India - Gujarat Rural Roads Project (Credit 1757-IN) : supervision

• r 73085 . IND)A I n t l~Clduc.ti on 1.1 A Worl d Ban k hig h way mission c o mprisi ng Ro bert M u l li gan, h ighw a y en gineer , v i s ite d Gu ·ara t from 14th thro ug h 16t h J anu a ry t o re vi ew p rog ress of work on t he Gujarat Rural Roads Pr o ject. This re vi ew , b o t h i n P WD h eadq ua r te r s an d t he field , was faci lita t e d by th e c oo per at i on a n d c our tes i es o ffered b y S tat e P WD off ici al s and t he miss ion wi sh e s t o pl ac e on r ecord it s si nc::er"e appreciation of ·.. h f.:>m . Th e fo ll owin g Aid e Me moire r ecor ds the res ul ts of disc uss i on s th e mis sion h ad wi th PWD o f f i cial s and r ec o mme n d at i ons a r i sin g the refrom. Howev e r, t h e i de Memoi rs is subj ect to co nf irmati on b y t he Wo rld Bank . Cred i t 1757-I N ( 1 01 mill ion SD R) was ap p r o v ed by t he Bank on Febr u a r y 1 7, 1~ 87, sig ned on May 12 and d ec lared effe c t i ve on Au g u st 2 7 o f th at year. The pr o 'Bct co mp r ises : (i ) constru c t i on/ r ec on s truct i o n / i mprovement of a bout 4~0 40 k m o f v i l l ag e roads i n s eve n d a i ry i ng di str icts of Gu jarat; ( i i ;. p r ocur em e n t of ro ad c ons t r u c t ion e qu i pmen t ; ( . , . 1 J. l. ) c onstr u ctio n of of fi c es, wor k sh op s , a cc omodati on , E-"t c • ( i \/;' t e c hn ica l a s sistan c e and engin eer i ng s e r vi ces fo r pr o jec t man ag eme n t a nd tr a i n i ng ; and (. ,v.. 1 , a mainte n ance pla n ni n g s t ud y a n d a r oad safet y p rogra m. 3. 1 Thir ty-f i v e con t ra c tors were p r e q ua li f i ed to b i d o n the 19 8 7 -88 ( Ap r i l I -Mar ch 3 1 ) p r og r a m of works ( ab o ut 80 0 k m) . By mi d -J a nua ry, 60 contr act s had be e n aw ard ed an d cont r actors had bee n i nvited t o sign the r e ma ini ng 190 c ont racts of th e p r og am . j . '-I I. I ? The val u e of wor k in v o lved is Rs . 21 0 .15 m (US $ 16. 2 m) and ex pe nditures to date tot al Rs. 0. 77 m (US$ 60 ,0 00) . Progress o-f th e work on th e roa d s visited was ahea d of s chedule , nd wor km anshi p a nd q u ality wer e good. Pr equ a li fication for the 1988-89 progra m was adve rt ised at the end of J an u ary, an d con tractors have unt i l mi d -March to retur n t he quest i onnaires. Bids will be i nvi ted ab o ut t he en d of M arc h f or the f ir st group of 10 contr a ct s, and biddi n g for the r e mai ni ng 289 c ont r acts qf the pr og ram will be sp r ea d ov e r t h e year-. 3. 3 The missio n no t es t h at contr-aetor prequ al i ficat ion will be foll o wed for- all t he project work s an d no t t he mor-e c u mber-som e post-q ua li fi cation p r ocedures t hat wer-e env is a g ed origin~l ly. 3. 4 The qu a lit y of c ontrac t d ocume nt ati on is e x cellent. In p articular the st an dard i sed fo rma t for p r esenta tio n of plans a nd wor ki ng d rawings for e ach ccnt rac t is e x cep ti ona ll y c l ea r and goes far to simpl i f y the wor k of co nt ract preparat i on and , for t he c ontr a ct o r, h is bid preparat i on . The Mini st ry pf Rural Deve l opment wou ld do we ll t o follow t hi s exampl e in fu ture r u ra l r-p ad projects. 3.5 Tree p lant i ng as a r oad-si d e amenity sh ou l d be fu nded f rom the proj e ct. The PWD should pre pare es t imates of the cos ts invo lved , and the wor k, i t is understood , wil l b e c arried out by t he Fores try Depar tment . 3.6 Ref l ec ti ve road signs to IRC standards will be req u i red . Th e mi ssi on was in formed that ther e are manufac t urers wh o c an p od uce sign s of ac e ptab l e qualit y in M a harashtra, and PWD s ho ul d con sider cont r acting the ir requiremen ts wit h t hem, r ather than se· up '::1 si gn factm-y of t.he i r own . ~.I The comp l ement pf personnel to staf f t he su p erv ision c i rcles i s not y et complet e . In pa rti cula r, t h e Chi e f En gineer is n ot ye - in p o s it ion , a lth o u gh hi s appointmen t is e xp ec t ed by Apri l 1 ( the star- t of t h e + ineOl.n c i a l year-) . Si mi lar l y ? su bst an ti ve appo i nt me nts of S uper in tending En gi n eers fo r the Pala mpur and Ra jkot Circles have not b een made? and th ere are gaps t o be f i ll ed in tl e rank s of Exe c utive an d Assistan t Engi n eer s. No w that the mome n t um o f wor k i s i ncreasin g , PWD i s u rged t o comple te t h e staffin g of t he su per- vi sor y circl es wi t. h Ollt dEd a y .. 