Road Rehabilitation and Safety Project

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Translated version of this PSD: Serbian The EBRD is considering a loan to the Republic of Serbia to finance the rehabilitation and safety improvement works on the primary and secondary road networks in Serbia. The Project, which is expected to receive parallel financing from the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and the Government of Serbia, will involve rehabilitation of a large number of individual road sections (with a total length of 1,125 km) across the country. This project is expected to improve the quality, sustainability and safety of the road network in Serbia, and also improve connectivity, stimulate economic growth, and reduce fatalities and injuries from road accidents. The Project will contribute to the transition process by focusing on improving the road maintenance contracting framework through the introduction and roll-out of Performance Based Maintenance Contracts and enhancing competition in the road maintenance market. The Project also focuses on road safety. All designs under the project (including sections financed by partner MDBs) will be subject to a road safety audit, with mandatory inclusion of safety improvements into the design and implementation. The Project will also support the implementation of the new ISO 39001 standard for road traffic safety management in Serbia and a road safety awareness campaign will be organised during the implementation phase of the Project. Republic of Serbia. The implementing agency is Public Enterprise Roads of Serbia (“PERS”), the state-owned company responsible for managing the road network in Serbia. Senior sovereign loan of up to EUR 100 million to the Republic of Serbia. EUR 390 million. The Project has been categorised B in accordance with EBRD's 2008 Environmental and Social Policy as the environmental and social impacts associated with the rehabilitation of roads can readily be assessed and mitigated as part of environmental and social due diligence. Due diligence undertaken by the Bank in close co-operation with World Bank and EIB advisers included a site visit and review of project documentation to ensure that the Project is structured to comply with the Banks Performance Requirements (PRs). Lessons learnt from other road projects in Serbia have been utilised to seek improvements to contractor management and monitoring. The proposed improvements to the road sections are expected to provide improvements to safety, accessibility and the local economy. The Project includes road safety requirements, which will be monitored following the completion of the works to confirm the positive effects of this project. One of the design criteria for individual road sections is the avoidance and minimisation of physical and economic displacement. A Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) was prepared in compliance with PR 5 requirements to assist in design and set out principles and procedures in the case any displacement will occur. An Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) has been prepared to structure the project to comply with EBRD’s Performance Requirements. The ESAP includes requirements for: an Environmental Management Plan for each road section which will include stakeholder engagement requirements; a Safety and Labour Management Plan; a system to monitor, measure, analysis and evaluation road traffic incidents and an audit of all designs to assess road safety. The Borrower will be required to provide an annual environmental and social report and report material accidents or incidents. EBRD technical cooperation support is envisaged to support PERS in the preparation and introduction of ISO 39001 as well as for the preparation and implementation of a road safety campaign.