilities, fund resources and/or skilled and qualified staff. During civil works procurement, the responses from bidders were low, which led to repackaging (split into small packages) and rebidding of some civil works packages. Some of the civil works packages were geographically spread out, which made it difficult for contractors to manage their resources, labor, and materials. In future projects, local road development authorities may develop adequate measures to assist small contractors in terms of equipment, funds, and project management. In the meantime, the state governments should strengthen contract management to ensure the proper and timely completion of subprojects. Monitoring of environmental impacts. It is important to ensure continuous engagement of project implementation consultants to avoid gaps in environmental impact monitoring activities during project implementation. In future projects, if a new project implementation consultant is to be recruited, the start of the new contract should be immediately after, or overlap with, the existing project implementation consultant contract. The handover process should be seamless to avoid the gap in the monitoring activities. Capacity building for project implementation consultants in environmental impact monitoring should be considered to ensure consistency in the quality of monitoring activities.
Rural Roads Sector II Investment Program - Project 4