A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region

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A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region Figure 2.10: Institutional set up of the highway sector in Sri Lanka at the national level Figure 2.11: Competencies represented in highway agencies Planning for development, programming of projects Contract administration, dispute resolution Financial management information system Mechanical IT related functions Library Design of roads Central level lab and/or R&D Maintenance planning and programming Design of bridges 60% 60% 70% 70% 70% 70% 80% 80% 80% 90% 36 Environment impact assessment Asset Management Project monitoring Social impact assessment, land management Legal affairs Procurement of PPP projects Electrical Traffic assessment and road safety Public relations officer 20% Highway patrolling 10% Others 30% 30% 30% 40% 50% 50% 50% 50% 60%
A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region REFORM Economist explicitly involved in planning and development Some nontechnical (and nontraditional) competencies could be located in the national road agencies in the region and in the Road Development Corporation/Boards established in India. However, the quality of skills needs to be enhanced; for example, only 30 percent of the highway agencies are able to provide safety statistics for the road network because safety is not a core competence of the agencies, nor is it considered their responsibility or concern. In addition, only 40 percent of the highway agencies have a safety council or committee in place, evidence of the fact that safety is not on the list of priorities for most highway agencies. The structure of highway agencies in South Asia is based on the functions carried out by them. Some highway agencies have restructured themselves along functional lines, but structures based on territorial/regional jurisdictions still continue in many cases and sometimes coexist with functional arrangements in the headquarters. Some highway agencies have also set up regional branches for the execution of construction works. The creation of a separate, dedicated organization or department to deal with large projects is also not uncommon – particularly in those agencies that receive external multilateral funding for the development of highway networks. Most highway agencies have now established quality management/control units and a few have set up specialist cells for planning and asset management, road safety management, social and environment aspects, and so on. However, the terms of reference of these specialist cells are usually not very well defined and they fail to attract staff with relevant skills. Among the national road agencies, Bangladesh provides an exception in the region, where the road agency structure includes a Planning and Development cell, headed by an economist, responsible for the prioritization of road projects according to economic need. The RDCs have a slightly different management structure. They are formed as corporate entities under the relevant companies/corporate act and governed by a board consisting of majority representation from the government and limited representation from road users/ private sector. Most organizations have been created as an implementation arm of the PWD to promote PPP contracts. They also enjoy more independence in decision making and, at times, are able to raise resources from the market. Although their overall mandate is limited in comparison with the regular road authorities, their corporate structure provides them the leverage of faster implementation and expeditious decision-making capability. In all cases, powers are delegated from the most senior official to subordinate officials. The extent of delegation varies across organizations. Delegation of powers is categorized by nature (approval of proposals, time extensions, cost overruns, and so on) and size, for example, minor cost or time overruns can be approved by junior officials. For instance, in the case of Pakistan, powers are (officially) not delegated to a level lower than the head of department. Bangladesh The Bangladesh RHD has a clearly defined structure (Figure 2.12): Five Additional Chief Engineers head the different departments of the RHD and report to a Chief Engineer, who is the highest-ranking official of the RHD. In addition, there are nine Additional Chief Engineers; one in each zone and four or five Additional Chief Engineers who work as Project Directors of Development Projects. The Chief Engineer is appointed by the ministry, to which he also reports. The departments of RHD are aligned to functions, for example, planning and development, and bridges as well as geographic zones. There are no departments catering specifically to projects funded by international financial institutions (IFIs) or donor agencies. India In India, many states have PWDs headed by a (Principal) Secretary, a bureaucrat from the administrative services and/or an Engineer-in-Chief from the department itself, rising through the ranks. There are instances where the technical head, that is, the Engineer- 37
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Transport Division Transport, Water
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A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region

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