Brazil Proactive, Safe and Resilient Road Asset Management Program - State of Espirito Santo Project - Phase 2

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The State of Espirito Santo is strategically located between the Northeast and the Eastern part of the Union, being one of the smallest states in the area and population of the Union, with a population of over 4 million inhabitants. The state has a diverse economy, including agriculture, oil & gas, rock extraction and manufacturing, and services, making it an important contributor to the Brazilian economy. However, the State is prone to climate disasters regularly, so Investing in preserving its infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and ports, will help to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of these industries by reducing transportation costs, saving lives, and increasing access to markets.This project, Phase 2 of the Brazil Pro-Roads MPA, will focus on improving the road asset management of interurban roads and promoting connectivity by eliminating dangerous road stretches and reducing the number of bottlenecks in the State network, preserving the road infrastructure in a safe and resilient manner, and supporting the logistical and sustainable planning as part of the institutional strengthening. Managing road assets sustainably is important to ensure that transport remains safe and efficient. The state of Espirito Santo has a large network of roads - 3800 km of paved roads in the State Network - for a State the size of Estonia, and maintaining this infrastructure is critical to ensure that people and goods can move in, out, and around the state effectively. The project will have four main components: (i) Proactive maintenance with a long-term (8 to 25 years) CREMA model using performance-based contracts (PBCs) - improving climate resilience and providing better access to schools, markets, and health centers; (ii) Institutional strengthening for road asset management sustainability, road safety, climate resilience and transport decarbonization; (iii) Improvement of selected state transport infrastructure - bypasses to eliminate logistical bottlenecks and improvement of road safety and universal accessibility along the urban areas once the bypasses are built; and (iv) Project Management. Component 1 is the main one, supporting road works and maintenance throughout the State: The first subcomponent will support interurban roads connecting urban and rural communities in Espirito Santo, improving road safety and climate resilience of those roads, and implementing long-term Design-Build-Maintain 10-year contracts for rehabilitating and maintaining three lots of important agro-logistical corridors in the state. The second subcomponent will structure and implement one CREMA-PPP 25-year contract for rehabilitating and maintaining the selected roads in the Southern part of the state in the same format as previous PPP experiences in Bahia. Component 2 is the institutional strengthening with multiple studies and consultancies to support the capacity building of the State in the coming decadeComponent 3 will implement road bypasses in two municipalities, and designing two additional ones, where there are many challenges in urban areas, related to road congestion, air pollution, and road safety issues; along with road safety and accessibility improvement activities along urban areas. Component 4 will provide technical support to the Project implementation. The project will promote social inclusion by providing better opportunities for the rural population in Espirito Santo, who often face limited access to education, healthcare, and job opportunities, so will have activities to tackle those issues. Also, Gender activities are envisioned to improve access to job markets in the road sector. Finally, the use of Performance-based contracts will provide the State with an effective way to ensure that maintenance and rehabilitation activities are carried out in a timely and effective manner, while also providing incentives for contractors to meet specific performance targets. These contracts can be linked to road safety performance, as well as to other indicators of quality and resilience, such as pavement condition, drainage, and signage. By linking road safety performance to longer-term maintenance and rehabilitation contracts, Espirito Santo will ensure that its road infrastructure is designed and maintained with safety in mind. This can contribute to a reduction in road accidents and fatalities, which are major public health concerns in the region. And, in addition, longer-term contracts that are structured as PPPs - as it is intended, will provide a range of benefits, including access to private sector expertise and resources, as well as greater flexibility in project design and implementation. This can help to ensure that road infrastructure is built and maintained, while also providing opportunities for private-sector investment and job creation.