A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region

A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region
Roadmap for Reform
(vi) Private Sector Participation: The indicators under this category intend to assess the
road agency’s effort to attract and promote private sector financing of the road sector.
(vii) Governance: The indicators under this category are intended to capture initiatives such
as right to/freedom of information, e-procurement, website, publishing of annual
reports, road user satisfaction surveys, and grievance redressal mechanisms.
It is important to note that the proposed framework is generic and agencies are advised to
review and customize this framework first, based on their specific mandate and vision. The
weightages to arrive at the overall performance score for various indicators given in the
guidance notes may also be reviewed in their own context.
Needless to say, an essential prerequisite for highway agency reform would be larger public
sector reforms as highway agencies do not operate in a vacuum; they are a part of the wider
public sector. The internal reform of a highway agency would therefore be the critical next
step. The study proposes a four-phase reform roadmap that should gradually transform
the highway agencies from traditional to world-class, modern organizations. However,
before agencies can start implementing this reform process, some basic requirements for
performance monitoring need to be fulfilled. These include the existence of a regular data/
information collection strategy in the organization and systems to support collection of data
and monitoring of performance. It is also advisable that these systems are fully integrated
for seamless information transfer, efficient information management and overall sector
management.
Phase 1: Preparing for Performance Monitoring
Phase 1 is the period in which necessary changes to the institutional and legal framework
should be proposed. Apart from issues related to external linkages, the internal organization
should also be reviewed. Phase 1 is the appropriate time to reorganize the agency in a
manner that enables the realization of a long-term strategy and supports performance
monitoring. Some of the reforms needed in this phase include:
• A clear and comprehensive mandate;
• Separation of client and producer functions;
• Preparation of annual performance agreements;
• Review/development of a long-term road sector policy; and
• Guidelines for detailing a program of works/preparation of operation manual.
Phase 2: Monitoring and Improving Performance
Phase 1 should have resulted in the reforms mentioned above. Phase 2 should then focus on
improving performance in accordance with the annual performance agreement and/or the
long-term strategy of the agency. The input and intermediate outcome indicators, which are
relatively easy to implement, should now be monitored, and the agency should take action
to align the realized values with agreed targets, monitoring systems and procedures that
have been put in place. Some of the reforms needed in this phase include:
• Negotiation of an annual performance agreement between the highway agency and its
parent ministry;
• Availability of qualified staff with an appropriate mix of skill sets;
• Involvement of users and stakeholders;
• Human resource management;
• Establishment of ring-fenced budgets/road funds; and
• Assessment of the value of the road network.
12