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Document of
The World Bank
Report No: ICR00003116
IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT
(IDA-41500 IDA-50320 TF-56320 TF-92068)
ON A
CREDIT
IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 172.1 MILLION
(US$249.93 MILLION EQUIVALENT)
TO THE
SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
FOR A
THIRD RURAL TRANSPORT PROJECT
December 23, 2014
Transport and ICT Global Practice
East Asia and Pacific Region
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CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS
(Exchange Rate Effective June 30, 2014)
Currency Unit = Vietnamese Dong
VND 1.00 = US$ 0.000047
US$ 1.00 = 21,295 VND
FISCAL YEAR
January 1 to December 31
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
AF
BAR
CAS
CPRGS
CPS
DCA
DDOT
Additional Financing
Basic Access Road
Country Assistance Strategy
Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy
Country Partnership Strategy
Development Credit Agreement
District Department of Transportation
DFID
DRVN
United Kingdom Department for International Development
Directorate for Roads of Vietnam
EIRR Economic Internal Rate of Return
FM
FMM
GDP
Financial Management
Financial Management Manual
Gross Domestic Product
ICR
IRF
Implementation Completion Report
International Road Federation
ISR Implementation Status Report
KPI
M&E
MTEF
MOF
Key Performance Indicators
Monitoring and Evaluation
Medium Term Expenditure Framework
Ministry of Finance
MOT Ministry of Transport
NPV
O&M
PAD
PCU
Net Present Value
Operations and Maintenance
Project Appraisal Document
Passenger Car Units
PDO Project Development Objective
PDOT Provincial Department of Transport
PMU
PPC
Project Management Unit
Provincial People’s Committee
PPMUs
RMF
RRST
Provincial Project Management Unit
Road Maintenance Fund
Rural Road Surfacing Trials
RTP1 First Rural Transport Project
RTP2 Second Rural Transport Project
RTP3 Third Rural Transport Project
SEDP
SMART
Socio-Economic Development Plan
Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-related
VHLSS
VND
Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey
Vietnamese Dong
VPRoMMS
VRAMP
VWU
Vietnam Provincial Roads Maintenance Management System
Vietnam Road Asset Management Project
Vietnam Women’s Union
WB World Bank
Vice President: Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg, EAPVP
Country Director: Mrs. Victoria Kwakwa, EACVF
Senior Global Practice Director: Mr. Pierre Guislain, GTIDR
Practice Manager: Mr. Michel Kerf, GTIDR
Project Team Leader: Mrs. Phuong Thi Minh Tran, GTIDR
ICR Team Leader: Mr. Romain Pison, GTIDR
VIETNAM
Third Rural Transport Project
CONTENTS
Data Sheet
A. Basic Information ........................................................................................................ i B. Key Dates .................................................................................................................... i
C. Ratings Summary ........................................................................................................ i D. Sector and Theme Codes ........................................................................................... ii E. Bank Staff ................................................................................................................... ii
F. Results Framework Analysis ..................................................................................... iii G. Ratings of Project Performance in ISRs .................................................................. vii
H. Restructuring (if any) ............................................................................................... vii I. Disbursement Profile ............................................................................................... viii
1. Project Context, Development Objectives and Design ............................................... 1 2. Key Factors Affecting Implementation and Outcomes .............................................. 4
3. Assessment of Outcomes .......................................................................................... 10 4. Assessment of Risk to Development Outcome ......................................................... 20
5. Assessment of Bank and Borrower Performance ..................................................... 22 6. Lessons Learned ....................................................................................................... 24
7. Comments on Issues Raised by Borrower/Implementing Agencies/Partners .......... 26
Annex 1. Project Costs and Financing .......................................................................... 27
Annex 2. Outputs by Component ................................................................................. 28 Annex 3. Economic and Financial Analysis ................................................................. 30
Annex 4. Bank Lending and Implementation Support/Supervision Processes ............ 38 Annex 5. Beneficiary Survey Results ........................................................................... 40 Annex 6. Stakeholder Workshop Report and Results ................................................... 43
Annex 7. Summary of Borrower's ICR and/or Comments on Draft ICR ..................... 44 Annex 8. Comments of Cofinanciers and Other Partners/Stakeholders ....................... 53 Annex 9. List of Supporting Documents ...................................................................... 61 MAP .............................................................................................................................. 62
i
A. Basic Information
Country: Vietnam Project Name: Third Rural Transport
Project
Project ID: P075407 L/C/TF Number(s):
IDA-41500,IDA-
50320,TF-56320,TF-
92068
ICR Date: 09/04/2014 ICR Type: Core ICR
Lending Instrument: SIL Borrower:
SOCIALIST
REPUBLIC OF
VIETNAM
Original Total
Commitment: XDR 74.10M Disbursed Amount: XDR 132.17M
Revised Amount: XDR 132.17M
Environmental Category: B
Implementing Agencies:
Project Management Unit No. 6 (PMU6)
PMU5
Cofinanciers and Other External Partners:
DFID
B. Key Dates
Process Date Process Original Date Revised / Actual
Date(s)
Concept Review: 02/06/2004 Effectiveness: 09/28/2007 09/28/2007
Appraisal: 09/26/2005 Restructuring(s):
12/28/2011
03/19/2012
11/23/2012
09/06/2013
Approval: 02/21/2006 Mid-term Review: 06/15/2009 10/30/2009
Closing: 12/31/2011 06/30/2014
C. Ratings Summary
C.1 Performance Rating by ICR
Outcomes: Satisfactory
Risk to Development Outcome: Significant
Bank Performance: Moderately Satisfactory
Borrower Performance: Moderately Satisfactory
ii
C.2 Detailed Ratings of Bank and Borrower Performance (by ICR)
Bank Ratings Borrower Ratings
Quality at Entry: Moderately Satisfactory Government: Moderately Satisfactory
Quality of Supervision: Satisfactory Implementing
Agency/Agencies: Moderately Satisfactory
Overall Bank
Performance: Moderately Satisfactory
Overall Borrower
Performance: Moderately Satisfactory
C.3 Quality at Entry and Implementation Performance Indicators
Implementation
Performance Indicators
QAG Assessments
(if any) Rating
Potential Problem Project
at any time (Yes/No): No
Quality at Entry
(QEA): None
Problem Project at any
time (Yes/No): No
Quality of
Supervision (QSA): None
DO rating before
Closing/Inactive status: Satisfactory
D. Sector and Theme Codes
Original Actual
Sector Code (as % of total Bank financing)
Central government administration 6 6
Rural and Inter-Urban Roads and Highways 92 92
Sub-national government administration 2 2
Theme Code (as % of total Bank financing)
Administrative and civil service reform 20 20
Decentralization 20 20
Other Private Sector Development 20 20
Rural services and infrastructure 40 40
E. Bank Staff
Positions At ICR At Approval
Vice President: Axel van Trotsenburg Jeffrey S. Gutman
Country Director: Victoria Kwakwa Klaus Rohland
Practice Manager/Manager: Michel Kerf Jitendra N. Bajpai
Project Team Leader: Phuong Thi Minh Tran Simon David Ellis
ICR Team Leader: Romain Pison
ICR Primary Author: Romain Pison
iii
F. Results Framework Analysis
Project Development Objectives (from Project Appraisal Document) The development objective of the project is to reduce travel costs and improve access to
markets, off-farm economic opportunities, and social services for poor rural communities
in the 33 participating provinces in Northern and Central Vietnam by:
* Increasing the number of communities connected to basic access and improved all
weather roads;
* Improving rural road conditions through better management and maintenance of the
network; and
* Strengthening the capacity within government and the private sector to plan,
implement and maintain improvements in the rural transport network.
Revised Project Development Objectives (as approved by original approving authority)
The development objectives and key indicators were not revised.
(a) PDO Indicator(s)
Indicator Baseline Value
Original Target
Values (from
approval
documents)
Formally
Revised
Target
Values
Actual Value
Achieved at
Completion or
Target Years
Indicator 1 : Increase of people living within 2 km of an all-weather road (%)
Value
quantitative or
Qualitative)
76 81 86 87
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 02/24/2014
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
101% achievement. The figures come from the results of 2012 Vietnam
Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) which was available in February
2014.
Indicator 2 : Reduction in travel times to nearest schools and markets (%)
Value
quantitative or
Qualitative)
0 2.5 8 9
Date achieved 02/21/2006 06/30/2010 12/30/2011 02/24/2014
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
112% achievement. The figures come from the results of 2012 Vietnam
Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) which was available in February
2014.
Indicator 3 : Increase in households living in villages with access to motorized transport
services for hire (%)
Value
quantitative or
Qualitative)
79 84 73
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 02/24/2014
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
100% achievement based on same boundaries for evaluation purposes. Actual
value achieved is lower than the target value because of administrative changes
whereby the number of provinces was increased from 54 to 63, increasing the
number of villages.
iv
(b) Intermediate Outcome Indicator(s)
Indicator Baseline Value
Original Target
Values (from
approval
documents)
Formally
Revised
Target Values
Actual Value
Achieved at
Completion or
Target Years
Indicator 1 : Reduction in the number of communes lacking year round basic access (number)
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
359 50 30 149
Date achieved 02/21/2006 06/30/2010 12/31/2011 02/24/2014
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
64% achievement due to the: a) change from basic access to motorized access
indicator (100% achievement under basic access indicator), and b) increase of the
number of provinces from 54 to 63, which increased the number of communes.
Indicator 2 : Km of rural roads rehabilitated using RTP3 funds (Km)
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 3150 3150 3283
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 05/24/2014
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
104% achievement. Results measured quantitatively on site based on outputs.
Indicator 3 : Rural bridges built using RTP3 funds (number)
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 250 40 36
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 05/24/2014
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
90% achievement. Original target revised from 250 to 40 due to an unforeseen
bridge specific program financed by JICA.
Indicator 4 : Increase of the proportion of district roads in good and fair condition (%)
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
28 40 53
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 03/31/2010
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
Target achieved in advance. Indicator dropped in 2010 because the road
condition surveys were not done on a reliable basis.
Indicator 5 : Allocation of provincial plan to maintenance (%)
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
3 6 Dropped
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 03/31/2010
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
Indicator dropped because there was no reliable data available and the indicator
was not SMART (Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-related).
v
Indicator 6 : Km of district roads maintained using RTP3 funds
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 12000 17000 19902
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 05/24/2014
Comments 117% achievement. Results measured quantitatively on site.
Indicator 7 : Increase of provinces with prioritized provincial transport plans (MTEF and then
VPRoMMS)
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 20 (MTEF) 11
(VPRoMMS)
33 (MTEF) 12
(VPRoMMS)
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 03/30/2010
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
Above 100% achievement for both targets. Original target value completed in
advance for MTEF. Then modification of the content of the target, from MTEF
to VPRoMMS.
Indicator 8 : Number of provinces with a maintenance system in operation
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
2 40 Dropped
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 03/30/2010
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
Indicator dropped in 2010 and integrated under Indicator 7 (VPRoMMS) with
the Additional Financing.
Indicator 9 : Rural Transport policy and strategy document approved by Government and
adopted by donors
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 1 1
Date achieved 02/26/2006 12/31/2008 12/31/2011
Comments 100% achievement
Indicator 10 : Revised standards for rural roads approved by MOT and adopted by relevant
ministries and donors.
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 1 1
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2009 12/31/2011
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
100% achievement
Indicator 11 : Guidelines for rural roads maintenance management drafted and adopted by
MOT.
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 1 1
Date achieved 02/26/2006 12/31/2010 12/31/2011
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
100% achievement
vi
Indicator 12 : Number of provinces with sufficient capacity for decentralized implementation.
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
10 20 32 32
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 12/24/2013
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
100% achievement
Indicator 13 : Percentage of contracts awarded to the private sector.
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
65 85 98
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 09/30/2011
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
115% achievement
Indicator 14 : Number of provinces connected to MOT intranet.
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 33 Dropped
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 03/30/2010
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
Indicator dropped in 2010 because not considered relevant anymore to the
project monitoring.
Indicator 15 : Number of staff trained
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 14000 16000 19189
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 12/31/2011 05/24/2014
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
120% achievement.
Indicator 16 : Revised Organizational Framework
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
0 1 1
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 12/31/2011
Comments
(incl. %
achievement)
100% achievement
Indicator 17 : Sub-projects completed on time (%)
Value
(quantitative
or Qualitative)
35 60 Dropped
Date achieved 02/21/2006 12/31/2011 12/31/2011
Comments
(incl. %)
Indicator dropped because it was not considered SMART or relevant to the
project as 100% of sub-projects are completed on time.
vii
G. Ratings of Project Performance in ISRs
No. Date ISR
Archived DO IP
Actual
Disbursements
(US$ millions)
1 05/10/2006 Satisfactory Satisfactory 0.00
2 06/24/2007 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 0.00
3 06/02/2008 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 3.06
4 06/24/2009 Moderately Satisfactory Satisfactory 11.92
5 01/15/2010 Satisfactory Satisfactory 27.51
6 02/16/2011 Satisfactory Satisfactory 57.21
7 12/23/2011 Satisfactory Satisfactory 85.95
8 12/05/2012 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 111.28
9 06/26/2013 Satisfactory Satisfactory 137.27
10 02/08/2014 Satisfactory Satisfactory 175.41
11 06/24/2014 Satisfactory Satisfactory 202.80
H. Restructuring (if any)
Restructuring
Date(s)
Board
Approved
PDO Change
ISR Ratings at
Restructuring
Amount
Disbursed at
Restructuring
in USD
millions
Reason for Restructuring &
Key Changes Made DO IP
12/28/2011 S S 85.95
In December 2011, to extend
the closing date of the Credit;
increase the ceiling of Special
Account from US$10,000,000
to US$14,800,000 for IDA
funds; reallocate Credit
proceeds and increase IDA’s
financing percentage from 65%
to 100% to address difficulties
in providing counterpart
financing.
03/19/2012 S S 91.52
In March 2012, to approve the
retroactive financing of an
additional 35% of eligible
expenses for all expenditure
categories.
11/23/2012 S S 111.28
In November 2012, to approve
the amendment to the DFID
Trust Fund Grant Agreement
(TF092068) for an additional
contribution in the equivalent
amount of US$5.86 million to
give a total equivalent
contribution of US$23.37
million
viii
09/06/2013 S S 153.54
In September 2013, to approve
the amendments to the legal
agreements for the DFID Trust
Funds (TF070789, TF071023,
TF092068), as well as to cancel
an equivalent amount of
US$64,000 from TF092068 due
to the misprocurement of two
contracts awarded under the
closed TF056320
I. Disbursement Profile
1
1. Project Context, Development Objectives and Design
1.1 Context at Appraisal
Vietnam had made remarkable economic progress in the decade leading up to
appraisal with GDP growth averaging 7.5 percent per year. The general poverty rate
had decreased on average by 3.5 percent per year, leading to a poverty rate in 2004 of
19.5 percent, compared to 58.1 percent in 1993. This successful economic performance
had continued over the period of the Socio-Economic Development Plans (SEDP) 2001
to 2005. As part of Government’s equitable growth policy, there had been a focus on the
provision of basic access (measured as living within 2 kilometers of an all-weather road)
starting 2000. As a result of the high rate of economic growth there had been significant
investments in the road network, especially on the provision of basic access. This rapid
expansion of the road network and particularly the rural road network had created new
maintenance and asset preservation challenges.
At the time of appraisal, the rural roads network in Vietnam was deemed of
paramount importance as it comprised 175,000 km, served around 75 percent of the
entire national population and 90 percent of the nation’s poor who live in rural
areas. Research carried out in Vietnam and neighboring countries since 2000 had shown
that rural road investment has had significant impacts on poverty alleviation, social
participation, school attendance and health services. Only 359 communes remained to be
connected at appraisal. One of the objectives of this project was to link these remaining
communes with the transport network.
The principal rationale for Bank assistance was that the Third Rural Transport
project (RTP3) would directly contribute to the poverty reduction and economic
growth objectives set out in the 2002 Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth
Strategy (CPRGS). The project would also support the SEDP for 2001-2005, which states
the priorities of the rural transport sector as follows: the completion of basic access; the
upgrading of access quality; and an increase in maintenance budgets. The project aimed
to contribute to the Government’s objective of establishing year-round access to all
communes in Vietnam and as such would contribute to the Country Assistance Strategy
(CAS) objective of ensuring equitable growth in Vietnam. The project directly supported
the priority of the CAS to narrow the development gap of disadvantaged and lagging
areas.
1.2 Original Project Development Objectives (PDO) and Key Indicators
The development objective of the project as indicated in the PAD was to reduce travel
costs and improve access to markets, off-farm economic opportunities, and social
services for poor rural communities in the 33 participating provinces in Northern and
Central Vietnam by:
Increasing the number of communities connected to basic access and improved all
weather roads;
Improving rural road conditions through better management and maintenance of
the network; and
2
Improving the institutional effectiveness to plan, implement and maintain
improvements in the rural transport network by strengthening the capacity within
government and the private sector.
The key PDO indicators as indicated in the PAD were:
Increased level of rural accessibility in Vietnam as defined by the percentage of
people living within 2 km of an all-weather road and reduced number of
communes lacking year round basic access;
Reduced transport times to nearest markets and schools;
Increased percentage of households living in villages with access to motorized
transport services for hire.
1.3 Revised PDO (as approved by original approving authority) and Key Indicators, and
reasons/justification
The development objective and key indicators were not revised.
1.4 Main Beneficiaries
The project's direct beneficiaries were rural road users and indirectly rural inhabitants in
the project area. The benefits of extending basic road access to residents primarily
accrued through enhanced economic and social opportunities (such as access to markets,
health services, education and information), better year-round connectivity, and lower
transport costs. With rural inhabitants relying mostly on motorcycles, bicycles and non-
motorized transport modes, the benefits of basic road access were expected to be widely
distributed. Furthermore, total benefits were expected to increase proportionately with
traffic growth.
1.5 Original Components
The total project initial cost was US$130.75 million, including US$106.25 million IDA
funds to which were added US$24.5 million equivalent DFID funds.
Component A: Rehabilitation of the core rural roads network (US$107.25 million,
US$88 million Additional Financing)
This component financed the rehabilitation and improvement of about 3,100 km of the
core rural roads network in 33 provinces.
Component B: Maintenance of the district roads network (US$13.0 million, US$5
million Additional Financing)
This component supported efforts to tackle the underfunding of maintenance on the
district roads network, as well the road asset management system VPRoMMS and the
participation of women in road maintenance activities.
