HIGHWAYS VIII

closed

The project is designed to assist the Government's efforts to facilitate access to and from rural areas, to protect past investments in the highway network and to continue institutional improvements in highway administration. The project comprises: (i) construction of about 350 km of feeder roads in selected agricultural valleys; (ii) improvement of about 115 km of secondary roads which serve rural areas; (iii) purchase of maintenance and workshop equipment, including spare parts; and (iv) technical assistance for maintenance management and training. The construction of feeder roads involves a certain amount of risk because it is part of a larger program, also being financed by IDB and USAID, which could strain the capacity of the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) to carry out this type of work; this risk has been minimized by carefully coordinating the efforts of the three financing agencies, by assuring additional staffing for DGH, and by providing for annual reviews of DGH's entire feeder roads program.