PAD - LGED

accounting firm with IT experience has been appointed to assess and customize the Unified
Financial Management System (UFMS) capability and accounting hierarchy in the system to
produce accurate and effective Financial Management Report (FMR). Adequate emphasis has
been given in the design of RTIP-II to address the Financial Management issue.
10. The Environmental category for this project was category A. Natural Habitats OP was not
triggered under RTIP-I. An overall EMF was prepared for this project and Environmental
Management Plan (EMPs) were prepared for category one civil works (UZ road improvement)
whereas sample EMPs were prepared for other minor works. Separate Environment Assessments
(EAs) were conducted for specific projects like bridges of certain length (requiring hydrological
surveys and high bridge approach). The implementation review mission of the Bank regularly
reviewed the environmental compliance of the project. Under this project Environmental Code of
Practice (ECP) and Environmental Management Framework (EMF) for LGED have been
updated.
11. Although 1500 km of UZ roads were maintained under this project, this falls far short of
the country wide requirement. While GoB is increasing the maintenance budget, LGED is
receiving only about 25 percent of its actual requirement of Taka 2.7 billion (US$350 million).
Under this backdrop more emphasis has been placed on the maintenance for RTIP-II. Compared
to RTIP-I (where 16 percent of project fund was allocated for maintenance) more allocation has
been proposed for RTIP-II (42 percent of project fund). About 3,550 km maintenance has been
proposed in RTIP-II and in addition about 450 km of maintenance will be carried out through
Performance Based Maintenance Contract). LGED has already prepared and submitted a
maintenance policy to the Ministerial Cabinet for approval. LGED is also currently preparing a
maintenance strategy which will help engage and encourage policy makers to provide more
funds for maintenance.
12. Under RTIP-I there were provision of technical audit and financial audit. Given a larger
project size and wider coverage area (26 districts compared to 21 districts) provision have been
kept for a comprehensive Integrated Performance Audit Consultant (IPAC) for better monitoring
of the project. The IPAC consultant will review planning and design issues, implementation
issues, institutional issues and provide semi-annual reports which will allow LGED to take
corrective measures during project implementation. Procurement related Lessons learnt are as
follows:
13.
Lessons Learned from Procurement under RTIP-I:
• ICB Contract Packages. LGED used ICB contracts for the first time in its
implementation history of Bank-financed projects and the result were not encouriging.
Prequalification process failed once, initial bidding process was inappropriate and the
rebidding process took almost 15 months. The contracts which were not implemented
properly, became non-performing contracts and had to be re-bid by dividing into further
packages and using NCBs. This essentially indicates that LGED is still not ready for ICB
contracts in civil works.
• Procurement Risk Mitigation Framework (PRMF): In October 2006, the Bank
introduced this matrix of actions aimed at reducing procurement-related risks in RTIP-I.
It was further developed by Government of Bangladesh under Public Procurement
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