Component C: Institutional and capacity building program for MOT, PDOT’s and
Private Sector (US$10.5 million, US$4 million Additional Financing)
This component supported the institutional strengthening, organizational effectiveness
and individual skills development of the rural transport sub-sector. This component has
four sub-components:
3
Sub-component C.1: Advisory Services
This sub-component strengthened the central role of the MOT in providing standards,
guidance and systems to support the provinces with the implementation of their
transport plans in a decentralized environment.
Sub-component C.2: Independent review consultants
This sub-component supported consultants to undertake financial and technical
performance audits and integrated reviews of project implementation.
Sub-component C.3: Facilities to support MOT and PDOTs
This sub-component enabled the purchase of office equipment, vehicles, training,
aides, IT equipment and other goods.
Sub-component C.4: Training to strengthen individual skills development
This sub-component supported the individual skills development of an estimated
14,000 personnel at all government levels and private sector organizations.
1.6 Revised Components
Additional Financing. By early 2010, the mid-term review and subsequent assessment
had determined that the intended original outputs would be unlikely to be fully achieved
within the funds remaining under the project. The funding shortage was mostly
attributable to: (a) the additional cost of construction following government’s
determination that sealed surfaces would be more sustainable than gravel surfaces in rural
areas; (b) inflationary pressures (48% cost increase in bituminous roads over the period
2005-2008): and (c) unduly low initial cost estimates. Additional Financing (AF) to
complete the full program was sought and approved in December 2011, in an amount of
US$97 million. The AF enabled the project to meet the original road rehabilitation
targets, pilot additional road asset maintenance and management activities, as well as
continue support to the on-going capacity development program. In addition to the AF of
US$97 million, two DFID trust funds of US$22.18 million and US$24.50 million were
processed, for a total commitment of US$274.42 million.
1.7 Other significant changes
Restructuring. The project underwent four Level II restructurings:
1) In December 2011, to extend the closing date of the Credit; increase the ceiling of
Special Account from US$10,000,000 to US$14,800,000 for IDA funds;
reallocate Credit proceeds and increase IDA’s financing percentage from 65% to
100% to address difficulties in providing counterpart financing.
2) In March 2012, to approve the retroactive financing of an additional 35% of
eligible expenses for all expenditure categories.
3) In November 2012, to approve the amendment to the DFID Trust Fund Grant
Agreement (TF092068) for an additional contribution in the equivalent amount of
US$5.86 million to give a total equivalent contribution of US$23.37 million.
4) In September 2013, to approve the amendments to the legal agreements for the
DFID Trust Funds (TF070789, TF071023, TF092068), as well as to cancel an
equivalent amount of US$64,000 from TF092068 due to the misprocurement of
two contracts awarded under the closed TF056320.
4
2. Key Factors Affecting Implementation and Outcomes
2.1 Project Preparation, Design and Quality at Entry
The project quality at entry is moderately satisfactory based on the analysis detailed
hereafter.
Soundness of the background analysis (Satisfactory). RTP3 was a continuation of the
previous two rural transport projects (RTP1 and RTP2) which had rehabilitated over
6,800 km of Basic Access Roads (BAR). Together these projects have helped improve
capacity to plan and implement works at the national level, and have contributed to the
emergence of private sector contractors. Given the substantial need to upgrade the core
rural road network, the Government of Vietnam wished to scale up its program. The
Bank was therefore well positioned to continue its support of this program with RTP3.
RTP3 incorporated many lessons from RTP1 and RTP2 along the following aspects:
a) capacity building was targeted to improve the planning and implementation of each
province’s road program instead of only the Bank financed program, b) the technical
design was adapted to the local material availability and conditions, c) a more holistic
approach for road maintenance awareness at all levels was developed, d) a fairness and
transparency plan for procurement was designed and adopted, and d) the community
participation in rural road maintenance was reinforced.
RTP3 included a screening process to identify the poorest provinces and within
them, a process to prioritize candidate roads, along the following steps: 1) ranking
basic access roads with BAR index1; 2) identifying economically viable improvement
roads with threshold traffic volumes, and 3) ranking improvement roads with
Improvement index2. More details are provided in Annex 3.
Assessment of the project design (Moderately Satisfactory). The PDO as stated in the
Project Appraisal Document (PAD)3 contains outputs or intermediate outcomes mixed
with outcomes. Indeed, while the phrase “to reduce travel costs and improve access to
markets, off-farm economic opportunities, and social services for poor rural communities
in the 33 participating provinces in Northern and Central Vietnam” can be considered as
the main objective, the PDO also includes three elements that can be considered as
intermediate outcomes: “[by] (i) Increasing the number of communities connected to
basic access and improved all weather roads; (ii) Improving rural road conditions through
better management and maintenance of the network; and (iii) Strengthening the capacity
within government and the private sector to plan, implement and maintain improvements
in the rural transport network”.
1 Basic Access Road Index:
2 Improvement Index:
3 There are slight differences between the formulation of the PDO in the PAD and the one in the
Development Credit Agreement (DCA) that are not impacting the present evaluation.
5
The intermediate outcome (ii) “Improving rural road conditions through better
management and maintenance of the network” itself contains a “through”, thereby
providing two levels of causality in the project’s results chain. In addition, the
intermediate outcomes (ii) and (iii) target very similar Government activities in the
management of the road network, and therefore they and the related indicators are partly
redundant. In the present evaluation, the three intermediate outcomes shall be considered
as they are directly linked to the components and leading to the main project outcome.
The components are straight-forward and well balanced with three elements (road
rehabilitation, road maintenance, institutional and capacity building) with a respective
financing importance of 82, 10 and 8 percent. The maintenance component included soft
aspects such as the support to the deployment of a road asset management system, which
represents a good practice for any road maintenance project. The components are directly
linked to the intermediate outcomes included in the PDO, and therefore are relevant to
the project’s causal chain.
The geographic dispersion of RTP3 over 33 provinces could be considered as a
design flaw that triggered implementation and supervision risks. Under RTP1, the
Government of Vietnam selected 15 provinces and the ICR noted a very satisfactory level
of implementation. Under RTP2, 40 provinces were selected and the ICR noted that “the
management and reporting systems required to manage a highly dispersed project in 40
Provinces were inadequate”.
The adapted technical design for rehabilitation and maintenance activities
compared with the previous RTPs was relevant. Research under RTP2 had indeed
shown that, while gravel remains a viable option, there were circumstances where a
combination of very high annual rainfall and poor gravel sources meant that gravel
surfacing was not suitable. The study also highlighted that drainage provision,
particularly in hilly areas, was often inadequate and contributed to premature failure. As a
result of these studies new design standards and a wider menu of surfacing options were
included in the project’s design. This adaptive approach that relies on lessons learned
from the previous projects was relevant and helped improve RTP3 design.
Assessment of risks (Moderately Satisfactory). The degree of complexity may have been
underestimated as the institutional capacity at the local level varied drastically from one
province to another one. A few provinces have had difficulties to implement the Financial
Management Manual, not to mention the supervision of the rural road works themselves.
The project design assessed the risk of lack of support from MOT for decentralization,
but has partly missed the question of the disparity in capacity. The numbers of Provincial
Project Management Units (PPMUs) and Provincial Departments of Transport (PDOTs)
involved were a source of increased risk that the project design did not fully mitigate.
While the risk of insufficient funds for road maintenance at the local level has been
properly assessed, the risk mitigation measure of performance incentives to promote
maintenance practice was not fully implemented. Finally, the growing concern of truck
overloading in Vietnam and consequential road asset damages was neither fully
6
anticipated nor mitigated in the design of the road upgrading and maintenance
components.
2.2 Implementation
Implementation progress. The Project Management Units 5 and 6 (PMU5 and PMU6)4,
the implementing agencies for civil works, had experience with Bank Projects. Similarly,
and despite varying capacity levels across the 33 provinces, Provincial Project
Management Units (PPMUs) were familiar with Bank procedures. The relatively small
contract values were relatively easier to manage and were adequate relative to the
capacity of the provinces and private sector contractors bidding for work. Consequently
implementation progress for the civil works components was consistently better than for
other World Bank projects in Vietnam. A Mid-term Review mission conducted from 15
to 30 October, 2009 did not highlight any major issue impacting the project. However,
three factors marginally affected implementation, as follows:
1) A RTP3 Technical Audit Report from 2011 raised concerns about the quality of
the rehabilitation works during the implementation. Common problems such as
inadequate monitoring by supervision consultants, outdated standards and norms,
and poor or no drainage systems were reported. In response, the Bank
recommended actions to improve quality of works, in particular more frequent
monitoring and supervision of works, trainings for PPMU staff for construction
management, and additional technical audits to ensure compliance with standards
and norms. The issues were addressed by performing more technical audits to
monitor the improvements and recommend necessary remedial actions; by
initiating work with MOT on the development of rural road maintenance policies
and standards with the use of local material for the construction. These remedial
actions made it possible to provide an overall satisfactory quality of road
construction works.
2) The Bank secured funds to pilot an initiative in Lao Cai Province called “Ethnic
Minority Women's Rural Road Maintenance”. The pilot sought to: 1) increase
awareness of the need for rural-road maintenance among the ethnic groups; 2)
promote a sustainable road maintenance culture within the community; 3)
improve local livelihoods by providing additional off-season jobs for the ethnic
minority women in Vietnam; and 4) provide training to ethnic groups in road
maintenance skills. These activities were not included in the original RTP3 design
and PAD, but they positively changed the culture related to road asset
preservation, while they required more supervision and coordination efforts.
4 PMU5 was the implementation unit for the original project, and PMU6 was the implementation unit for
the additional financing. The report will use the generic terminology PMU.
7
3) The extreme inflationary increases in the price of the bitumen (48% cost increase
in bituminous roads over the period 2005-2008), made it impossible to complete
the program within the initial financing level. Additional Financing (AF) was
necessary and was approved quickly in 2011 to complete the full program without
disruption of the civil works.
2.3 Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Design, Implementation and Utilization
M&E design (Moderately unsatisfactory). The project’s causal chain is relevant to the
objectives’ achievement, as the indicators enable direct measurement of the progress of
each activity. The project has improved from RTP1 and RTP2 with regards to PDO
indicators and attribution. The previous RTPs included PDO indicators such as “increase
in high school attendance”, and “increase in number of people who have off-farm jobs”.
It was very difficult to attribute the impacts on these aspects to the road transport
projects. RTP3 simplified and streamlined the PDO indicators, making the link between
activity, indicator and outcome more direct.
The Results Framework however included 17 Intermediate Outcome Indicators. There were too many to monitor, and some of them were consequently dropped because
they were one or more of the following: not SMART (Specific, Measurable, Assignable,
Realistic, Time-related), difficult to track, lacking a baseline, only tangentially related to
the project activities, with no related data available, or focused on outputs rather than
intermediate outcomes or outcomes. For instance, the indicator “Number of provinces
with a maintenance system in operation” was not measurable, specific and result oriented
enough and was subsequently dropped. No IDA core indicators were included in the
M&E Framework.
Attribution concerns are also present under RTP3 design. The indicator “Increase of
the proportion of district roads in good and fair condition (%)” includes all the district
roads and therefore includes the road works under the Government’s financed program.
RTP3 contributions to the connectivity of communes to year round access roads are
limited compared to the scope of each PDOT plan and realizations. For instance, in Lao
Cai province, RTP3 activities affected only 3% of the network, and represented about
18% of the provincial equivalent program for upgrades. Therefore, the M&E design can
be misleading on the level of results obtained, as the basis for monitoring relies on
Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS), i.e. data that captures results
from all activities from any source of financing.
M&E implementation and utilization (Moderately unsatisfactory). The data source for
the baseline and the monitoring relies on the Vietnam Household Living Standards
Survey (VHLSS) for the outcome indicators. The VHLSS is conducted by the General
Statistics Office (GSO) to evaluate living standards for policy-making and socio-
economic development planning. It is conducted every two years and provides a solid
source of data at the national level. The Government relies on the VHLSS to monitor and
evaluate the implementation of the SEDP. The source of data is therefore reliable with
regards to the consolidation of the data base and baseline for the project. On the other
hand, as stated under the M&E design section, the use of VHLSS implies that
8
disaggregated data from household surveys is used instead of measured data from the
project implementation area. Therefore, while the quality of data used for the baseline
and to monitor progress is satisfactory, the data does not always directly represent the
contributions of the project. As the Intermediate Outcome Indicators were also the
indicators used by the Government to monitor its own programs, which include similar
road management, upgrading and maintenance activities, it was not always possible to
fully attribute to the project the impacts measured by the PDO indicators. Finally, at the
time of completion, it was not possible to assess the extent to which appropriate data
from the M&E was evaluated and used to inform decision-making and resource
allocation.
2.4 Safeguard and Fiduciary Compliance
The Procurement policies were complied with except for a misprocurement case of
two small contracts that were subsequently cancelled with minor impact on the
project. The procurement arrangements for RTP3 were similar to RTP2’s, which had
been evaluated positively. Civil works procurement processes were decentralized and
undertaken in the PPMUs under the PMU supervision. The PMU undertook all goods and
services procurement. The Procurement section in the Operations Manual was based on
the version from RTP2 but strengthened to make the procurement processes more
transparent and competitive. An Action Plan to Improve Fairness and Transparency in
Procurement was endorsed by MOT, and monitored biannually during the project
implementation. The Bank also provided pre-project and subsequent training for project
procurement staff, as well as examples of Works Bidding Documents to speed up bidding
document preparation and clearance. On the misprocurement case, two small road
rehabilitation contracts were cancelled because the contracts were awarded to an
equitized State-Owned enterprise that did not meet the eligibility requirements and the
Bid Evaluation Report was not submitted to the Bank for prior review as required.
The Financial Management policies were complied with despite some difficulties,
minor issues and delays in solving them at the Provincial level. A Financial
Management Manual (FMM) with comprehensive contents regarding internal controls
was developed and fully complied with. However, the FM practices at the Provincial
level did not fully follow the FMM during the project implementation. Indeed, the
financial management capacity at Provincial Project Management Unit (PPMUs) varied
substantially, leading to difficulties to follow proper financial reporting and internal
control procedures. For example, there were several instances where the accounting
records at PPMUs were not up to date, cash counts and bank reconciliations were not
performed, balances with third parties debtors and creditors were not reconciled. These
matters were repeatedly raised in the Audit Management Letters and Aides-Memoires of
World Bank missions and were addressed after several reminders and substantial delays.
The Environmental Safeguards were fully complied with. The project was classified
as Environmental Category B. Independent consultants carried out monitoring in all 33
provinces and confirmed that environmental terms and conditions were included in the
biding documents and construction contracts. Mitigation measures on construction site
were implemented, monitored and reported as required. The activities financed under the
9
Additional Financing enabled substantive improvements in the sustainability of the roads,
with modifications of the road surface, the drainage, and the slope protection.
The Social Safeguards were fully complied with. All social safeguards documents and
instruments were prepared, reviewed, disclosed and cleared as per Bank’s policies and
guidelines. Most of the subprojects had minor impact on land acquisition with very few
cases of physical relocation. By the time of project closure, all PPMUs had completed the
processes of land acquisition and compensation required for subprojects in their locality.
In addition, PPMUs demonstrated good performance in collecting, solving and
documenting the complaints received from affected people. An independent monitoring
consultant was also mobilized to oversee the execution of social safeguard instruments.
Findings confirmed an overall good performance of PPMUs in implementing activities
related to ethnic minority people and involuntary resettlement. The Resettlement Policy
Framework introduced a Grievance Redress Mechanism, allowing citizen to voice their
complaints about involuntary resettlement related activities caused by the project
execution. This process was widely disseminated to all households through the process of
consultation and disclosure. During project implementation, affected households used
this system to lodge their complaints which mainly focused on compensation rate,
accuracy of detailed measurement survey, potential impact to the existing structure due to
the road construction. PPMUs have actively engaged with local authorities to make sure
that all complaints of affected households have been adequately addressed.
2.5 Post-completion Operation/Next Phase
Bank support to the Provincial Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) coupled with the continued use of VPRoMMS shall enable PDOTs to prioritize
interventions on the Provincial road network based on both technical and socio-economic
data, and provide an estimated cost for the interventions, on a multi-year basis. Multi-
year maintenance program is a nascent approach in Vietnam but its creation and
development is another positive development regarding the prospects for infrastructure
asset preservation.
The Bank financed and newly approved Vietnam Road Asset Management Project
(VRAMP) in the amount of US$250 million IDA Credit will support efforts to improve
the efficiency and sustainability of the road asset management and maintenance practices
performed on national roads in Vietnam. The project will focus on (i) the development of
a global Road Asset Management System (RAMS), in links with the VPRoMMS at the
provincial level, to develop prioritized annual work planning based on an analysis of
condition data for the road network; (ii) the advancement of the reform agenda with
increased usage of performance based contracting; and (iii) facilitation of fiscally
sustainable road asset management financing through provision of capacity development
technical assistance to the Road Maintenance Fund (RMF). The creation of the RMF is
an important institutional achievement which RTP3 facilitated through policy dialogue
and support to strengthened maintenance practices and which went beyond the project’s
initial design and objectives. It is anticipated that successful implementation of the
VRAMP will lead to a more effective road preservation strategy, a more optimal road
asset management, and the efficient programming of road network operations.
10
At the community level, the award winning “Ethnic Minority Women's Rural Road
Maintenance” activities carried out by women’s groups5 will be sustained in Lao Cai
Province, where the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) pilot6 convinced the Provincial
People’s Committee (PPC) to allocate funds for routine road maintenance by the Vietnam
Women’s Union and other local groups and contractors7. The overall level of funds for
road maintenance, ranging from VND 600,000 to 1,000,000 per km per year, is however
still an issue and is neither sufficient to fully pay routine road workers nor to ensure year-
round accessibility on roads. In Quang Nam Province, a budget line was also opened for
the maintenance of district and communal roads but the lack of adequate human
resources and organizational structure will make it very difficult to monitor the quality of
works.
3. Assessment of Outcomes
3.1 Relevance of Objectives, Design and Implementation
The project objectives, design and implementation were and remain highly relevant
to the development priorities of Vietnam. The goal of universal rural access remains a
key objective of the Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) 2006-2010 and 2011-
2015 and MOT's five year plan to which the World Bank Country Partnership Strategy
(CPS) and transport strategies are aligned. These documents also recognize the need for
continued sectoral reforms aimed at modernizing road maintenance and management,
justifying RTP3’s focus on these areas. The project design in terms of components and
expected outputs are consistent with the stated objectives, as the linkages between the
outputs and both the expected and actual outcomes are highly relevant and confirmed by
the achievement of the project objectives. The project implementation was timely and
consistent with the ongoing Government’s programs that were running in parallel.
