Project Number:	LAO/89/C04
Project Title:	Rehabilitation of Sayabuory Paklay Road
Government Executing Agencies:	Ministry of Communication, Transportation, Post and Construction
UN Cooperating Agency:	UNOPS
Sector:	Infrastructure
Sub-Sector:	Roads
Project Costs
UNCDF:	US$     5,082,714
UNDP:	1,479,751
Government:	780,378
Total Project Costs:	7,342,843
Date Project Approved:	January 1992
Date Project Began:	January 1992
Date Project Evaluated:	December 1996
Type of Evaluation:	Final

II. Background

Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a landlocked country with a low population density by Asian standards. The total land area is 237,000 km2 with a population of just over four million inhabitants. The northern region is predominantly mountainous and approximately half the country is covered with forest.

The Sayaboury province, where the project road is located, is similar to much of northern Laos. Sixty-five per cent of the region is mountainous and forested. Sayaboury is the only province entirely located to the west of the Mekong River, which separates it from the rest of the country. The province has a population of approximately 292,000 people (1995 estimate), and occupies an area of 16,389 km2.

III. The Project

  The project involved the rehabilitation of 152 km of road between Sayaboury and Paklay. Due to lack of maintenance and inadequate drainage systems the first 50 km were severely deteriorated, while the remainder was essentially a narrow three-metre-wide bulldozed dirt track. Three new bridges were constructed to ensure all weather access between both cities. Culverts, drainage works and excavation were an integral part of the project. Although the project mostly involved rehabilitation, construction of one major 16 km deviation was done to reduce road gradients and allow savings in construction costs.

The project’s objectives involved contributing to the Government’s efforts to develop the national communications and transport infrastructure. The project also sought to stimulate agricultural production through facilitating the flow of goods and passengers. The immediate objective was to improve the living conditions of some 40,000 people residing in 70 villages and initiate development in the area through (i) the rehabilitation and construction of 152 kms of roads and (ii) the strengthening of the province’s institutional capacity in road construction and maintenance.

The implementation design involved ensuring that the physical works were completed within acceptable quality, cost, and time, while maximizing the exposure of local inhabitants to the construction process. Overall management and financial control, training in the maintenance of heavy equipment and administration in the early stages of the project were handled by international technical advisors. Construction equipment was provided by UNCDF, design and construction supervision was the responsibility of the GOL project team and the construction itself was carried out by two contracted enterprises.

IV. Purpose of the Evaluation

There were four main purposes of the evaluation: i) to assess the end of the project and identify the possible need for follow-up activities, ii) to review the project’s relevance and impact, iii) to extract lessons for further project programming in the roads sector in the Laos context and for overall project design in the roads sector, and iv) to determine the relevance and need of undertaking the rehabilitation of the road segment between Paklay and Kenthao.

V. Findings of the Evaluation Mission

A. Assessment of results achieved

The Evaluation Mission determined that the objectives of the project were achieved successfully. The project delivered:

• An all weather road linking Sayaboury and Paklay within time, cost, and quality constraints;

• Expansion of the Government’s national communications and transport infrastructure;

• More capable local institutions in road construction, road maintenance, and bridge construction;

• A reduction of transport costs and an increase of the flow of goods and passengers: the journey now is only four hours on the new road. The cost of a bus ticket is one third the pre-rehabilitation price. The number of people traveling inter district has expanded considerably, particularly the number of women. Prior to rehabilitation of the road, the journey between Paklay and Sayaboury involved an overnight stop with passengers often sleeping beside the road. For cultural and security reasons, few women made the trip when this was the case;

• Stimulation of agricultural production. Although the road has only been fully finished for six months, agricultural production appears to be increasing. Villagers expressed a keen desire to plant more cash crops. The reason for this may lie in more regular contact with traders traveling up and down the road; and

• An apparent reduction of poverty in the area. The wealth of farmers, a group that incorporates the majority of the province, appears to have increased. The number of buffalo, cows, pigs, and chickens increased by approximately 20% over the period 1991 to 1995. There has also been a significant increase in the number of cars and motorbikes in the province. Since the initiation of the road construction the number of motorbikes has increased by 15.1% and cars by 9.4%.

The Evaluation Team found that additional benefits resulted from the road, beyond those intended in the project document. These additional benefits include:

• The cost to send health workers from the province to the districts has decreased from 40,000 kip (1991) to 15,000 kip (1996);

• Inhabitants of the southern districts have now access to the Sayaboury hospital in the rainy season. Previously, seriously ill people could only seek treatment in Thailand at three times the cost;

• Other project activities in the area have benefited from the improved transportation network, particularly the Nam Tan irrigation project, and the ongoing projects of the Lao Women’s Union; and

• New industry has developed, such as chicken farms producing eggs, small ice factories, hotels, training, garages, and bottled water factories.

B. Assessment of project design

The design of the project and its implementation structure were excellent and corresponded successfully with the objectives of the project. The project was designed using experience gained in the previous UNCDF-funded Luang Phabang to Sayaboury Road Rehabilitation Project.

VI. Recommendations

The recommendations below suggests minor changes that could be made and these should be used in the formulation of a new project that would rehabilitate the road between Paklay and Kenthao:

• The road construction enterprise has a responsibility within the Sayaboury District for routine road maintenance. The enterprise can quickly become over-committed with new construction, with a tendency to forgo maintenance work. To ensure the sustainability of this road, it is suggested that all new work include funds and direction for the maintenance of the Sayaboury to Paklay road.

• The contractor who worked on this project gained a lot of experience during the construction of the road. However, the contractor now has no equipment to conduct new work, and is in a state of limbo awaiting either the transfer of equipment from the UN equipment fleet or the commencement of the road to Kenthao. As a result, the capacity built from this project is in jeopardy. A similar situation should be avoided in future projects.

• Training is required to manage the road work enterprise. While experience was gained in road construction techniques, only modest experience was gained in management tasks such as forward planning, procurement and financial management. Training in these activities should be included in future programmes.

• Improvements are required in the interpretation of geotechnical information, and designing appropriate construction monitoring tests.

• Documentation of the design process needs minor improvements.

• It is urgently required to have a decision regarding the implementation of the potential road rehabilitation between Paklay and Kenthao. If finalized, construction should commence immediately to prevent loss of trained construction workers.

VII. Lessons Learned

The two main Lessons Learned can be summarized as:

1. The probability of success as well as cost efficiency will increase if the design of a roads rehabilitation project fully incorporates the experiences of earlier rehabilitation projects in the area.

2. The enterprise or institution that is responsible for operation and maintenance of a road is typically the one that did construction. It is natural to commission a successful enterprise with new construction and there is a tendency to give construction higher priority than maintenance. To ensure sustainability it is therefore essential to commit sufficient resources to maintenance and to ensure that the target construction rate does not over-commit the enterprise. Training in resource management and planning are essential tools to obtain this.

VIII. Evaluation Team

This final evaluation was undertaken by Royds Consulting (Laos) Ltd., and included Dene Cook, Senior Roads Engineer, Syamphone Phommalyvong, Socio-Economist and Viboun Abhay, Translator.