4. 1 PW D int e n d s t o p ur ch a se wa t e r- t a n k e r s, ti pp e r t ruc k s, f l a t -be d tr u ck s ~ r o a d r olle r s a n d v ibr a t o r y ro ll e r s f o r h ire to c on t ra c tors . The e st i mate of Rs o 17. 65 milli on h as b een a p p r o ve d b y g ov ern me nt a nd P W D i s i n i t i at i ng lo cal p r o c u r e men t th r-ough D GS~~D. 5.1 No wor k h a s st art e d on th i s c om pon e nt . The mi s s i o n u n d e r stan ds , h o wever , tha t p lan n i n g i s in p ro g re ss a n d t ha t con tr ac ts f or t he wor k ar e li ke l y to be ad v e r ti s e d shor tly. {:, . 1;..§\ n c e. En g.i. neESr i nq Se l'" \I"i CBS ·f O l~ F ro t ec t Tec Qx}j ..J.:al ._As si.:2_ 1-.:rr- ~'iI.i..!lt!J..9 .['1 c~ C!"'~.9.§llil e n t .. 6.1 At t h e b e g i n ni n g of J a n u ary a c o ntract wa s a wa r ded to M e ss r s. OR G ( Guj a r a t ) to c a r r y o u t a stud y which wo u l d i de nt i fy a system o f ma nage ment a nd mo n itor i n g appropr i a te t o t h e needs o f t h e Gu j a r a t Ru r a l Ro a d s Pr oje c t. I n a meet in g wi th the c on s ul t an t i t was d ete r mi ned tha t t he s ys t em wo u l d b e ope r a t e d b y mea n s o f I BM p e AT c o mp a ti b l es an d wo u l d u p da te p r og r ess fo rtn i g h tl y of p r o j e c t i mplementat i o n f rom des i g n t hr ou gh p r oc ur ement t o co mp letion o f c o ns t r u ction on a r oad b y road basi s . The in cept i o n r ep ort wa s du e a t th e end o f Ja n l a r y a n d t h e mi ss i o n h a s r e qU Ested a copy to b e se nt to the Ba n k. 6. 2 To meet th e re q ui r ement s of Tr a in in g u n d~ r t h e p ro j e c t , i t i s under s t o o d th a t a bout 27 ca nd idate s a re t o b e s elec t e d f o r c our se s p ri ma r i l y i n p ro ject mana g emen t. The mi ss i on suggeste d t hat P WD s h o ul d 1 i a i se wi t l Ce t"lt r al Gov e r nme nt. ' s Mi n i s tr",; o f Sur f ace Tr ansp or t wh i c h i s or g a n i z i n g simi l ar c o ur ses f or e ng i n e e r s b oth o ve rs ea s t h r o u g h th e UN 's Te ch n i c a l Coo p er a t i on De p a r tme nt, and l o ca l l y throu gh co ur ses a t NI THE ' n De l h i . Suc h a li ai s o n wo u l d a v oi d du p lic a t io n of e f f o r t a nd sh o u l d r esu l t in s p eed y i mpl e me ntat ion. 6. 3 San c ti o n h a s a l r ea d y b ee n g i ve n fo r s e ve n c a nd i d ate s t o st udy un d e r fe l l owsh i p s in Au st r a l ia . PW D is u r g ed t o tak e a d van t a g e o f th ese ar r a nge me nt s wi th o ut d el a y. 7. 1 Te rm s of Re f eren c e f o r a M a inten anc e Pl an n i n g S t udy h ave been ag r eed wi t h t h e Ba n k a n d th e PWD is sen din g le t ters o f inv i ta t i o n to a sh o r t l ist o f con s u l t i ng fir ms wi t h exp e r t i se in the fi e ld to s ubm i t p r op o sa l s o n a tw o - e nvel o p e b asi s. PW D ' s e va l u a ti on of th e c onsu l ta n t s ' su bm i ssi o n s will b e se n t to t he Ban k in du e course. 7.2 Th e mi s si o n repeats th e su gge st i on made in t he a i d e memoir e s u mma r i s i n g th e October / No v e mber 19 8 7 Vls lt , t ha t a ' .. ~ - . ·4· ..- gr oup of ~ ng i neer s concerned wi th the main te n anc e o·F ru r a l roads in particular shou l d vi si t Kenya to study a c o Jpera t ive ma i n te n a nce syste m that is work i n g with c ons i der ab l e s uc c ess. The Bank, if so r eques t ed , wou l d be r ead y to faci li tate such a vis i t . The costs, which should c ov e r a i rfa res and sUbsi s te ce should not exceed $ 2 0 ~000 - $ 30 ,000 f o r a g ro up of f i ve or s ix pa r t i cipants, wo u .d be el i gibl e for fin ancing from t he Credi t. 7. 3 Th ere has been n o prog r ess as yet on de t ermi nin g the e l ements of the oa d s afe ty program ~ a n d the mi ss i on un der sta nds that t he PWD i s considering h ow bes t the pr oj ect reso u rces might be ut i li ze d i n thi s regar d . 8. 1 At the date of the aide memoire t h e ~overnment of Gu jarat is i n c omp li a n c e with project co ve na nt s . ZP4 / GUJRRSPN/02. 2 2/RM;zp