3.2 Achievement of Project Development Objectives
Improving access (including cost of access) of rural communities to markets, non-farm
economic opportunities and social services (Satisfactory)
The achievement of the Project Development Objective is satisfactory as RTP3 has
provided easier, faster and more affordable access to markets, economic opportunities
5 3,148 km rural roads in Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh provinces under the Vietnam Women’s
Union (VWU) guidance. 6 The RTP3’s Ethnic Minority Women's Rural Road Maintenance in Vietnam received the Second Prize
from the International Finance Corporation’s Smart Lesson in September 2011, awarded an honorable
mention by the International Road Federation (IRF) in the InARoaD 2012 award competition and was
nominated as best practice by the WB Social Development Network and OPCS’s Results Unit, for
exemplary projects that have made real impact on transport in developing countries, which are innovative,
sustainable and represent good practices in this field. The lessons learnt and knowledge from this best
practice has been learnt by and shared with Lao PDR, Senegal and Ethiopia. 7 The women related activities related to the routine maintenance of the rural roads were not included in the
original RTP3 design and PAD, but they positively changed the culture related to road asset preservation.
11
and social services. The analysis of the three intermediate outcomes’ achievement within
the project’s results chain is provided hereafter. As the three intermediate outcomes are
linked and leading to the main project outcomes, the analysis of their achievement aims
at confirming the achievement of the overall PDO. The ICR considers that the three
intermediate outcomes are approximately equal in weight in contributing to overall
outcome.
Increasing the number of communities connected to basic access and improved all
weather roads (Satisfactory)
The road rehabilitation and maintenance activities have attained all the targets and
objectives despite a few quality issues. 3,283km of roads were rehabilitated under the
project (beyond the original target of 3,150km) and 19,902km were maintained (beyond
the original target of 17,000km). This rural road project, in both its rehabilitation and
maintenance aspects, has enabled an increase in the percentage and number of people
living within 2 km of an all-weather road. The overall execution of the civil works is
satisfactory, although some issues that may affect the sustainability of the road have been
observed, including the quality of the drainage systems, the compliance with material
specifications, and the techniques used for the slope stabilization of the embankments, as
well as the growing overloading of trucks on the roads that affects all Vietnam.
The impact on accessibility is however difficult to fully attribute to the project only.
As discussed under section 2.1, it is quantitatively difficult to measure the project related
impact on the PDO’s indicators as described in the Results Framework. RTP3
contributions to the connectivity of communes to year round basic access roads are
limited compared to the scope of each PDOT plan and realizations. As detailed earlier,
RTP3 activities in Lao Cai represented less than 18% of the Lao Cai PDOT program in
both upgrading and maintenance activities. The Vietnam Households Living Standards
Survey 20128(VHLSS 2012) has also shown the proportion of hamlets having year round
motorized access9 increased to 87% (from 80.7% in 2010 and 79.7% in 2008), but again,
there is limited correlation between that indicator and the contribution of RTP3.
Nevertheless, surveys and a study10
conducted correlate data from VHLSS with local
results directly attributed to RTP3 in the targeted areas (Annex 5).
The associated reduction in travel times to the nearest schools, social services and
markets is highly satisfactory, as analysis shows that the use of motor vehicles, i.e.
faster transport modes for transporting farm and other products, was higher along
the improved and maintained roads than it was on the same roads during the pre-
project period and higher than on control roads. The evaluation “Socio-Economic
8 Vietnam 2012 Household Living Standard Survey, General Statistical Office, 2014.
9 After RTP3 appraisal, the Government replaced the monitoring of the basic access for communes
(measured as living within 2 kilometers of an all-weather road) with the monitoring of the motorized access
for communes (measured as direct motorized access to the communes). RTP3 subsequently changed the
M&E to monitor the motorized access. 10
Evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Vietnam’s Third Rural Transport Project, WB, 2014.
12
Outcomes of Vietnam’s Third Rural Transport Project” provides analysis on the
transportation of products to markets. The percentage of trucks used on the control roads
was only 8%, compared with 36% on improved roads. The analysis also shows a
reduction in the use of motorcycles to transport products with a more important reduction
on the improved roads to the benefits of trucks and cars, which provide more affordable
transport modes when compared to the freight volume transported. The improvement of
the roads conditions has reduced the travel times and also enabled the use of faster
transport modes, and therefore has reduced travel costs. The following figure summarizes
the results from the evaluation with regards to the impact of the project on transport
modes and travel times (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Transport Modes Used to Carry Farm and Other Products
Source: Evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Third Rural Transport Project
On the other hand, the increase in households living in villages with access to
motorized transport services for hire is moderately satisfactory, as analysis does not
show a substantial increase in access to motorized transport services due to the
project. The actual value achieved (73% of access to motorized transport services for
hire) is lower than the target value (84%) because of administrative changes in 2008
whereby the number of provinces increased from 54 to 63, and therefore the internal
boundaries of the project at the province level have changed. When the analysis is
conducted with the same and original boundaries, the target is achieved.
The reason that may explain the absence of visible increase in access to motorized
transport services for hire is the drastic increase during the same period of
individual motorized vehicle use, which may not always lead to transport services
provision. It seems that the improvement of rural roads has been combined over the same
period with a spectacular increase of the motorization rate between 2006 and 201211
,
supported by the increasing affordability of motorcycles12
.
11 The motorization rate in Vietnam for motorbikes in rural areas went from 53.2 motorcycles per 100
households in 2006 to 102.2 in 2012. 12
Anecdotal evidence gathered on sites confirms that the average cost of a motorcycle decreased from
around VND 10 million to about VND 3 million in a few years.
13
There seems to be a correlation between personal mobility improvement and the
limited development of motorized transport services provision, which was a PDO
indicator aimed at monitoring a potential reduction of travel costs. This means that
the growing ownership of personal motorcycles has lowered the personal transport costs,
and subsequently may have reduced the potentialities for the development of public
and/or motorized transport services for hire. Data on motorization rate trends from the
VHLSS 2012 (Table 1) confirms anecdotal evidence on site. At the same time, this
personal motorization may have fostered informal provision of transport services that is
however difficult to quantify and measure.
Table 1: Number of Vehicles per 100 households (pieces)
Year Whole Country Rural Area
Car Motorbike Car Motorbike
2004 0.1 55.3 0.0 41.4
2006 0.2 68.6 0.0 53.2
2008 0.4 89.4 0.1 73.9
2010 1.3 96.1 0.5 84.1
2012 1.8 115.3 1.0 102.2
Source: VHLSS 2012
Analysis from the “Evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Vietnam’s Third Rural
Transport Project” confirms the existence of these affecting factors. This evaluation even
indicates that the upgrading of the roads actually led to higher motorized vehicle
ownership. Interviews have indeed shown an increase of 21.2% of motorcycles
ownership on upgraded roads compared to before the road upgrade, while on control
roads ownership increased by 10% only. The ownership of cars and trucks on upgraded
roads reached 5.6% and 4.8% respectively meanwhile there was no change in ownership
of these kinds of vehicles on control roads. In conclusion, RTP3 has been impacted by
the ongoing motorization that Vietnam is facing, and has even reinforced this trend by
providing improved roads to the increasingly interested users of personal motorized
transport modes. These users may have gained the capability to provide informal
transport services, with benefits and impacts that the project has not been able to measure.
Improving rural road conditions through better management and maintenance of the
network (Satisfactory)
The Rural Road Surfacing Trials (RRST) and maintenance activities had a positive
impact in shifting from a road standard-based approach for management and
maintenance to a more adaptive approach based on local climatic conditions and use
of local material, which made it possible to provide more sustainable road pavement
types adapted to the local conditions. The RRST Study that started in RTP2 was pursued
under RTP3. RRST have brought changes in design to the benefit of sealed surfaces
instead of gravel surfaces on many roads where flooding patterns were too damaging to
afford gravel surfaces over the road life cycles. The third phase of RRST in four
provinces (Cao Bang, Thai Nguyen, Thai Binh and Thanh Hoa) therefore focused on this
climate resilience aspect of rural roads in Vietnam, and specified where sealed roads,
14
local material, and adapted drainage, may be used. Finally, the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development has been involved in the final development of rural roads
policies which include life cycle considerations and use of local material for the
construction. The inclusion of climate change related elements into the operation and
maintenance manuals has been a first step in the optimization of road asset preservation,
however more remains to be done to fully take into account the execution of road life
cycle maintenance, rather than the punctual, technical and annual interventions. Practical
dissemination of the outcomes from this research needs also to be done.
The implementation of the Vietnam Provincial Road Maintenance and Management
System (VPRoMMS) has benefitted from adaptation and client orientation skills
from the Bank, however its daily use at the Provincial level needs to be consolidated and
the linkages with the National level need to be supported. VPRoMMS enables PDOTs to
prioritize interventions on the Provincial road network based on both technical and socio-
economic data, and provides an estimated cost for the interventions. The original design
of RTP3 included the development and use of a road asset management software
(RoadNAM) under the support of DFID. Both PMU and the Bank however realized that
RoadNAM was not operational for deployment across the Provinces. The Bank therefore
managed to get the Provincial Road Maintenance Management System (PRoMMS)
deployed in 5 Provinces. PRoMMs was a road asset management system that had
previously successfully been deployed in Laos. Resources were subsequently made
available under the RTP3-AF to implement Vietnam Provincial Road Maintenance
Management System (VPRoMMS) in eleven provinces. The target set in the design of
RTP3 was achieved, as twelve provinces have used VPRoMMS, and the system was
further deployed beyond RTP3 provinces without any additional financing support from
the project. Its daily use however faces challenges related to Information and Technology
use and functioning. In addition, the major challenge remains the collection and
subsequent update of data, for which MOT/PDOTs do not have any budget allocation.
The “Ethnic Minority Women's Rural Road Maintenance” program also helped
improve rural road conditions through better management and maintenance of the
district and communal network. The overall program built on the positive outcomes of
a pilot in Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province, targeting poor, ethnic minority women. Key
outcomes of that pilot included a significant increase in public awareness of the
importance of road maintenance, increased incomes of the women participating, and
greater engagement of women in community activities and decision-making. This
program was subsequently expanded to three Provincial Women’s Unions through RTP3-
AF. Women’s Unions in Lao Cai, Quang Binh, and Thanh Hoa Provinces and their
branches collaborated with transport officials and People’s Committees to raise women’s
and men’s awareness of the importance of road maintenance, build commune and village
level skills, and develop effective mechanisms to maintain and extend the life of
commune roads. The Vietnam Women’s Union interfaced with the road sector
administrative structure through a coordination structure that linked Women’s Union
branches, transport officials, and Peoples Committees, from the province down to the
villages, through steering committees at each level. Memorandums of Understanding and
detailed implementation plans spelled out roles and responsibilities of all parties as well
15
as the work plans for training, awareness raising, and routine road maintenance activities.
This helped create a specific organizational setup for the maintenance of local rural roads
that may be replicated in other Provinces in the future.
Improving the institutional effectiveness to plan, implement and maintain
improvements in the rural transport network by strengthening the capacity within
government and the private sector (Satisfactory)
While this intermediate outcome is closely linked to the achievements of the previous one,
as detailed under section 2.1, the improvement of the institutional effectiveness to
improve the rural transport network was designed to be measured through the increased
capacity of the government and the private sector to perform these activities. This
capacity is measured in the M&E framework by the number of people trained under the
road planning and maintenance training program.
The project had set and attained ambitious targets for training of government staff,
private sector, and community members to plan, manage and use resources for
rural transport more effectively. A total of 345 training courses were carried out by the
six vocational schools with 8,689 participants from PDOTs, and a further 252 courses
were carried out by vocational schools and PDOTs for 10,500 participants from district
and commune level. Training for the private sector focused on contractors through
contract management and technical skills oriented training, as well as on consultants,
through the delivery of training on feasibility studies, master plans and site works
supervision. While RTP1 and 2 have contributed to the emergence of private sector
contractors, RTP3 activities particularly aimed at reinforcing the capacity of the same
small contractors to better manage their contracts and grow further.
With more than 19,000 trainees, the target of 16,000 people trained mentioned in the
Results Framework has been exceeded. Such training program could be a sustainable
basis for more decentralization of functions in road management and maintenance. The
training program has had an effective short-term impact as it reinforced the culture of
road maintenance in opposition to road investment; however it is very difficult to assess
the long-term outcomes of any training activity at this stage, i.e. whether the number of
people trained equates with acquisition, retention and long-term use and capitalization of
actual skills. The durability of the project’s activity will however rely on the continued
institutionalization and capitalization of the training into six MOT vocational training
schools. These schools were the centers for development of 15 training courses, trained
future trainers to ensure the sustainability of the program, and are aiming at pursuing
these activities.
Collaboration between PDOT and Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) in Rural Road
Maintenance Training improved further the awareness raising on road maintenance
activities at all levels. Representatives from a wide range of organizations and
institutions participated in the training provided by PDOT. The Women’s Union
partnered with PDOTs to provide training combined with on-the-job practice to rural
women whose previous work experience was mainly shifting cultivation. The project
16
institutionalized awareness training and campaign to communes and villages in the 3 pilot
provinces of Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh. Simplified training material was
developed and training was provided to PDOT who could subsequently provide training
to communities. Demonstration and hands-on engagement provided an effective way to
transfer skills to all the attendees of the training (Pictures 1 and 2).
Pictures 1 and 2: Formal training and on-site demonstration of routine maintenance
Source: Empowering Women to Build a More Equitable Future in Vietnam, World Bank, 2014
3.3 Efficiency
The ex-post economic analysis indicates that the investments were economically
viable for all regions and provinces with an overall Economic Internal Rate of
Return (EIRR) of 52%. The input costs relate to construction and maintenance activities
and the benefits stem from savings in vehicle operating costs and travel time. An analysis
that uses the same methodology as at appraisal with updated costs and benefits was
conducted for each region and province of the project and for the entire project (Table 2).
Table 2: Economic Internal Rate of Return at the regional level for RTP3
Region EIRR
North West 30.5%
North East 60.1%
Red River Delta 61.1%
North Central 53.4%
South Central 48.5%
For the whole RTP3 52%
Source: World Bank analysis, 2014
A sensitivity test has been undertaken with a case where benefits decrease by 20% to take
into account the risk of traffic data. As a result, the overall EIRR of all subproject roads
in 33 provinces remains strongly satisfying with an EIRR of 43%. This robustness
exceeds estimates at appraisal, which indicated an EIRR above 28% in that scenario.
Finally, non-quantified wider-economic benefits such as increased economic activities,
poverty reduction, improved access to education, market, or health care services, were
not taken into account but surely contributed to the poverty alleviation and development
in rural Vietnam.
17
The value for money13
of RTP3 was also ensured through effective mechanisms
relying on decentralized management at the provincial level, through PDOTs. It
ensured competitive procurement of infrastructure works by ensuring high rate of private
sector participation, which is above average in the sector, as well as close monitoring and
issue solving on site. The selection of small size private contractors did not trigger
additional costs, and proved to be cost effective given the quality provided.
A general unit cost analysis leads to the conclusion that value for money under
RTP3 is satisfactory. Indeed, the comparative cost analysis of road rehabilitation works
for all three RTPs show similar cost ranges. The approximate average road rehabilitation
costs, calculated using 2103 base-year costs (Table 3)14
without taking into account
differences in design and standards, but taking into account inflation as measured by the
consumer price index in Vietnam, is provided hereafter:
Table 3: Average road rehabilitation costs (2013 base-year prices)
Project Cost in US$ per km
RTP1 33,000
RTP2 37,000
RTP3 37,000
Source: World Bank analysis, 2014
The project also carried out additional studies on unit costs, as well as on whole life costs
of roads, and piloted innovative ways to recover costs by using local materials and
promoting community supervision. Studies conducted confirmed the value for money
aspects of sealed roads compared to gravel roads in several regions in Vietnam,
depending upon the local climatic conditions and costs of material. They also identified
benefits to be derived from the potential use of more cement concrete pavement in rural
roads in Vietnam, which is less expensive than in South Asian countries, taking
advantage of the cheap price of local cement. The adaptive choice of paving a few
selected roads under RTP3 based on the results of the RRST showed adaptability and
efficiency during project implementation; however RTP3 was fully impacted by the
inflation of the bitumen and could have made use more often of cement concrete road
pavement. Overall, the costs of these aspects of design and changes were reasonable in
comparison with the benefits.
3.4 Justification of Overall Outcome Rating
Rating: Satisfactory
Overall, the outcome of the project was satisfactory, as the activities were completed
and the objectives attained, with only minor shortcomings. The project was
completed on time on June 30, 2014 with funds fully disbursed and activities executed.
Overall the project met its PDO, and contributed to the Government’s program for
13 Value for money as defined in the ICR guidelines compares the costs involved in achieving the project
objectives with both the benefits and with recognized norms. 14
The original approximate average road rehabilitation costs were: US$11,000/km (1998 base-year prices)
under RTP1, US$16,000/km (2005 base-year prices) under RTP2, and US$37,000/km (2013 base-year
prices) under RTP3.
18
poverty reduction and economic growth in Vietnam. The project achieved its primary
development objective of increasing the flow of people, goods and services in rural
Vietnam, and achieved an average EIRR of 52% percent, despite the fact that the
Provinces targeted were among the poorest. These benefits were extended directly to
100% of the expected number of communes receiving basic access roads. The project
delivered all the activities and results that it included at appraisal, with a satisfactory level
of outcomes. RTP3 was highly relevant to the Government’s priorities. With respect to
road maintenance, the project provided evidence to central authorities of the benefits of
appropriate provincial road maintenance allocations, with the use of RRST and
VPRoMMs. This contributed to build up support for the creation of the Road
Maintenance Fund as mentioned above. As such, an RTP3 overall rating of satisfactory is
justified.
3.5 Overarching Themes, Other Outcomes and Impacts
(a) Poverty Impacts, Gender Aspects, and Social Development
RTP3 had a substantial positive impact on the incomes of the project’s beneficiaries,
1,000,000 of whom were poor. RTP3 investments helped lift approximately 510,000
people out of poverty and helped reduce 0.06% of poverty rate nationwide15
. Every
investment of 1% of GDP per year in rural transport generally helps reduce the poverty
rate by 1.5% per year on average (World Bank, 2010). The impact on poverty rate
reduction in the project’s area is important, i.e. about 3.8% for 2008-2010 compared to
2.1% outside the project’s area, and 8.5% instead of 4.3% respectively for the period
2008-2012 (Table 4). Due to the change of the poverty line in the period of 2011 -
201516
, in order to ensure the compatibility, the poverty rate in 2010 and 2012 has been
converted to ensure consistency with the poverty line of 2008. The detailed aspects of the
economic analysis and poverty impacts are shown in Annex 3.
