ROADS III

closed

The proposed project aims to help the Government protect past investments in the road network by bringing into operation a rational system of road maintenance and by initiating a long-term program of pavement strengthening and resurfacing. To this end the project comprises: (a) a three and a half year time slice of a pavement strengthening and preservation program, on about 1,700 km of primary and secondary roads; (b) a three and a half year program of routine and periodic road maintenance, including the purchase of equipment; and (c) technical assistance to the Ministry of Public Works (MPW), to help in preparing and implementing the above. The project also aims at strengthening the formulation and implementation of transportation policy by the Ministry of Transportation (MOT), by providing technical assistance in transportation planning and economics, as well as by furnishing weighing scales to help in enforcing vehicle loading limits. The main beneficiaries will be road users, who would face quickly rising transportation costs if deterioration of the network were allowed to continue. The project will continue the long-term process of institutional strengthening begun under the two previous Bank-financed highway projects in Morocco.