Table 4: Reduction of Poverty Rate
Areas Poverty rate (%) Reduction in poverty rate
(%)
2008 2010 2012 2008-2010 2008-2012
Project’s areas 23.0 19.1 14.5 3.8 8.5
Outside project’s areas 13.1 10.9 8.7 2.1 4.3
Whole country 13.4 10.7 7.6 2.7 5.8
Sources: VHLSS 2008, 2010, 2012
Based on the RTP3 survey sample sites, the percentage of poor households
decreased from 27.1% in 2008 to 16.9% in 201217
. The largest percentage of poor
households was in Thung Nai commune of Hoa Binh province: the number of poor
households decreased by 50% between 2008 and 2012 on the upgraded road. On the
control roads in Hung Yen and Thanh Hoa provinces, the number of poor households
15 Evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Vietnam’s Third Rural Transport Project, WB, 2014.
16 In 2011, the Government issued a new poverty line that is 400,000 VND/person/month in the rural area
and 500,000VND/person/month in the urban area for the period of 2011-2015. According to this poverty
line, the ratio of nationwide poor households is 14.2% and 11.1% in 2010 and 2012, respectively. 17
Evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Vietnam’s Third Rural Transport Project, WB, 2014.
19
decreased only by 3.4% in the same period of 2008 to 2012. Among the households
interviewed, there was a reduction of poor households from 19% to 14% on improved
roads, from 31% to 15% on maintained roads, while only from 10% to 9% on control
roads. These elements from the survey sample sites confirm the data from the VHLSS.
The gender related activities related to the routine maintenance of the rural roads
were not included in the original RTP3 design and PAD, but they positively changed
the culture related to road asset preservation. These activities supported by the World
Bank Gender Action Plan Fund coupled with a DFID grant ultimately became a very
visible part of the project. The main output-oriented achievements were substantial:
women groups carried out routine maintenance on 3,148 km rural roads in Lao Cai,
Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh provinces under the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU)
guidance. Ethnic minority women living in mountainous districts had few options for
earning income and were eager for an opportunity to help improve travel conditions for
their communities. The project has also been of paramount efficiency in targeting gender
mainstreaming as a key way to leverage engagement on the issue of road maintenance.
Far from having a limited range, the routine maintenance performed by the women
unions made it possible to maintain key communal roads and induced a cultural change in
the perception of the communities about the importance of road asset management. The
main challenge consists in the financial sustainability of the maintenance of these district
and communal rural roads, which needs to be ensured through a proper mechanism, as
discussed under sections 4 and 6 of the present report.
At the impact level, the Evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Vietnam’s Third
Rural Transport Project shows key gender differences in use of transport modes on
upgraded modes. The use of motor vehicles on upgraded roads has increased
dramatically compared to control roads. The survey also highlights that the upgrading of
roads enabled more trips to health centers with motorized transport. For instance, women
on upgraded roads made 82% of those trips by motorbike compared with 34% on the
control roads. In trips to market, only 14% women and no men used motorized transport
on control roads, compared with 39.8% of women and 55.7% of men on improved roads.
A summary of the use of transport modes for men and women is provided in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Men’s and Women’s Use of Transport Modes
Source: Evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Third Rural Transport Project
20
(b) Institutional Change/Strengthening
Establishment of the Road Maintenance Fund (RMF) was facilitated by the policy
dialogue through RTP3’s support to sustainable maintenance practices and
constitutes a major positive institutional change with respect to road maintenance. RTP3 has been successful in reinforcing a road maintenance culture and introducing
frameworks for the long-term institutionalization of road maintenance financing. In order
to achieve the overall objective of budget sustainability for road maintenance activities,
the initial steps supported by RTP3 will be pursued under VRAMP through provision of
capacity development technical assistance to the Road Maintenance Fund.
(c) Other Unintended Outcomes and Impacts
Not applicable.
3.6 Summary of Findings of Beneficiary Survey and/or Stakeholder Workshops
The results of the “Evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Vietnam’s Third Rural
Transport Project” show that 97% of people surveyed said that the project has
improved travel conditions; 85% said that they had increased income and better
living conditions, access to education, and markets, as well as stronger social
relationships and improved community health. Respondents said that they were able
to sell more of their agricultural and other products at better prices because roads are now
bringing buyers to them. Although there is anecdotal evidence of significant changes in
the local economy such as the revival of brick making, there was only a small amount of
new business development along the sampled improved roads during the project. The
detailed results of the beneficiary survey are available under Annex 5.
4. Assessment of Risk to Development Outcome Rating: Significant
While the outcomes of the project have materialized and are expected to last their
entire useful life, there are two significant risks that may hinder their sustainability
over the long term.
First, the question of the sustainability of the financing of road maintenance, and
especially district and communal road maintenance operations, remains. The Road
Maintenance Fund (RMF) allocates 65% of the road revenues to national roads and the
remaining 35% goes to the provincial, district and communal levels, despite the larger
size and needs of the latter category. The analysis of the breakdown of capital
expenditures versus operation and maintenance expenditures from all sources of funds
(not only RMF) for the entire road network clearly shows the imbalance in favor of
capital expenditures. Operations and Maintenance (O&M) expenditures on all roads have
never represented more than 20% of the total expenditures. This observation, coupled
with the fact that the level of spending for O&M covers at most 50% of the needs for
appropriate maintenance, supports the assumption that at least 40% of the total transport
expenditures would be required on O&M expenditures (Figure 3). The eligibility of
expenditure generally remains a challenge in Vietnam, as in practice the RMF also covers
capital expenditures in the road sector. The lack of adequate road maintenance was
already mentioned under RTP1, and was also identified as a specific sustainability risk at
21
appraisal and in the PAD. While RTP3 has been of key importance in highlighting the
necessity of roads maintenance at all levels of the Administration, the capital investment
share of expenditures still dominates the operation and maintenance share.
More specifically for the provincial, district and communal roads, the lack of a
sustained financing stream for rural road maintenance jeopardizes the operation
post-completion sustainability. The maintenance challenge is particularly exacerbated
for local roads18
since the works are funded and implemented by the MOT and the roads
are subsequently "handed over" to the local authorities for upkeep and maintenance. In
other words, maintenance responsibility is devolved at the subnational levels to the
provinces or districts without or with little funding transfer. There is currently no
dedicated allocation of funds for the maintenance of the communal roads for instance,
despite the importance of those roads in linking villages and providing key local mobility
to the communities. There is a very important gap between the average level of resources
allocated for provincial roads (about 25.000.000 VND/km/year) and for communal roads:
for instance, the VWU received an average amount of 800,000 VND/km/year for the
communal road maintenance. While the local road maintenance activity will be sustained
in Lao Cai Province, where the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) convinced the
Provincial People’s Committee (PPC) to allocate funds for routine road maintenance by
the Vietnam Women’s Union and other local groups and contractors, the overall level of
funds ranging from 600,000 to 1,000,000 VND/km/year, will still be insufficient. The
lack of adequate human resources, budgeting, and lack of MOT organizational structure
below the provincial level will make a full replica of the VWU experience for routine
road maintenance difficult to manage and monitor unless policy and organizational
changes are made to establish: i) clear policy guidelines for prioritization and allocation
of funding local level road maintenance, and ii) an adequate monitoring and supervision
structure for quality control and financial management.
Figure 3: Breakdown of all transport expenditures from 2004 to 2011
Source: MOF, World Bank analysis
18 The ICR uses the terminology “local roads” as a shortcut to refer to provincial, district and communal
roads.
22
Second, without the continuous use and updating of VPRoMMS, there cannot be a
realistic and efficient network-based analysis for maintenance prioritization and
budget allocation. Post-project activities shall focus on linkages between the MTEF, the
budgeting cycle, and the technical output provided by VPRoMMS, over the road life
cycles. The deployment of the MTEF may consider the introduction of sequential annual
contracts or multiannual contracts to promote continuous routine maintenance, in parallel
with the adjustments to VPRoMMS for multi-year approaches, and the continued data
updates, in order to be viable. It is of key importance that adequate identification
procedures are introduced to better take into account district and communal road
maintenance needs. The success of the roll-out of the combined RONET19
-VPRoMMS
system is critical to ensure the sustainability of road maintenance programs in Vietnam.
The Bank financed Vietnam Road Asset Management Project (VRAMP) will support
efforts to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the road asset management and
maintenance practices performed on national roads in Vietnam, and consolidate RTP3
outcomes at both provincial and national levels.
5. Assessment of Bank and Borrower Performance
5.1 Bank Performance
(a) Bank Performance in Ensuring Quality at Entry
Rating: Moderately Satisfactory
RTP3 was a continuation of the previous two rural transport projects (RTP1 and RTP2)
which had rehabilitated over 6,800 km of Basic Access Roads (BAR). RTP3’s overall
development objectives were closely aligned with both Government and World Bank
strategies on rural accessibility, while incorporating many lessons from RTP1 and RTP2.
The alignment with the CAS and transport strategies, combined with clear and simple
components and implementation arrangements, facilitated timely completion without
compromising environmental concerns or social safeguards.
The Bank identified, facilitated preparation of, and appraised the project such that it
achieved the proposed development outcomes. RTP3 included a screening to identify the
poorest provinces and within them, a process to prioritize candidate roads. The
components are straight-forward and well balanced.
However, the geographic dispersion of RTP3 over 33 provinces could be considered as a
design flaw that triggered implementation and supervision risks. In addition, the degree
of complexity may have been underestimated as the institutional capacity at the local
level varied drastically from one province to another one. This leads to a Bank
Performance in ensuring quality at entry rated as Moderately Satisfactory.
(b) Quality of Supervision
Rating: Satisfactory
The Bank supervised the project very closely and was able to adapt the solutions
proposed to MOT very quickly. For the road asset management system, the Bank also
facilitated the transfer of the more user-friendly software operationalized under World
19 RONET is a SSATP developed tool that is designed to assess the current characteristics of road networks
and their future performance depending on different levels of interventions to the networks.
23
Bank’s Lao Road Sector Project through a South-South exchange program between the
Ministry of Public Works and Transport in Laos and MOT in Vietnam.
On the road construction aspects, the Bank identified and recommended necessary
actions to improve quality of works, in particular for intensifying monitoring and
supervision to ensure high quality of construction, training of PPMU staff for
construction management and supervision, and full compliance of the project safeguard
guidelines. Where World Bank supervision missions identified issues in application of
safeguard and fiduciary responsibilities, effective follow up action was taken. In light of
the 48% cost increase in bituminous roads over the period 2005-2008, the Bank was
proactive in its response to the Government’s decision to seek Additional Financing to
complete the full program.
The Bank facilitated the coordination with DFID, from which an initial contribution of
US$ 24.5 million was provided. There were proper separate accounting and reporting of
the IDA and DFID funds. This leads to a Bank Performance in supervision rated as
Satisfactory. (c) Justification of Rating for Overall Bank Performance
Rating: Moderately Satisfactory
The rating of overall Bank Performance is based on the ratings for each of the two
dimensions: (i) Bank performance in ensuring quality at entry; and (ii) the quality of
supervision. The Bank Performance was rated Moderately Satisfactory for the quality at
entry dimension and Satisfactory for the quality of supervision dimension, and therefore
the overall Bank Performance is Moderately Satisfactory.
5.2 Borrower Performance
(a) Government Performance
Rating: Moderately Satisfactory
On the one hand, the Government ensured quality of preparation and implementation,
complied with covenants and agreements, and facilitated timely completion of the project.
MOT actively participated in all World Bank mission wrap up meetings and ensured that
the implementing agency executed the project in accordance with the agreements reached
with the World Bank. The representatives of MOT at the highest level participated in
World Bank mission meetings and pursued sector related dialogue. MOT enabled its
implementing units to execute their role in the project by delegating responsibility and
providing the needed resources.
On the other hand, MOF was not able to provide counterpart funding, and faced several
delays in doing so, leading to an increase in IDA’s financed expenses percentage from
65% to 100% in order to compensate. This leads to a Government performance rated
as Moderately Satisfactory.
(b) Implementing Agency or Agencies Performance
Rating: Moderately Satisfactory
The PMUs responded efficiently on all project issues, adhered to the project
implementation requirements, engaged with all World Bank missions, and contributed to
the timely completion of the project. The Provincial Departments of Transport
successfully led overall project management and oversight for their provincial sub-
components. Each of the 33 PPMUs managed technical decisions on project sub-
24
components, with support from the five Regional Support Offices. Under decentralization
efforts supported by the Government, the District People’s Committee and District
Department of Transport (DDOT) satisfactorily led maintenance activities carried out at
the district level. PDOTs executed the procurement and supervision of the project works,
managed funds that included DFID contributions, and coordinated with partners
including the Vietnam Women’s Union despite various levels of capacity among the
Provinces.
However, there were minor shortcomings in respecting the Financial Management
Manual, as well as two cases of misprocurement. This leads to an implementing
agencies performance rated as Moderately Satisfactory.
(c) Justification of Rating for Overall Borrower Performance
Rating: Moderately Satisfactory
The rating of Borrower Performance is based on the ratings for each of the two
dimensions: (i) government performance; and (ii) implementing agency or agencies’
performance. The Borrower Performance was rated Moderately Satisfactory for the
government performance dimension and Moderately Satisfactory for the implementing
agencies dimension, and therefore the overall Borrower Performance is Moderately
Satisfactory.
6. Lessons Learned Based on the issues discussed in the earlier sections of the present ICR, including what
worked and what could have been done differently, some of the lessons learned that
could be applied in similar operations are the following:
Gender based community driven small scale road maintenance can be an effective
way to tackle local road maintenance issues. Under RTP3, the cost effectiveness of
using the Women’s Union to manage the routine communal road maintenance is
considered excellent by all beneficiaries. They indicated that the cost would be higher
using contractors and would entail a more complex process of bidding and invoicing.
Contractors were not interested in small contracts for the type of routine work that the
Women’s Union was carrying out on communal roads. The gender based community
driven small scale road maintenance also raised awareness, built a sense of local
ownership, fostered local stewardship of local roads, and changed behavior to protect
rather than damage roads. While this innovative coordination approach between the
provincial road authorities, local authorities, and the Women’s Union branches is an
effective model for transport agency coordination and management at the grass root
levels, lessons from RTP3 show that there is a need to clarify organizational
responsibility and to establish a management structure for rural road maintenance below
the provincial level in order to scale up the initiative at the national level. The
sustainability and replicability of gender based community driven small scale road
maintenance depends on developing adequate financing mechanisms, policy change to
give social organizations legal status to bid for civil works contracts, and developing
adequate institutional mechanisms for supervision and quality control.
25
Rural road investment does not always trigger the development of rural road
transport services. RTP3 relied on transport project design and development that assume
that households in rural areas need to be connected by all-weather roads so that it will
generate a market for passenger “motorized transport services for hire” as detailed in the
project’s design. The assumption is very often in rural transport projects coupled with the
idea that the generation of market for transport services will lower transport costs through
induced competition and eventually facilitate mobility and reduce poverty. As detailed in
section 3.2 of the present ICR, findings from RTP3 suggest that many other factors, such
as the increase of ownership and use of motorcycles, the fluctuation of fuel prices, and
informal transportation service development, play various yet important roles, that may
undermine the original assumption that link transport infrastructure supply with the
provision of transport services. In rural road projects, more specific analysis would be
needed to link the provision of transport infrastructure with the development of transport
services, and the conditions under which transport service initiatives, for freight or
passenger, could develop and be viable.
Rural road investment and maintenance require adequate identification, planning,
and costing procedures in order to obtain the highest value for money over road life
cycles. Lessons from all RTPs show that more analysis at appraisal at the national level is
required to put in place adequate procedures for: a) the prioritization of the roads to be
financed, b) the planning of the investments and subsequent maintenance activities, and
c) the paving choices adapted to the local economics of the investment. In Cameroon,
Gachassin et al. (2010) demonstrates that investing in paved roads is not likely to have a
substantial impact on poverty20
. In Vietnam, the choice of paving all rural roads based on
resilience and local climatic conditions may need to be fine-tuned locally with regards to
transport economics and detailed spatial development considerations. The increase in the
number of people living within 2 km of an all-weather road alone, while being part of the
core indicators, may therefore not constitute the highest value for money objective under
an optimization approach. Furthermore, a more detailed road costing exercise that takes
into account, among other factors, population density, localization of economic and social
centers, as well as construction material cost and availability, may help optimize the
paving choices over the road life cycles. The ICR suggests that more data granularity on
the above aspects is required for the optimization of rural road investment choices and
maintenance.
Targeting small size contractors may trigger additional transaction costs but can
provide value for money and quality outputs. RTP3 design supported road
construction activities adapted to the capacity of small size contractors, and yet the costs
and quality of the road works are satisfactory. While this scheme provides experience and
cash flow to the local economy, it also comes with higher transaction and procurement
costs for small lots and contracts, which are resource and time consuming to put in place,
evaluate, and supervise for both the Borrower and the Bank. Procurement solutions such
as “slide and package” may be used alternatively to attract and contract with companies
20 Roads Impact on Poverty Reduction - A Cameroon Case Study, World Bank Policy Research Working
Paper 5209, Gachassin et al., 2010
26
of various levels of capacity and sizes, and therefore to increase competition. In addition,
more project post-completion analysis may be required to show that private sector
support through small contractor targeted activities fosters long-term domestic market
responses and increased capacity over the long-run. One approach to promote domestic
market responses over the long-run is to provide private sector training as done under
RTP3.
7. Comments on Issues Raised by Borrower/Implementing Agencies/Partners (a) Borrower/implementing agencies
Both Borrower and implementing agency consider that the project can be evaluated as
successful. This project is, according to their own completion report, meeting the
development objectives and priority of Government for the rural areas. Specifically, the
project is meeting the requirements of strengthening basic access and improving all
weather roads access between districts and communities. They emphasize that results are
showing the effectiveness and relevance of the project, and that the Bank, the Borrower
and partners have showed a Satisfactory performance in managing RTP3, in terms of
efficiency, effectiveness, quality of inputs, quality of supervision, monitoring and
evaluation. The project also conformed to social and environmental requirements. A
summary of the Implementation Completion Report of the Borrower is provided in
Annex 7.
(b) Cofinanciers
DFID has mentioned in its own completion report that RTP3 has been a successful
collaboration of the Government of Vietnam, DFID and the World Bank to deliver
infrastructure and poverty reduction results, with an overall Satisfactory Performance of
all stakeholders and partners. DFID considers that RTP3 will have long term impacts on
the all-weather road access to the poor households in rural areas of Vietnam as well as the
sustainability of rural roads in the country. DFID recommended that the World Bank uses
lessons from RTP3 and bring them into a potential new project to sustain the impacts of
RTP3. A summary of the Project Completion Report (PCR) of DFID is provided in
Annex 8.
27
Annex 1. Project Costs and Financing
(a) Project Cost by Component (in US$ Million equivalent)
Components Appraisal Estimate
(US$ millions)
Actual/Latest
Estimate
(US$ millions)
Percentage of
Appraisal
Component A: Rehabilitation of
the core rural roads network 127.47 244.07 191%
Component B: Maintenance of the
district roads network 12.38 39.39 318%
Component C: Institutional and
capacity building program for
MOT, PDOT’s and Private Sector
10.00 14.00 140%
Total Baseline Cost 149.85 297.46 199%
Physical and Price Contingencies 10.11
Taxes 13.31
Total Project Costs 173.27 308.08 175%
Front-end fee PPF
Front-end fee IBRD
(b) Financing
Source of Funds Type of
Cofinancing
Appraisal
Estimate
(US$ millions)
Actual/Latest
Estimate
(US$ millions)
Percentage of
Appraisal
Borrower Counterpart
Funding 45.52 58.32 128%
UK: British Department for
International Development (DFID) Grant 24.50 46.51 190%
International Development
Association (IDA) na 106.25 203.25 191%
28
Annex 2. Outputs by Component
Component A: Rehabilitation of the core rural roads network (total US$195.25
million)
This component financed the rehabilitation and improvement of about 3,100 km of the
core rural roads network in 33 provinces. 3283 km of rural roads were rehabilitated under
the project. This has slightly exceeded the target of 3150km. The achievements during
the two sub phases under RTP3 were:
RTP3 - 2,341 km roads were rehabilitated in 33 provinces. The total contract
value was US$102.5 million for 594 contracts to rehabilitate 530 road links.
RTP3 Additional Financing - Rehabilitation of 864 km additional rural roads in
32 provinces was contracted out under RTP3-AF. The total contract value was
US$88 million.
Component B: Maintenance of the district roads network (total US$18.0 million)
This component tackled the underfunding of maintenance on the district roads network.
19,902 km of rural roads were maintained under RTP3 and RTP3 Additional Financing
(target 17,000 km). This does not include the roads maintained by women, which have
carried out routine maintenance on 3,148 km rural roads in Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and
Quang Binh provinces. The achievements during the two sub phases under RTP3 were:
RTP3 – 16,534 km district roads in 32 provinces were maintained in two years
using contractors. The total value of the 911 maintenance contracts was US$30
million (68% DFID contribution).
RTP3 Additional Financing – 3,202 km rural roads were maintained in 12
provinces.
RTP3 Additional Financing – Women’s groups carried out routine maintenance of
3,148 km rural roads in Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh provinces.
Component C: Institutional and capacity building program for MOT, PDOT’s and
Private Sector (total US$14.5 million)
This component supported the institutional strengthening, organizational effectiveness
and individual skills development of the rural transport sub-sector. This component has
four sub-components:
Sub-component C.1: Advisory Services
This sub-component strengthened the central role of the MOT in providing standards,
guidance and systems to support the provinces with the implementation of their transport
plans in a decentralized environment.
The original design of RTP3 included the development and use of a road asset
management software (RoadNAM) under the support of DFID. Both PMU and the Bank
however realized that RoadNAM was not operational for deployment across the
Provinces. The Provincial Road Maintenance Management System (PRoMMS) was
subsequently deployed in five Provinces instead of RoadNAM. PRoMMs was a road
asset management system that had previously successfully been deployed in Laos.
Resources were subsequently made available under the RTP3-AF to implement Vietnam
29
Provincial Road Maintenance Management System (VPRoMMS) in eleven provinces.
The target set in the design of the additional funding was achieved, as twelve provinces
have used VPRoMMS with DFID support of US$6,000,000. In addition, MOT and RTP3
supervision mission in Oct-Nov 2013 also encouraged the remaining twenty provinces to
operationalize VPRoMMS by allocating US$20,000 to each province for data collection.
On the improvements of technical standards and climate resilience aspects of rural roads:
MOT has approved revised technical standards for rural roads (Indicator –
Revised technical standards approved by MOT by 2014).
Two studies were carried out, one on the sustainability of RTP3 and one on the
impacts of women participation in (routine) road maintenance.
Rural Road Surfacing Trial (RRST) Study that started in RTP2 was continued
under RTP3. The outcomes of RRST have brought significant change in
pavement option selection and there are more sealed roads under RTP3 (85%
sealed as compared to approximately 80% unsealed under RTP2).
The third phase of RRST (RRST3) in a further 4 provinces (Cao Bang, Thai
Nguyen , Thai Binh and Thanh Hoa) was commissioned in 2009 with an
increased emphasis on climate resilience of rural roads in Vietnam.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was supported under RTP3-
AF to develop rural road standards for its new Rural Development National
Target Program. This is perhaps a significant step towards development and
approval of a rural roads standard by the Government.
Sub-component C.2: Independent review consultants
This sub-component supported consultants to undertake financial and technical
performance audits and integrated reviews of project implementation.
Sub-component C.3: Facilities to support MOT and PDOTs
This sub-component enabled to purchase office equipment, training, aides, IT equipment
and other goods.
Sub-component C.4: Training to strengthen individual skills development
This sub-component supported the individual skills development of an estimated 14,000
personnel (revised to 16,000) at all government levels and private sector organizations.
The project had set an ambitious target for training the government staff and community
members to plan, manage and use resources for rural transport more effectively. A total
of 345 training courses were reported to have been carried out by the six vocational
schools with 8,689 participants from PDOTs, and a further 252 courses were carried out
by vocational schools and PDOTs for 10,500 participants from district and commune
level. With more than 19,000 trainees, the target of 16,000 people trained mentioned in
the Results Framework has been significantly exceeded.
30
Annex 3. Economic and Financial Analysis
It was not feasible at project appraisal phase in January 2006 to carry out detailed
engineering and economic studies due to the large number of short and widely dispersed
rural roads proposed for the RTP3. In order to ensure the economic viability of the
Project, a simplified procedure to prioritize candidate roads to be considered for inclusion
in the RTP3 program for each province was used, along the following steps:
- Ranking basic access roads with BAR index21
- Identifying economically viable improvement roads with threshold traffic
volumes22
- Ranking improvement roads with Improvement index23
Review of Prioritization of Candidate Roads
Overall, procedures to select candidate roads under RTP3 have been well employed.
However, there was a proper adjustment in prioritization of BARs due to the availability
of the Government fund for BARs. The actual prioritization procedures for rural road
rehabilitation, which combined social and economic criteria, were as follows:
- Provinces will provide a long list of roads based on provincial master plans and
priorities.
First priority is given to rehabilitating and improving provincial road networks.
Coherent network with maximum connectivity is essential.
Total investment cost for any bridge shall be less than US$150,000
- Roads are prioritized from the long list as follows:
Roads are screened based on preliminary designs and traffic counts (road class,
surface structure, estimate costs for improvement effectiveness;
District and commune roads with either traffic counts higher than thresholds or
EIRR higher than 12% will be included in the short lists and ranked under the
improvement index
Finally, roads are to be selected from top ranked roads up to budget limit.
The Project Operation and Monitoring Manual indicated that economic justification can
be demonstrated in one of three following ways:
(i) Traffic volume compares with Passenger Car Units or motorized vehicle
21 Basic Access Road Index:
22 Threshold traffic volume was based on findings from economic analyses of improvement options of
typical road sections in different terrain and at varying traffic levels using HDM4. Relatively low volumes
of traffic, between 20 and 45 PCU (passenger car equivalent units), are needed to justify providing a gravel
road, but between 150 and 300 PCU are needed before sealing a road becomes worthwhile. However, the
threshold for sealing in the mountains is significantly lower than in flat or rolling terrain. 23
Improvement Index:
31
thresholds
(ii) Economic viability is demonstrated using the spreadsheet model developed by
the Advisory Consultant of the project.
(iii) In exceptional circumstances, the use of HDM4 can also be considered.
In practice, though a spreadsheet tool was available for more conventional cost benefit
analysis with quantitative economic rates of returns, more improved roads were short
listed using the threshold traffic volumes.
Table: Threshold Motorized Traffic Volumes for Road Improvements
Road Class Flat Rolling Mountainous
vpd (MT) PCU vpd (MT) PCU vpd (MT) PCU
Gravel Roads Compared to Earth Tracks
V 50 35 55 40 60 45
VI 35 25 40 30 60 45
A 35 25 40 30 40 30
B 30 20 35 25 35 25
Sealed Roads Compared to Gravel Roads
V 400 300 350 - 400 250 - 300 250 - 300 175 - 225
VI 350 - 400 250 - 300 350 250 250 - 300 175 - 225
A 300 - 350 225 - 250 250 - 300 175 - 225 250 - 300 175 - 225
B 250 - 300 175 -225 250 175 200 - 250 150 - 175
MT ~ motorized transport; PCU ~ passenger car units; vpd ~ vehicles per day
Update of the economic analysis of RTP3
At project appraisal, an analysis of traffic data on 40 sites in 4 pilot provinces and a cost
benefit analysis were done to determine the threshold traffic levels to simplify the
economic justification procedures of the project. In 2008, while preparing feasibility
studies, the Consultant developed a cost benefit analysis tool. At project completion,
updated calculations were computed to reconfirm the economic viability of the project.
The Model
The updated analysis uses an Excel based model for the improvement of existing roads
with limited data developed by the Consultant. It is flexible and uses ad hoc input values
that provide results that are close to the local conditions. The model determines the
vehicle operating costs (VOC) and value of time (VOT) using the standard ‘with’ and
‘without’ the project framework for economic analysis. The VOC (per vehicle km) and
vehicle speeds (km/h) for estimating savings in time are obtained from a World Bank’s
Roads Economic Decision Model (RED) and Highway Development Management 4
(HDM4), which are normally used for low traffic volume roads as those under RTP3.
Road Conditions
The table below summarizes road conditions before improvement based on reports from
PPMUs. 95% of roads were gravel, less than 5% upgraded roads were destroyed paved
roads. 60-70 of them were in poor conditions with International Roughness Index - IRI
ranging from 17 to 20 m/km.
Given the number of roads within the projects, it was impossible to measure with specific
instruments the IRI for all the sections. Therefore, figures for roughness are based on
32
visual estimations. In order to compensate for lower level of precision, visual estimations
have been very conservative. For instance, a typical IRI for improved roads taken
into calculation for RTP3 was 6 while guidelines suggest 3 or 4 for improved double
bituminous surface treatment roads. In addition, some selected cross-check on some
representative roads have been done, as well as IRI obtained on roads where RRST
activities have been conducted.
Table: Summary of Road Conditions before Improvement
Region Fair
IRI 14-16
Poor
IRI 17-20
Very poor
IRI 21-25 Total
North West 7.4% 70.4% 22.2% 100%
North East 20.2% 73.4% 6.4% 100%
Red River Delta 27.0% 62.3% 10.8% 100%
North Central 23.2% 64.6% 12.1% 100%
South Central 27.6% 70.7% 1.7% 100%
Actual Road Improvement Cost and Repayment Actual reimbursements of the 482 roads including 289 roads under the original loan
credit and 193 roads under the additional fund with about US$156 million from 2006 to
2014 has been used in the updated analyses as in the table below.
Table: Actual Improvement Costs of Evaluated Roads
Million US$
Region/
Province # Roads Costs
Investment Phasing
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
North West 27 27.185 0.033 0.039 2.444 1.325 4.725 3.408 3.445 6.234 5.532
Lai Chau 7 4.776
1.796 1.021 0.272 0.794 0.893
Son La 7 7.778
1.499 1.745 1.685 2.050 0.799
Hoa Binh 10 4.516
0.507 0.718 0.726 0.333 0.466 0.428 1.338
Dien Bien 3 10.115 0.033 0.039 1.937 0.607 0.704 0.309 1.022 2.962 2.502
North East 94 47.66 0.062 1.113 4.737 7.969 6.808 4.255 18.017 4.699
Lao Cai 9 5.668
1.242 1.322 0.873 0.639 1.025 0.567
Yen Bai 13 4.373
0.272 1.328 0.602 0.210 1.637 0.324
Phu Tho 7 4.665
0.290 0.889 1.235 0.142 0.036 1.641 0.432
Ha Giang 9 5.035
0.374 0.607 0.585 1.030 0.148 1.778 0.513
Tuyen Quang 22 5.347
5.347
Cao Bang 4 5.482
1.534 1.503 0.820 0.685 0.940
Bac Can 8 4.651
0.133 0.746 0.902 0.894 0.323 1.653
Thai Nguyen 3 2.491
2.115 0.376
Lang Son 5 4.778
0.499 0.767 1.289 1.283 0.940
Bac Giang 14 5.170
0.062 0.316 0.981 0.564 0.997 0.790 0.853 0.607
Red River Delta 204 27.120 0.604 5.006 4.546 3.300 2.088 9.920 1.656
Vinh Phuc 11 1.323
0.618 0.705
Ha Tay 11 1.777
1.147 0.630
Ha Nam 16 2.507
0.176 0.269 0.083 0.005 1.646 0.328
Hung Yen 26 3.796
0.234 0.605 0.599 0.105 0.045 1.914 0.294
33
Region/
Province # Roads Costs
Investment Phasing
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
North West 27 27.185 0.033 0.039 2.444 1.325 4.725 3.408 3.445 6.234 5.532
Thai Binh 24 3.147
0.370 0.810 0.201 0.798 0.968
Nam Dinh 46 6.776
1.363 0.650 1.151 0.827 2.456 0.329
Ninh Binh 30 3.376
1.213 0.298
1.865
Bac Ninh 22 3.049
1.341 0.170 0.117 1.421
Hai Duong 18 1.369
0.839 0.041 0.363 0.126
North Central 99 28.960 1.469 5.072 3.808 1.989 1.685 12.776 2.161
Thanh Hoa 20 8.807
1.595 1.720 1.035 1.656 1.620 1.181
Nghe An 13 5.657
0.650 1.692 0.183 0.296 0.029 2.299 0.508
Quang Binh 18 3.696
0.400 0.530 0.628 0.136
1.974 0.028
Quang Tri 8 2.780
2.619 0.161
Thua Thien Hue 22 3.257
0.111 0.777 0.412
1.957
Ha Tinh 18 4.762
0.309 0.477 0.864 0.522
2.307 0.283
South Central 58 25.280 0.733 4.426 5.959 2.738 3.658 7.223 0.543
Quang Nam 18 7.907
0.295 1.780 2.258 0.687 0.076 2.742 0.069
Quang Ngai 14 5.576
0.552 1.170 0.908 0.498 2.448
Binh Dinh 16 7.620
0.438 1.657 1.984 0.801 2.488 0.252
Phu Yen 10 4.177
0.437 0.547 0.342 0.596 1.781 0.474
Total Project 482 156.205 0.033 0.101 6.363 20.566 27.007 18.243 15.131 54.170 14.591
Updated Value of Time (VOT) Value of time (VOT) is calculated for a base year of 2008 and updated to target year of
2014 with data on income levels of the passengers on work trip surveyed by the
Consultant.
Table: Updated Inputs for Value of Time Computation
Type of vehicle
Working
Hrs/day -
Passenge
r/ Crew
Average
No of
Passengers
/ Vehicle
Base year 2008 Updated year 2014
Work trip
income of
Passengers/
Crew (US$/
Month)
Value of
Goods/
Vehicle
(US$)
Work trip
income of
Passengers/
Crew (US$/
Month)
Value of
Goods/
Vehicle
(US$)
Motorcycle 8 1.5 120 160
Car Medium 8 3 160 220
Bus Small 8 15 80 110
Bus Medium 8 26 80 110
Cong Nong 8
80 1250 110 2000
Truck Light 12
80 3125 110 5500
Truck Medium 12
80 5000 110 8000
Bicycle 8 1.5 80 110
Animal Cart 8
80 1250 110 2000
Table: Updated Value of Time
US$/h
Type of Vehicle
Base Year 2008 Updated Year 2014
Work trip
income
Value of
Goods in
Transit
Non-Work
trip income
Work
trip
income
Value of
Goods in
Transit
Non-Work
trip income
Motorcycle 0.600 0.150 0.800 0.200
34
Car Medium 0.800 0.200 1.100 0.275
Bus Small 0.400 0.100 0.550 0.138
Bus Medium 0.400 0.100 0.550 0.138
Cong Nong 0.230 0.017 0.550 0.027
Truck Light 0.230 0.043 0.550 0.075
Truck Medium 0.230 0.069 0.550 0.110
Bicycle 0.400 0.100 0.550 0.138
Animal Cart 0.230 0.017 0.550 0.027
Updated Vehicle Operating Cost (VOC) VOC units were computed using the World Bank’s HDM4-VOC model. Similarly, the
VOC is estimated for the base year of 2008 by the Consultant and updated in 2014.
Table: Updated Inputs for Vehicle Operating Cost Computation
Vehicle Fuel
(US$/lit)
Lubricant
(US$/lit)
New Tire
Cost (US$)
Maintenance
Cost
(US$/repair)
Maintenance
Labor Cost
(US$/h)
Crew
Cost
(US$/h)
New Vehicle
Cost (US$)
Base Year 2008
Motorcycle 0.52 1.50 18.00 7.00 3.50 1.00 1500
Car Medium 0.52 1.50 55.00 7.00 3.50 1.00 22750
Bus Small 0.47 1.50 60.00 7.00 3.50 0.80 20000
Bus Medium 0.47 1.50 70.00 7.00 3.50 0.80 24000
Cong Nong 0.47 1.50 50.00 7.00 3.50 0.60 1500
Truck Light 0.47 1.50 70.00 7.00 3.50 1.20 15000
Truck
Medium 0.47 1.50 70.00 7.00 3.50 1.20 18000
Bicycle 0.00 0.00 2.00 1.00 0.20 0.10 43
Animal Cart 0.00 0.00 50.00 1.00 0.25 0.60 500
Updated Year 2014
Motorcycle 0.57 1.65 19.80 7.70 3.85 1.10 1650
Car Medium 0.57 1.65 60.50 7.70 3.85 1.10 25025
Bus Small 0.52 1.65 66.00 7.70 3.85 0.88 22000
Bus Medium 0.52 1.65 77.00 7.70 3.85 0.88 26400
Cong Nong 0.52 1.65 55.00 7.70 3.85 0.66 1650
Truck Light 0.52 1.65 77.00 7.70 3.85 1.32 16500
Truck
Medium 0.52 1.65 77.00 7.70 3.85 1.32 19800
Bicycle 0.00 0.00 2.20 1.10 0.22 0.11 47
Animal Cart 0.00 0.00 55.00 1.10 0.28 0.66 550
Table: Typical Updated Vehicle Operating Costs
US$/veh-km
Terrain
Rough
-ness
(IRI)
Motor-
bike
Car
Medium
Bus
Mini
Bus
Medium
Cong
Nong
Truck
Light
Truck
Medium
Bicycle
Animal
Cart
North West
Mountainous 19 0.0980 0.6080 0.6402 0.7907 0.2793 0.5516 0.7921 0.0780 1.3742
3 0.0507 0.3151 0.3414 0.3921 0.2202 0.2758 0.4037 0.0134 0.2467
North East
Mountainous 19 0.0967 0.5820 0.6226 0.7749 0.2742 0.5324 0.7791 0.0752 1.3171
35
3 0.0500 0.3017 0.3320 0.3843 0.2163 0.2663 0.3971 0.0130 0.2364
Flat 17 0.0933 0.5590 0.5970 0.7410 0.2648 0.5089 0.7431 0.0490 1.0026
3 0.0500 0.3008 0.3312 0.3833 0.2161 0.2654 0.3958 0.0130 0.2364
Red River Delta
Mountainous 19 0.0985 0.6175 0.6467 0.7965 0.2811 0.5586 0.7969 0.0790 1.3952
3 0.0509 0.3201 0.3449 0.3950 0.2217 0.2794 0.4061 0.0136 0.2504
Flat 17 0.0627 0.4322 0.4239 0.4802 0.2065 0.3526 0.5047 0.0158 0.3930
3 0.0504 0.3130 0.3391 0.3811 0.2194 0.2732 0.3995 0.0127 0.2345
Terrain
Rough
-ness
(IRI)
Motor-
bike
Car
Medium
Bus
Mini
Bus
Medium
Cong
Nong
Truck
Light
Truck
Medium
Bicycle
Animal
Cart
North Central
Mountainous 17 0.0950 0.5932 0.6202 0.7470 0.2716 0.5342 0.7605 0.0514 1.0620
3 0.0509 0.3201 0.3449 0.3873 0.2217 0.2794 0.4061 0.0136 0.2504
Rolling 19 0.0967 0.5819 0.6225 0.7592 0.2741 0.5322 0.7788 0.0752 1.3171
3 0.0500 0.3010 0.3315 0.3760 0.2162 0.2657 0.3962 0.0130 0.2364
Flat 19 0.0984 0.6175 0.6465 0.7808 0.2809 0.5584 0.7965 0.0790 1.3952
3 0.0509 0.3192 0.3440 0.3863 0.2215 0.2785 0.4048 0.0136 0.2504
South Central
Mountainous 18 0.0969 0.6058 0.6341 0.7650 0.2764 0.5469 0.7792 0.0620 1.2048
3 0.0509 0.3201 0.3449 0.3873 0.2217 0.2794 0.4061 0.0136 0.2504
Rolling 19 0.0967 0.5819 0.6225 0.7747 0.2741 0.5322 0.7788 0.0752 1.3171
3 0.0500 0.3010 0.3315 0.3836 0.2162 0.2657 0.3962 0.0130 0.2364
Flat 19 0.0984 0.6175 0.6465 0.7962 0.2809 0.5584 0.7965 0.0790 1.3952
3 0.0509 0.3192 0.3440 0.3940 0.2215 0.2785 0.4048 0.0136 0.2504
Updated Traffic Projection The traffic forecast was updated based on traffic data reported by provinces via their
surveys from 2008, which were the bases for ranking investments and at completion of
the project in 2014. Traffic data were not fully available for all 482 roads under this
analysis. Part of traffic figures came from feasibility studies in 2008 - 2009 and 2014
counts on 186 roads were submitted by provinces. Provided these and with reference to
other ongoing rural roads in project provinces, adjustments on baseline traffic levels and
growth rates have been made for updating traffic projection.
Table: Updated Traffic Growth Rates
%/year
Type of vehicle Average
2008-2014 2015 to 2020 2020 to 2025 Beyond 2025
Motorcycle 9.2 6.5 - 7.5 6.5 - 7.5 5.5 - 6.5
Car Medium 8.7 5.5 - 6.5 5.0 - 5.75 5.0 - 5.75
Bus Small 1.6 2.5 - 3.5 2.5 - 3.5 3.5 - 4.5
Bus Medium 0.7 1.5 - 2.5 2.5 -3.5 3.5 - 4.5
Cong Nong 0.8 1.0 1.0 -0.5
Truck Light 6.8 4.5 - 5.5 4.5 - 5.5 3.5 - 4.5
Truck Medium 5.6 4.5 - 5.5 4.5 - 5.5 3.5 - 4.5
Bicycle 5.6 4.5 - 5.5 2.5-3.5 1.5 - 2.5
Animal Cart -0.2 1.0 1.0 1.0
36
On the other hand, updated traffic data showed a consistent growth in motorization, from
44% in 2006 to 63% in 2014. It is also seen a decline in number of cong nong, locally
made 1.5-2.5 ton trucks, which could be the result of the ban of cong nong on highways
at the same time with cheaper small conventional trucks. Given this trend, threshold
traffic levels set out in the PAD are still valid.
Table: Traffic Compositions in 2006, 2008 and 2014
Results
The table below provides the economic analysis results for all roads by province and
region. Overall, the project is economically viable as the EIRR of the all 482
appraised roads in 33 provinces is 52%. A sensitivity test has been undertaken with a
case where benefits decrease by 20% to take into account the risk of traffic data. As a
result, the overall EIRR of all subproject roads in 33 provinces remains strongly
satisfying with an EIRR of 43%. This robustness is a more positive than the analysis at
appraisal, which indicated an EIRR above 28% in that scenario. Finally, non-quantified
wider-economic benefits such as increased economic activities, poverty reduction,
improved access to education, market, or health care services, were not taken into
account but surely contributed to the poverty alleviation and development in rural
Vietnam.
Table: Summary of Results of Updated Economic Analysis
Region/Province No.
Roads
Length
(km)
Cost
(Mil.
US$)
Base case Decrease 20%
benefit EIRR
(%)
NPV
(Mil. US$)
(@12%)
EIRR
(%)
NPV
(Mil. US$)
(@12%)
North West
Region 27 298.96 27.185 30.5% 16.777 22.9% 8.549
Lai Chau 7 74.61 4.776 19.3% 1.528 15.5% 0.674
Son La 7 83.25 7.778 43.7% 9.368 30.0% 4.306
Hoa Binh 10 81.98 4.516 36.6% 5.134 30.2% 3.483
Dien Bien 3 59.12 10.115 17.2% 0.747 12.7% 0.087
Type of vehicle PAD in 2006 FS in 2008 PCR in 2014
Motorcycle 36% 51.5% 54.9%
Car Medium 1% 4.4% 4.4%
Bus Small 0% 0.4% 0.5%
Bus Medium 0% 0.2% 0.2%
Cong Nong 4% 1.8% 2.0%
Truck Light 1% 0.7% 0.8%
Truck Medium 1% 0.4% 0.4%
Bicycle 55% 36.8% 33.5%
Animal Cart 2% 3.7% 3.4%
NMT 56% 40.5% 37.0%
MT 44% 59.5% 63.0%
All vehicle 100% 100% 100%
37
North East
Region 94 757.69 47.660 60.1% 218.818 50.7% 166.104
Lao Cai 9 103.10 5.668 32.2% 7.046 29.7% 5.112
Yen Bai 13 69.81 4.373 28.5% 4.055 24.0% 2.735
Phu Tho 7 68.26 4.665 103.4% 31.698 87.2% 24.659
Ha Giang 9 95.76 5.035 133.1% 26.245 111.0% 20.601
Tuyen Quang 22 118.21 5.347 75.7% 24.288 65.1% 18.953
Cao Bang 4 63.89 5.482 17.5% 1.220 13.7% 0.344
Bac Can 8 61.42 4.651 42.8% 8.773 36.4% 6.547
Thai Nguyen 3 18.51 2.491 17.0% 0.489 13.8% 0.164
Lang Son 5 53.44 4.778 36.7% 2.298 29.1% 1.535
Bac Giang 14 105.30 5.170 44.7% 6.595 36.3% 4.804
Red River Delta
Region 204 544.85 27.120 61.1% 83.230 51.5% 63.656
Vinh Phuc 11 24.40 1.323 75.8% 4.240 63.8% 3.280
Ha Tay (Ha Noi) 11 42.65 1.777 84.9% 10.461 72.3% 8.172
Ha Nam 16 38.95 2.507 88.1% 13.159 75.0% 10.290
Hung Yen 26 65.14 3.796 66.2% 9.323 54.1% 6.972
Thai Binh 24 76.65 3.147 49.7% 5.862 40.6% 4.351
Nam Dinh 46 123.09 6.776 47.2% 17.468 40.6% 13.237
Ninh Binh 30 67.72 3.376 65.7% 10.671 55.3% 8.187
Bac Ninh 22 51.85 3.049 29.1% 2.469 24.0% 1.659
Hai Duong 18 54.40 1.369 85.4% 9.577 73.6% 7.509
North Central
Region 99 466.44 28.960 53.4% 64.673 44.5% 48.905
Thanh Hoa 20 118.75 8.807 31.0% 7.755 25.6% 5.291
Nghe An 13 81.50 5.657 47.1% 10.400 39.5% 7.829
Ha Tinh 18 49.78 3.696 75.5% 15.130 61.7% 11.611
Quang Binh 18 112.55 2.780 68.4% 14.170 57.8% 10.981
Quang Tri 8 39.45 3.257 53.6% 6.847 45.8% 5.226
Thua Thien Hue 22 64.42 4.762 74.1% 10.370 60.7% 7.966
South Central
Region 58 342.17 25.280 48.5% 47.116 40.3% 35.269
Quang Nam 18 94.38 7.907 55.7% 19.970 46.4% 15.253
Quang Ngai 14 67.64 5.576 37.8% 5.221 30.7% 3.649
Binh Dinh 16 131.28 7.620 38.6% 10.836 32.5% 7.910
Phu Yen 10 48.87 4.177 59.0% 11.090 49.6% 8.457
All RTP3 482 2410.11 156.205 52.6% 324.502 43.9% 241.833
Analysis Coverage Rate: 66% of number of roads, 62% of funds
38
Annex 4. Bank Lending and Implementation Support/Supervision Processes (a) Task Team members
Names Title Unit Responsibility
Lending
Nga Thi Quynh Dang Operations Officer EACVF Operation Support
Vinh Quoc Duong Consultant EASVS Environmental Specialist
Simon David Ellis Lead Transport Specialist ECSTR Task Team Leader
Hung Viet Le Sr Financial Management Specialist EASOS Financial Management
Specialist
Irina Luca Lead Procurement Specialist LCSPT Procurement Specialist
Maria Margarita Nunez Sr Highway Engineer LCSTR Technical Specialist
Peter Roberts Consultant TWITR Technical Specialist
Phuong Thi Minh Tran Sr Transport. Specialist EASVS Task Team Leader
Hiet Thi Hong Tran Senior Procurement Specialist EASRP Procurement Specialist
Hong Vu Sr Operations Officer EASSO Social Development Specialist
Mei Wang Senior Counsel LEGAM Legal
Supervision/ICR
Christopher J. Banes Consultant AFTU1 Technical Specialist
David J. Bray Consultant EASIN Transport Economist
Jasper Cook Consultant EASNS Technical Specialist
Christopher J. De Serio Transport Specialist EASIN Operation Support
Hung Viet Le Sr Financial Management Specialist EASOS FM Specialist
Simon Lucas Sr Transport. Specialist EASTE Infrastructure Specialist
Gerhard Menckhoff Consultant LCSTR Infrastructure Specialist
Lan Thi Thu Nguyen Natural Resources Economist EASVS Social Development Specialist
Thuy Bich Nguyen Program Assistant SECPO Operation Support
Trang Phuong Thi Nguyen E T Consultant EASVS Environmental Specialist
Hoai Van Nguyen Procurement Specialist EASR2 Procurement Specialist
Cung Van Pham Sr Financial Management Specialist EASFM FM Specialist
Romain Pison Transport Specialist EASIN ICR Author
Nguyen Chien Thang Senior Procurement Specialist EASRP Procurement Specialist
Phuong Thi Minh Tran Sr Transport. Specialist EASVS Task Team Leader
Hiet Thi Hong Tran Senior Procurement Specialist EASRP Procurement Specialist
Pham Gia Tuan Consultant EASNS Technical Specialist
Ly Thi Dieu Vu Consultant EASNS Environmental Specialist
Nghi Quy Nguyen Social Development Specialist EASVS Social Development Specialist
Hanh Thi Huu Nguyen Financial Management Specialist EASFM FM Specialist
Trang Huyen Hoang Program Assistant LLIOP Operation Support
Hang Thuc Nguyen Team Assistant EASVS Operation Support
39
(b) Staff Time and Cost
Stage of Project Cycle
Staff Time and Cost (Bank Budget Only)
No. of staff weeks US$ Thousands (including travel
and consultant costs)
Lending
FY03 14.23 48.18
FY04 10.13 40.54
FY05 46.39 171.35
FY06 39.32 109.47
FY07 0.00 0.00
FY08 0.00 0.00
Total: 110.07 369.54
Supervision/ICR
FY03 0.00 0.00
FY04 0.00 0.00
FY05 0.00 0.00
FY06 0.00 0.00
FY07 25.07 63.80
FY08 29.18 66.66
FY09 23.07 58.15
FY10 25.69 89.26
FY11 19.65 62.34
FY12 24.86 63.15
FY13 34.75 63.97
FY14 17.55 57.42
Total: 199.82 524.75
Supervision/AF
FY10 0.43 2.87
FY11 0.00 0.00
FY12 0.00 0.00
FY13 0.00 0.00
FY14 0.00 0.00
Total: 0.43 2.87
40
Annex 5. Beneficiary Survey Results
Background
These results are taken from the evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Vietnam’s
Third Rural Transport Project, prepared by the Consulting Center for Transport
Development and Investment. Surveys were conducted in six of the 33 provinces of the
project including 6 improved, 2 maintained and 2 control roads. A total of 539 household
surveys were conducted, 21 commune chairmen were interviewed and 34 focus group
discussions were facilitated. An estimated 6,244 people living in the affected area of the
roads could access all weather roads on 50.7km improved roads surveyed. Based on the
results framework of RTP3 and the broader socio-economic objectives of the project, the
consultant constructed a variable set to guide the construction of the survey
questionnaires, focus group discussion questions, and key informant interviews as well as
data analysis.
Summary of the Methodology
The geographical sampling has included one province in each geographic region in which
the project was implemented. Selected provinces reflected the overall topographic and
ethnic features of their regions: Northwest, Hoa Binh; Red River Delta, Hung Yen, and
Central Coast, Binh Dinh. In addition, three provinces - Lao Cai (Northeast), Thanh Hoa
(North Central), and Quang Binh (North Central Coast) - were selected to enable
assessment of the outcomes of the expanded pilot project on women’s participation in
road maintenance implemented there as well as RTP3 financed road upgrading and
maintenance.
Characteristics of RPT3 Evaluation Sample Provinces
No. Provinces Region Topography Ethnic Minorities
1 Lao Cai Northeast Mountains 30-70%
2 Hoa Binh Northwest Mountains Over 70%
3 Thanh Hoa North Central Hills, mountains 10-30%
4 Hung Yen Red River D. Flat plain Less than 1%
5 Quang Binh N. Central Coast Flat Plain 1-5%
6 Binh Dinh S. Central Coast Hill, mountains 1-5%
In addition, within each selected province, commune and district roads were selected to
include examples of RTP3 financed road upgrading and road maintenance. In Lao Cai,
Thanh Hoa, and Quang Binh, they also included roads in communes where the Women’s
Union Women in Road Maintenance Project was being implemented.
Results
The evaluation examined the sample roads and found that the upgraded and maintained
roads were in generally good condition. Commune Chairmen and men’s focus groups
along the improved roads praised the upgrading and maintenance but also noted that
heavy truck related traffic threatens road safety and the sustainability of the investment.
41
According to the respondent’s estimates of travel time, the travel time to school was
29 minutes on average before the upgrade and this was reduced to 21 minutes after
the upgrade, saving eight minutes per trip. Estimated travel to work was also eight
minutes faster; travel to market was five minutes faster, and trips to the local medical
center were two minutes faster. Estimated travel times varied significantly among the
selected roads. For example travel to school on the Binh Thanh - Ngoi Hoa Road took 43
minutes before the project and 37 minutes at the time of the survey. On average the travel
time has decreased by 21% in upgraded areas. Travel times on the maintained roads also
decreased between two to twelve minutes after maintenance. The travel time for shopping
trips has not decreased significantly because people often go to the market near their
house on foot. On average the travel time on maintained roads decreased by 29%. On the
control roads there was no change in travel time.
Another important impact of road improvement is reduced vehicle operating cost
(VOC). Better quality roads reduce the wear and tear on tires, brakes, and engines. More
than half of the respondents (56%) using motorbikes on upgraded roads stated that the
operating cost was lower after the upgrade. Nearly half (45%) of the respondents using
motorbikes on maintained roads experienced a decrease in cost after road maintenance
while half (50%) saw no change.
Choices made regarding the mode of transport are also affected by the quality of the
road surface as well as the availability and cost of the various transport modes and
the distance of the trip. In general people walked to nearby destinations and used
bicycles and motorbikes to travel greater distances. Where available and affordable,
trucks and cars were preferred for transporting goods to and from markets. The
percentage of local people travelling by motorcycle was higher (59%), on the upgraded
roads than on the control roads (14%) especially for trips to health centers, markets, and
work. Travel by bicycle was significantly higher on the control roads at 61% compared
with 27% on maintained roads and 16% on upgraded roads. Overall, foot travel was
highest on the maintained roads at 41% compared with 24% on control roads and 24.5%
on upgraded roads. However, there was a significant range in travel by foot among the
42
roads in each category. Travel by foot on upgraded roads ranged between 14% on the
Long Phuc-Long Khanh road in Lao Cai to 54% on Ngoc Son Commune Road in Thanh
Hoa. On the control roads foot travel ranged from 16% to 40%.
Overall, 97% of people surveyed said that the project has improved travel
conditions; 85% said that they had increased income and better living conditions,
access to education, and markets, as well as stronger of social relationships and
improved community health. Respondents said that they were able to sell more of their
agricultural and other products at better prices because roads are now bringing buyers to
them. Although there is anecdotal evidence of significant changes in the local economy
such as the revival of brick making, there was only a small amount of new business
development along the sampled improved roads during the project.
43
Annex 6. Stakeholder Workshop Report and Results
Not applicable.
44
Annex 7. Summary of Borrower's ICR and/or Comments on Draft ICR
I. Project Overview:
The Third Rural Transport Project (RTP3) implemented through two Loan Agreements
Cr.4150-VN and Cr.5032-VN (AF) successively and two Trust Fund Grant Agreements
of DFID Grant (Grant No.TF 56320 and TF 92068). The project became effective in
September 28, 2007 and despite major challenges, such as wide scope of project (33
provinces), a high inflation rate, and a significant change in the climate in the
implementation phase but due to great efforts of the stakeholders, the project was
completed by the Closing Date June 30, 2014. All of the loans and grants of the project
have been disbursed on time. The project implemented successfully with initial objectives
of the project are (i) to reduce travel costs; (ii) improve access to markets, off-farm
economic opportunities, and social services (market, commercial centers, health stations
and schools) for poor rural communities in the 33 participating provinces in Northern
and Central Vietnam by:
Increasing the number of communities connected to basic access and improved all
weather roads
Improving rural road conditions through better management and maintenance of
the network
Strengthening the capacity within government and the private sector to plan,
implement and maintain improvements in the rural transport network
Strengthening the institutional management of rural roads including mechanisms
for transparency and anti-procurement transaction in the MOT and at the local
levels, and updated technical standards for rural roads
The project has mobilized at the maximum the participation of private enterprise, with
100% of the contracts implemented by private enterprises, on the one hand training to
improve their capacity, on the other hand creating a market of supply and demand healthy
for the construction and maintenance of rural roads. Besides the results achieved the
initial objectives, the project has a number of activities also laid the foundation for the
testing, research and a variety of innovative activities in the future, such as:
Maintenance of rural roads and more specifically building habits of maintenance
for rural roads. From the road links that have not been preserved, now has to
change in ways of thinking from leading officials to local people about the
maintenance. Besides, the project provides operational guidance and roads
management tools (VPRoMMs); expansion of social trends and improves the
ownership of the people through community organizations, such as gender
mainstreaming program for maintenance work
Research to enhance combat problems of climate change in the construction of
rural roads through surfacing trials and measures to minimize environmental
impacts such as green transportation is included in the design as well as during the
construction process
45
Support for building management systems in the future: Strengthening the central
and local levels in planning expenditure for rural roads through supporting
research on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)
Training and mobilizing women for routine maintenance in far distance areas
In the framework of the project, many researches on institutions and policies at the macro
level the project have also been implemented, such as:
Feasibility Study on Road Maintenance Fund for the first time in Vietnam
Research on policy implementation PPP (public-private partner in transport)
Long-term investment for Vietnamese roads
Training Plan for MOT
Sustainability of the project: although having much remaining works need to be done,
but the project has contributed fundamentally to ensure the sustainability of the rural road
system in Vietnam, through some of the following fields:
Building maintenance culture, the initial necessary institutions for maintenance
(such as rural road management manuals, management planning software for rural
roads), road maintenance fund
Develop standard education program for the construction and management of
rural roads for six universities and secondary schools in the regions so that they
continue to train for all the provincial levels, both public sector and private sector
The studies of technical standards including surfacing trials reinforced the
knowledge and standard technical to ensure the quality of the road
Efforts to integrate measures to deal with climate change and ensure a safe and
green transportation
II. Implementation result:
1. Component A - Rehabilitation and Improvement:
Original Credit Agreement Cr.4150 - VN
Complete the rehabilitation and improvement of 1949 km / 440 sub-projects, with a total
of 540 work contracts.
Restore the 2010 flood outcomes in 8 central provinces (Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang
Tri, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Thua Thien Hue, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen) with the
volume of 458 km / 88 sub-projects, 53 repair contracts; restore the road links damaged
by the flood.
Conduct pilot implementation of 4 subprojects/4 provinces based on the road surfacing
trial program- the Phase III
Cr.5032-VN (Additional Financing) (AWP3)
Complete the rehabilitation and improvement of 857 km/251 sub-projects/243 contracts.
Progress of this component met requirement, no serious problems affecting the progress
of the Agreement. Besides the efforts to achieve the main objective on number of km that
46
to be rehabilitated, project focused on enhancing the sustainability showed by the
following works:
Upgrading technical standards applied: MOT issued technical standards framework
for the project including all the technical standards for the design work and construction.
The project has drawn experience from projects of RTP1 and RTP2 for appropriate
investment for sustainable pavement types, as well as focus on the work of surface
drainage and road bed to ensure the longevity of the project. Independent research on
sustainable construction DFID pointed out very clear results in this respect (Sustainability
Evaluation Report for RTP3 by DFID).
To continue to improve the legal framework for the development of rural roads, the
project continued use of grants from DFID for surfacing trials phase 3. To date the final
report of this work has been completed to be the basis for the Ministry of Transport
issued technical standards for rural roads and projects supporting the Ministry to build a
completed operation manual for design, construction and maintenance of rural roads.
Green Transport: One of the initiatives of the project is to improve the sustainability
and using value of buildings is planting trees along the road links. For example, in Quang
Binh province, some road links are planting kinds of tree against the encroachment of
sand affect the shape of the road links and the slope of all roads in the project are
protected by grass roof slopes.
2. Component B – District and commune maintenance:
The maintenance of the district roads network under the original Credit Agreement
Cr.4150-VN AWP1 and AWP2 implemented in the period from May 2009 to December
2011, completed on time. The total amount implemented through 2 AWPs is: 16 178 km /
911 contracts.
The maintenance of the district roads network under the Cr.5032-VN (AF) was
implemented in 12 provinces with a total of about 3,226 km / 676 district roads /169
contracts. Begin implementation of data updating running software export to plan, plan
submission was in May 2012. Approving the procurement plan was in October 2012.
Procurement was conducted right after the procurement plan had been approved.
Implemented based on the routine and periodic maintenance.
Associated with normal maintenance activities, the project built initially model of routine
maintenance of roads by women implemented directly in 3 provinces of Thanh Hoa, Lao
Cai and Quang Binh. In this model, the PDOTs play an advisory role and training of
specialized techniques simple for organizations such as veterans, women's associations,
youth groups. Then WU pilot to perform routine maintenance work. This model is very
efficient and achieves the desired replication to other community organizations.
A reality in Vietnam before the formation of the RTP3, through surveys in most of the
provinces did not implement the maintenance of rural roads. The main activities were
mobilized in the movement bordered on the occasion of holidays or important occasions.
Through RTP3, localities initially allocate an annual budget for local road maintenance
such as Lao Cai, and Ha Tinh. Besides the road maintenance funds in operation with
47
funding obtained from the motorcycle is kept locally used for maintenance, there will be
a stable source for this maintenance work.
The project will also build the foundation to implement strides in the planning of
maintenance from qualitative to plan under a simple Excel format to using software to
manage and a full completion planning and scientific more than building medium-term
expenditure plans for local roads.
In parallel with the above works, the forms of implementation is also more complete
from performed according to the movement of public to procurement based on the project
requirement to leverage the advantages of the procurement work on the costs and
benefits. Besides, the project has used innovative communities in the local availability to
perform maintenance such as gender mainstreaming program described above.
3. Component C – Technical Assistance:
In the original agreement Cr.4150-VN, apart from FM software development consulting
services and advisory consulting services of the project that were prepared and approved
TORs and RFPs right from the effective date of the agreement (July 2007) and were
performed in January 2008 that was in accordance with the approved 18-month
procurement plan.
Other consulting services, including Audit of Project Financial Statements, Internal
Audit, Community Supervision and Participation Support were late performed (the
services were procured from July 2010 to December 2010). Training programs were also
held late (From June 2009 onwards).
Component C was completed on time. The consultant services helped investor to capture
the positive aspects and shortcomings in the project management process to draw lessons
applied for future projects, while also contributing to improved and additional high
capacity for local management. Compared with the overall progress of the project, these
services are free of defects influence. The training in 6 schools under the Ministry of
Transport and training support all of the provinces involved in the project has provided a
number of knowledge under 9 thematic objects from PDOTs, Supervision Consultant,
contractors, local officials to improve themselves so that they can undertake the works at
the level of rural road project.
This agreement implemented 6 consulting services to support the project: Advisory
Consulting Services, External Financial Audit, Internal Audit, Technical Audit, Social
and Environmental Monitoring, Community Supervision and Participation Support. In
addition, to enhance the management of rural road network system, the World Bank
added one consulting service The Operational Manual on the design, construction, quality
control and maintenance of rural roads in Vietnam, 6 above-mentioned services and
approved procurement plans from July 2012, starting procurement from August 2012,
implemented from June 2013 for a term consistent with the term of the Agreement and
the nature of services.
The project pays special attention to the core content of technical support. As mentioned
in the main report adopted Project Plan determined to improve fairness and transparency
in procurement, every 6 months this plan is updated results of implementation and make
timely adjustments but justifiable to increase the transparency and fairness to the parties
48
actually participate in the procurement. The project gave a decision and rejected 39
bidders in executing a Bank-financed contract within a year.
Besides, although small-scale projects, the roads are rehabilitated, improved mostly on
the scope of the current roads, but the project is still fully apply Environmental
Safeguards Policy Framework through training and Public disclosure, Community
Consultant and arrange for sufficient counterpart funds to carry out the procedures for
land acquisition and resettlement. With such efforts have no complaints about the project
on Environmental Safeguards.
Summary of achievements through the two Agreements
Investment
Sub-
projects Km Contracts
Total Contract
amount (VND)
Cr.4150
Civil works component 440 1.949 540 2,149,047,879,315
Flood recovery 88 457.46 53 122,954,295,031
Surfacing Trials 5 12.76 5 24,366,211,625
Maintenance Component 2,728 16,118 911 605,514,811,000
Technical Assistance 11 141,082,961,533
Sub-total of Cr.4150 3,170 18,067 1,464 3,042,966,158,504
Cr.5032 (AF)
Civil works component 286 960 287 1,868,574,960,367
Maintenance Component 701 3368.28 195 291,629,695,000
Gender Mainstreaming 1,444 3148.62 26 16,095,907,000
Technical Assistance 7 23,654,550,576
Sub-total of Cr.5032 2,440 7,479 515 2,199,955,112,943
Total 5,608 25,812 1,977 5,242,921,271,447
The project has conducted comprehensive training on professional project management
tools for technical, procurement, environment, social, and maintenance. Initially through
6 schools under MOT direct training for officials of PDOT, PPMU, as well as the core
districts. After that the documents and training methods are implemented with the local
support of the project experts. Subjects were grown to the small private contractors,
commune officials specializing in traffic, some members of the community organizations.
After the project, the whole of the documents is stored and how to train to maintain
common to those involved when necessary.
To improve the capacity and institutional strengthening project has mobilized the active
participation of different departments, branches of MOT into the activities of the project,
such as:
49
- Personnel and Organization Department in training and capacity building,
- Procurement Department, Auditing Agencies and the Inspection, Quality and
Evaluation Department into activities of supervision and monitoring of
procurement, shopping and implementation plan procurement transparency of
RTP3,
- VRA to build management software system for rural roads and road maintenance
funds,
- Department of Science and Technology on issues related to technical standards,
including surfacing trials sub-projects,
Projects implemented programs to exchange knowledge as organized missions in Laos,
India and participated in forums traffic in Africa. The transfer of management
VPRoMMs software instead of spending a significant funding for construction and
training using the software has saved an estimated US$1 million to the budget. The
exchange of knowledge between countries under the Bank's program has brought new
thoughts of the managers in the field of Transport.
Total data on the training of the project through the two Agreements
Priority
Ord. Type of training Courses
Number of
trainees
1 Training by Consultants for lecturers of 6 schools under
MOT
20 277
2 Training in 6 schools under MOT 345 8,699
3 Training support in the provinces 264 10,310
4 Training by Community Supervision and Participation
Support
64 1,601
5 Training by WUs of 3 provinces: Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and
Quang Binh
3 231
Total 696 21,118
Comparison with data from the project with the objectives of training is 14,000 trainees;
implementation results have exceeded 150.8%
III. The main results based on the evaluation framework to monitor and evaluate
the project:
Under the Results Framework project initial built, the data and the PDO indicators have
been updated up to March 2014, compared with baseline data were established in 2006
and objectives to be achieved by the end of the project. The current indicators as the
following table:
50
Results Framework of the Project
PDO
Indicators Baseline Current Objective
Increase in the
percentage of people
living within 2km of an
all-weather road
Value 76% 87% 86%
Updated date 21/2/2006 3/2014 30/6/2014
Comment (VHLSS 2012)
Reduction in travel times
to nearest schools and
markets.
Value 0 9% 8%
Updated date 21/2/2006 3/2014 30/6/2014
Comment (VHLSS 2012)
Increase in households
living in villages with
access to motorized
transport services for
hire
Value 79% 73% 84%
Updated date 21/2/2006 3/2014 30/6/2014
Comment (VHLSS 2012)
Baseline Current Objective
Number of rural bridges
built using RTP3 funds
Value 0.00 36 40
Updated date 21/2/2006 3/2014 30/6/2014
Comment Initial objectives is
250 bridges and
then reduced to 40
bridges reflected
the actual number
Km of rural roads
rehabilitated using RTP3
funds
Value 0.00 3283 3150
Updated date 21/2/2006 3/2014 30/6/2014
Comment
Km of district roads
maintained using RTP3
funds
Value 0.00 19902 17000
Updated date 21/2/2006 3/2014 30/6/2014
Comment Initial objectives is
12.000km and
then changed
based on actual
result
Rural transport policy
and strategy document
Value None none Approved
Updated date 21/2/2006 31/12/2008 31/12/2011
51
approved by the GOV
and adopted by donors
Comment Completed
Revised standards for
rural roads approved by
MOT and adopted by
relevant ministries and
donors.
Value Revised standards
approved
Revised standards
approved
Updated date 21/2/2006 31/12/2011 31/12/2011
Comment Completed
Guidelines for rural
roads maintenance
management
Value None Guidelines
drafted and
approved by
MOT
Guidelines drafted
and approved by
MOT
Updated date 21/2/2006 31/12/2010 31/12/2010
Comment Completed
Number of provinces
with sufficient capacity
for decentralized
implementation
Value 10 32 32
Updated date 21/2/2006 7/6/2013 30/6/2014
Comment Completed
Percentage of contracts
awarded to the private
sector (%)
Value 65 95 98
Updated date 21/2/2006 3/2014 23/6/2014
Comment Processing
Number of staff trained Value 0 19189 16000
Updated date 21/2/2006 7/6/2013 30/6/2014
Comment
Increase the number of
communes have access
to basic road
Value 359 149 30
Updated date 21/2/2006 3/2014 30/6/2014
Comment number of
communes
have access
to basic road
(VHLSS 2012) Number of
communes who
have access to
basic road. Initial
objectives is 50
communes and
then reduced to 30
communes
Number of provinces
have plans for local
transport priorities
Value 0 12 12
Updated date 21/2/2006 7/6/2013 30/6/2014
Comment
For the PDO to meet the requirements for which the objective is the reduction in travel
times to nearest schools and markets is exceeding the initial objective of 8%. Objectives
52
Increase in households living in villages with access to motorized transport services for
hire is 84%, the same the initial objective.
For intermediate result, most of the objectives achieved its objectives, many objectives
are exceeded objectives as the number of km of roads to be improved (3,175km
compared to 3,150km objective), and the km have been maintenance (19,902km
compared to the objective of 17,000km). 2 objectives not achieved its objectives
including total investment demand (compared to the objective of 36 for 250 bridges), and
the lack of road access communal basis roads (according to survey data Survey of
Household Living Standards Vietnam-VHLSS 2012 updated March 2014 is 118
communes in the whole country compared to the basic data is 359 communes).
An important objective is set out in the implementation of the project is capacity building
of planning of provinces under Component C. The project set out to achieve number of
provinces have the ability to set up a Medium Term Expenditure Plan (MTEF) is 20 out
of 32 participating provinces. By the end of the Closing Date, the project continues to
research and develop software applications RONET applied for planning medium-term
expenditure of the provinces. Project selected 4 provinces (Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa, Nghe
An, Ha Tinh) of the above 12 provinces in order to apply and evaluate software features
RONET, complete to be able to use, planning and included in planning for transportation
development in the province. Also the project gave common and guidelines for the
remaining 8 provinces to practice how to plan. So at the end of the project, the
achievements have been reached in 12 out of 32 provinces.
An intermediate objective is a result of communes without roads to the central town are
less accurate due to the administrative map of the country, in the province in recent years
much has changed, enter the administrative separation leads to number of communes
changes.
IV. The lessons learned:
Increasing sustainability through training: the project has done very well in training
but could have launched this component earlier during the project implementation period.
Maintaining the software tools of project management and financial management that
have been developed in RTP3 will increase transparency in the project information as
well as significant time savings for operators.
Harmonization between the Government and Donors: the downside to this was the
need for both sides’ efforts and required access to the management policy of the Donors.
Recommendations for future projects should allow applying the policies of Vietnam in
the project.
Attention to the capacity of the local authorities: especially in the selection of
investment projects and contract management. Consider to carefully assess the capacity
of the provinces to adopt the model of decentralization of project implementation.
Taking into account the sustainable construction aspects: through the survey, design
and the negative impacts of climate change and the environment. Special forecast on
traffic volumes increase, including the risk of higher traffic load than the design should
be a key focus too.
53
Annex 8. Comments of Cofinanciers and Other Partners/Stakeholders
What support did the UK provide?
DFID provided £32.6 million to the Third Phase of Rural Transport Project (RTP3) in
Vietnam together with the World Bank (WB) and the Government of Vietnam (GoV).
The resources for RTP3 were allocated in two commitments. DFID, the WB and the
GoV contributed £26.7million, £62.89 million and £25 million respectively during the
original financing period between 2007 and 2011. DFID allocated further £950,000 for
design and evaluation works. In 2011, an Additional Financing (AF) to RTP3 was
approved by the WB, DFID and the government to sustain and build on positive recent
achievements in maintenance and management of rural roads in Vietnam. DFID
provided £5 million to support RTP3 Additional Financing for the period of January
2012-March 2014. WB and GoV provided £60m and £10m respectively to support
RTP3 Additional Financing.
Section A: Detailed Output Scoring
Output 1: Improved rural road conditions through better management and
maintenance of the rural road network
Output 1: Final score and performance description: Final Score: A+
Output 1 has 3 indicators dealing with “district road length maintained”, “number of
provinces using road maintenance system”, and “number of people trained for road
maintenance and management”. All three indicator exceeded expectations. The second
target was modified over the project period and exceeded expectations slightly.
Indicator 1 target: 17,000 km of district roads maintained using RTP3 and
RTP3-AF resources
19,736 km of rural roads were maintained by December 2013 under RTP3 and RTP3-
Additional Financing (target 17,000 km by June 2014). This does not include the roads
maintained by women (See Output 3 Indicator 1).
Indicator 2 target- Result based performance maintenance system in operation in
11 provinces The original design of RTP3 included the use of a software (RoadNAM) for planning,
monitoring and evaluating improvements in rural roads in 33 provinces of Vietnam.
Realizing the need of a simplified tool, RTP3 upgraded and piloted in five provinces
the Provincial Road Maintenance Management System (PRoMMS) successfully used
in Laos. Subsequently, resources were made available under the RTP3-AF to
implement Vietnam Provincial Road Maintenance Management System (VPRoMMS)
in eleven provinces. The target set in the design of the additional funding was
overachieved, as twelve provinces have used VPRoMMS with DFID support of
US$ 6,000,000.
Indicator 3 target- 16,000 persons from the Ministry of Transport, other
recipient institutions and local communities trained for rural road maintenance
and management
54
The project had set an ambitious target for training the government staff and
community members to plan, manage and use resources for rural transport more
effectively. According to the PMU report 24
, a total of 345 training courses were
reported to have been carried out by the six vocational schools with 8,689 participants
from PDOTs, and a further 252 courses were carried out by vocational schools and
PDOTs for 10,500 participants from district and commune level. With more than
19,000 trainees, the target of 16,000 people trained mentioned in the Results
Framework has been significantly exceeded.
Output 2: Increased number of communities connected to new and improved all
weather roads
Output 2: final score and performance description: Final Score: A
Indicator 1 target: Number of communes lacking year round basic access
reduced to 30 in 2012 The WB result framework has a target of 50 communes lacking year round basic
access roads in 2012 and 30 communes in 2014 (the baseline was 359 communes in
2006). The Ministry of Transport reported in the meeting with the DFID Project
Completion Review team on 20 February 2014 that they monitor the number of
communes lacking car access to all weather road 149 communes still don’t have year
round car access. Further discussion with the central Project Management Unit
(PMU and Provincial Project Management Units (PPMUs) have revealed that they
don’t report this indicator anymore because all communes in Vietnam have year
round basic access now and they only monitor the communes having all year round
car access. The latest Vietnam Households Living Standards Survey (VLSS) 201225
result has also shown the proportion of hamlets having year round road accessible by
car increased to 83.9%% (from 80.7% in 2010 and 79.7% in 2008). Although there is
no data for this indicator but evidence has shown that the target was overachieved
because all communes in Vietnam have now year round basic access. This is the
result of many interventions but there is plausible evidence that RTP3 has been a
significant contributor to this success.
Indicator 2 target: 3150 km of district roads rehabilitated using RTP3 and
RTP3-AF resources 3032 km of rural roads were rehabilitated by contractors by the end of 2013. The
remaining works under RTP3-AF will be completed by June 2014 that will bring the
total of 3205 km rehabilitated under the project. This will slightly exceed the
expected target.
Output 3: Increased poor women's participation in rural road maintenance to
enhance women's economic empowerment
Output 3: final score and performance description: Final Score: A++
Section B: Results and Value for Money.
24 PMU6 Report Provided to Projection Completion Review team, February 2014 (quest number 4374579)
25 Vietnam 2012 Household Living Standard Survey, General Statistical Office, March 2014
55
1. Achievement and Results
A+- Outputs moderately exceeded expectation
The main achievements of RTP3 at the output level were:
1. 3,032 km rural roads rehabilitated in 33 provinces of Vietnam by the end of 2013
and 3205 km will be rehabilitated by end of June 2014 (target - 3150 km by
2014 )
2. 19,736 km rural roads maintained. In addition 3,148 km roads maintained by
poor women in villages (total target 20,000 km and achievement 22,884km)
3. 19,198 government staff and community representatives trained for road
maintenance (target 17,000)
4. 2,300 poor women trained for road maintenance (target 1,400)
5. Local road asset management system operational in 12 provinces (target 11)
1.3 Direct feedback from beneficiaries
The PCR team had meetings with the road users, Women’s Union and women involved
in road maintenance, Provincial Department of Transportation (PDoT), RTP3-
Provincial Management Unit (PPMU), Ministry of Transportation (MOT), RTP3-
Central Program Management Unit (PMU), World Bank Vietnam, Vietnam Rural Road
Surfacing Research program, Gender Consultant etc. to seek direct feedback.
Road users and local community Road users were very appreciative of the RTP3 achievements. One retired army
personnel from Thanh Hoa province, after communicating his appreciation for the works
under all phases of RTP in his village in the last fifteen years, said “ the roads upgraded
through RTP3 has improved the local communities level of accessibility: the villagers
are now connected to the national highway, children can go to school on bicycle (4 km),
taxis can be hired for emergency medical response, young people can commute to
collage, and new and traditional agricultural products can be sold to nearby market
(4.5 km).” This reinforced the feedback provided by the rural community to the project
implementation missions that essentially highlighted benefits to the poor people living
in the influence area of the rehabilitated and maintained roads.
1.4 Overall Outcome score and description:
A- Outcome met expectation
The achievement of Outcome results has been measured against 4 indicators out of
which 3 met expectations and one did not meet the expectations. Outcome
Indicator Target Achievement and strength of evidence
Score
Proportion of
population
within 2 km of
all-weather
road
Increase from 76%
in 2006 to 89% in
2014 ( estimated
proportionate
target for 2012 -
86% )
Increase to 87% in rural in Vietnam in 2012
(Strength of evidence judged to be medium.)
A (based on
estimated
proportionate
target for
2012)
Average travel
time to markets
and schools
Reduced by 8%
between 2006 and
2014
Average travel time to markets and schools
reduced by 38% and 20% respectively on 6
sample roads rehabilitated by RTP3. On
average, the travel time to schools, work,
A (Could be
A+ but
deflated
considering
56
market and health facilities reduced by 21%
due to road upgrading.
(Strength of evidence-weak due to small
sample size. But the lower reduction rate
compared to VHLSS gives credibility to the
RTP3 sample survey results. )
Average travel time to nearest markets and
schools reduced by 30% in the rural areas of
Vietnam between 2006 and 2012 (13 minutes
to 9 minutes).
weak
evidence)
Households
living in
villages with
access to
motorized
transport
services for
hire (%)
Reduced from
79% in 2006 to
84% in 2014
73% in 2012 B
Jobs and
additional
income
generated for
poor women
1800 jobs and
$245,000
A study is being carried out to review the
gender involvement in road maintenance and
the report will be ready in April. The
definition of job is not clear here but if it
means number of women participated in road
maintenance then the target was
overachieved.
A
1.5 Impact and Sustainability
Improved travel condition
Each km of improved RTP3 road provided 125 persons living in the affected area access
to all-weather roads. This is a good indicator in terms of population benefitting from the
project. The project has brought travel benefits for poor women and men, especially
ethnic minority people in mountainous areas. 97% of people surveyed agreed that the
project has improved travel conditions.
Reduction on transportation time and costs
The reduction of travel time (see table above) was also significant, including for non-
motorized transport (average 32% for bicycle and 7% for pedestrian due to good
condition of roads). The frequency (number of trips) did not change much but comfort,
use of motorized vehicles and saving in travel cost increased. However situation
worsened in terms of traffic safety, general security, and environment.
Improved well-being
The percentage of poor households decreased by 5% (19% to 14%). This is particularly
important, as the project seem to focus on the last front of poverty reduction so that no
one is left behind. 85-92% of surveyed people responded that they have had better
income, living conditions, conditions of learning, trade, strengthening of social
relationships and community health. There are multiple driving forces for improvements
in people’s well-being; and causality relationships are complex. However local people
indicated that improved road access had major influence on the positive social and
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economic changes in RTP3 project areas. This is consistent with the international
experience and evidence related to the impacts of rural roads.
Women’s awareness and participation on rural road maintenance
Women's Self Maintenance model used in RTP3 significantly improved awareness on
the importance of maintaining rural roads. It also provided income incentives to
motivate more regular and professional maintenance implementation. The training and
maintenance works made thousands of participating poor women more empowered and
active, and proved for the first time that they are a capable valuable and valued resource
for improving rural roads.
Sustainability of RTP3 Outcomes
Funding remains one of the main obstacles to the sustainability of rural roads in
Vietnam. The Government does not encourage the use of loans for recurrent
expenditure, and DFID grant supported maintenance activities have ended.
Sustainability of RTP3 outcomes will depend on sustaining and expanding the outcome
results delivered through improved (rehabilitated/ maintained) rural roads, strengthened
capacity to improve roads, and women’s participation and economic empowerment.
There are many positives with regards to sustainability of RTP3. RTP3’s support for
piloting road asset management system, road surfacing research and improvements in
institutional building (policy, regulations, standards, trainings, women’s participation
etc.) all combined had three major impacts: (a) RTP3 roads are more durable and
climate resilient than RTP1 and RTP2 roads; (b) Vietnam has piloted an evidence based
road improvement need assessment; (c) There are now viable options for selecting road
improvement technologies (e.g. concrete/ gravel/ bituminous/ brick paved technologies);
and (d) Stakeholders are intent to incorporate RTP’s lessons learning in new programs.
RTP3 has been successful in introducing a maintenance culture but it has not created
sustainable procedures and systems that may be replicated and continued after the end of
the project. More work needs to be done in this area. The reduction of donor funding,
especially the grant technical assistance (like DFID) will make this more difficult.
2. Costs and timescale
2.1 Was the project completed within budget / expected costs: Y
The project received time and cost extension. For DFID it is important to pilot the new
road asset management software (VPRoMMS) and to test the model of women
involvement in road maintenance in order to find a suitable model for rural road
maintenance given there is not yet a mechanism for rural road maintenance in Vietnam.
For the broader WB/DFID/GOV RTP3 project the Additional financing phase was
necessary in order to cover the cost of overruns resulting from price escalations during
the implementation, especially those associated with the rehabilitation component. The
key factors driving the increased were (i) unusually high inflation in the construction
sector and (ii) a need for modifications to technical specifications during detailed
design.
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2.2 Key cost drivers
The key cost drivers of the project were:
Road rehabilitation - 78% of RTP3’s total cost. Costs increased due to increased
proportion of higher standard and more climate resilient (bituminous) surface
and high inflation rate (48% cost increase in bituminous roads over the period
2005-2008), triggering the need of additional financing support and
restructuring to ensure resources for this component.
Road maintenance - 16% of RTP3’s total cost.
Capacity building - 7% of RTP3’s total cost; includes costs for program
management (advisory) services, independent review consultants, facilities to
support MOT and PDoTs, and trainings.
Exchange rate - total US$7.43 million gains obtained and used for road
rehabilitation and maintenance.
2.3 Was the project completed within the expected timescale: N
It was extended to allow time for the Additional Financing phase. The Additional Phase
was completed within the timescale.
3. Evidence and Evaluation
3.1 Assess any changes in evidence and what this meant for the project.
There was no new evidence that challenged the project’s rationale and theory of
change. However increased implementation costs and evidence for the need of more
climate and disaster resilient road pavement triggered revisions of the World Bank’s
results framework and eventually approval of the additional financing to RTP3. For
DFID, more focus in roads maintenance (women’s participation in road maintenance,
operationalize road maintenance systems, and influencing for securing and sustaining
resources for rural road maintenance) rationalize the additional financing of £5 million
in 2011. The overall output targets have met the expectations within the allocated
resources. With this and also based on the Project Completion Review team’s
discussion with stakeholders, there is a good confidence in the achievement of the
outcome results. There seemed to be a general agreement that it is too early to assess
the achievements against the target impacts.
4. Value for Money
4.1 Performance on VfM measures
Economy- the project had set up effective mechanisms to ensure low management
expenses by implementing through the government. However the project reserved
sufficient funds for project supervision by experts and by the community. It also
ensured competitive procurement of infrastructure works by ensuring high rate of
private sector participation, which is above average in the sector. The project also
carries out additional studies on unit costs, and pilots innovative ways to recover
costs by using local materials and promoting community supervision. RTP3
proliferated use of concrete pavement in rural roads in Vietnam, which is cheaper
than in South Asian countries, taking advantage of cheap price of cement in Vietnam.
Efficiency- The project ensured transparent and fair procurement procedures. The
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elaborate and regular revisions of risk assessment and anti-corruption mechanisms
also contributed to efficiency gains. The project had a list of monthly monitoring
indicators for each project component (e.g. disbursement rate, number of contracts
signed, number of training carried out etc.) to assess and expedite progress.
Effectiveness- Effectiveness and sustainability of RTP3 were ensured through better
pavement quality, improved climate and disaster resilience through research,
enhancing women’s participation in road maintenance, increased participation from
private contractors, and massive scales in road improvement works and training.
5.2 Commercial Improvement and Value for Money The supervision mission in September 2013 assessed that the procurement
performance of the project implementing agencies including the PMU and PPMUs as
satisfactory. Procurement performance of the Government improved due to long
association with RTP, taking less time to obtain no objection from the World Bank.
The coordination arrangement for procurement was clear, which reduced delays in
procurement and implementation.
Due to RTP3’s transparent procurement procedures and its policy to facilitate private
sector participation (including providing training to them), the percent of contracts
won by the private sector for road rehabilitation and maintenance increased from
65% in 2007 to 98% in 2011. This helped increase competition, bring down the costs
and create more jobs for non-state actors. Private sector was attracted to RTP3 works,
primarily due to efficient and secured cash flow.
All civil works (both for rehabilitation and maintenance) were procured using
national competitive bidding procedures and following World Bank’s implementation
procedures and safeguard systems. A detailed Procurement Plan for the contracts
were reviewed and approved by the WB before procurement. The implementation of
the Action Plan to Improve Fairness and Transparency in Procurement with clear
actions, role and responsibilities such as how to develop bid plans, bid invitations,
bidding documents, bid opening and evaluation has further improve the procurement
process. The project operating manual has been updated to incorporate WB
procurement requirements and procedures for goods, works and consultancy services.
5.3 Role of project partners
The Ministry of Transport (MOT) was the executing agency for the project and was
responsible for overall management. MOT assigned a Project Management Unit
(PMU) to be responsible for the project implementation. Implementation was
delegated to provinces and Provincial Project management Unit (PPMU) was set up
to manage project activities. The PMU was responsible for overall coordination,
quality assurance, training, monitoring and evaluation and supervision of activities in
the project provinces.
The review team found that the PMU, Provincial PMUs, and WUs played important
roles in managing this project. MOT-Central PMU worked closely with PPMUs to
provide guidance and support. The WUs managed women’s participation in road
maintenance very effectively.
The World Bank, with a multidisciplinary task team including social development,
60
environment, procurement, financial management staff, have provided close
monitoring and support to ensure the project was delivering good value for money
and development objectives of the project will be fulfilled. The project design
provided an appropriate level of procurement control by the donors which achieved a
good balance between ensuring high standards of procedural compliance over the
project period.
5.4 Did the project represent Value for Money : Y
Overall the project delivered value for money. Some challenges though were not
anticipated while designing and initial phase of implementation; e.g. use of advanced
and licensed software system for road asset management, high inflation, delays in
women’s participation in road maintenance etc.
6. Conclusions
The third phase of Rural Transport Project (RTP3) has been a successful collaboration
of the Government of Vietnam, DFID and the World Bank to deliver infrastructure and
poverty reduction results. It was a large project with many components; implemented in
almost half of the country for about eight years. It will have long term impact on the all-
weather road access to the poor women, children, and men in rural areas of Vietnam as
well as the sustainable rural roads in the country. It has rehabilitated 3,032 km and
maintained further 19,736 km rural roads benefitting over 3 million people; built ten
bridges; mobilized several thousand poor and marginalized women for road
maintenance (first time in the country); piloted the road asset management system;
enabled use of innovative and climate resilient rural road technologies; and trained over
19,000 government staff and community members for road maintenance. The majority
of output targets of the project were met, giving confidence in the achievement of
outcome and impact level results.
However challenges remain on sustaining and build on new initiatives developed under
RTP3. The project has been successful in introducing a maintenance culture but it has
not created sustainable procedures and systems that may be replicated and continued
after the end of the project. There is a need to develop a proper guidance for scaling up
of the road asset management system and the model of women involvement in road
maintenance need more guidance as well as providing resources for these activities.
Road Maintenance Fund has been set up but it is not clear how the fund will be allocated
or whether there will be any budget for rural road maintenance and what mechanism it
will be used so further work needs to be done in this area as well. Sustainability of RTP3
outcomes will depend on sustaining and expanding the outcome results delivered
through rehabilitated and maintained rural roads, strengthened capacity to improve
roads, and women’s participation and economic empowerment.
61
Annex 9. List of Supporting Documents
Are Rural Road Investments Alone Sufficient to Generate Transport Flows? Lessons from
a Randomized Experiment in Rural Malawi and Policy Implications, Raballand et al.,
World Bank, 2011
Country Partnership Strategy with the Socialist Republic Vietnam 2007-2011, WB, 2007.
Evaluation: Socio-Economic Outcomes of Vietnam’s Third Rural Transport Project,
World Bank, 2014
Empowering Women to Build a More Equitable Future in Vietnam, World Bank, 2014
Government Spending and poverty Reduction in Vietnam, Shenggen Fan, Pham Lan
Huong, and Trinh Quang Long, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington
DC, and the Central Institute for Economic Management, Hanoi, 2004
Impact of Rural Roads on Poverty Reduction: A Case Study-Based Analysis, Asian
Development Bank: IES: REG 2002-15, 2002.
Implementation Plan of Project Awareness Raising and Capacity building for Women in
Rural Road Maintenance, Lao Cai Province Vietnam Women’s Union, 2013.
Institutional, incentive and capacity analysis of the Rural Transport sector, Transport
Development Strategy Institute, Ministry of Transport, Vietnam, 2005.
Roads Impact on Poverty Reduction - A Cameroon Case Study, World Bank Policy
Research Working Paper 5209, Gachassin et al. (2010)
Rural Roads and Poor Area Development in Vietnam, World Bank Policy Research
Working Paper 4340, Mu, Ren and Dominique van de Walle, 2007.
Rural Roads Boost Ethnic Minority Livelihoods in Vietnam, DFID, 2010.
Rural Road Surfacing Research: Dissemination and Mainstreaming of Research,
Vietnam, Final Report (SEACAP 1), 2007.
Socio-Economic Development Plan 2006-2010, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2006.
The Role of Services in Rural Income: The Case Of Vietnam, M. Ataman Aksoy and
Aylin Isik-Dikmelik1, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4180, March 2007.
Third Rural Transport Project (RTP3) Consultancy Services for Technical Assistance for
Project Preparation Draft Final Report, MOT, 2005
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MAP
