Experience of Output and Performance Based Road Contracting System In Developing Countries and Future Prospects in Ethiopian Federal Road Construction

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Date

2019-07

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

The government of Ethiopia has given significant attention to the road sector considering its immense impact on the socio-economic development of the country as road transport reaches the majority of the people. In this respect, the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) is mainly responsible for the construction and maintenance of federal road networks of the country. The road maintenance and construction practice of ERA is predominantly based on the conventional method of quantity and unit rate based contracts by which several works are planned and carried out. The government has faced problems in maintaining the serviceability of road infrastructure systems by using these traditional methods of contracting. However, in recent years other alternative contracting methods are attempted including output and performance based road contracting (OPRC) in the Ethiopian road sector. These types of procurement methods have a substantial success records in many developed and developing countries. Nonetheless, taking the long term nature of the contract into account, OPRC projects require careful planning and capacity from the contracting authority and the contractor to implement it successfully. In the traditional approaches of project delivery systems, after the Contractor hands over the project any failures arising out of design or execution are the headaches of the Employer/Government and heavy costs are spent on the rehabilitation and maintenance of roads that doesn't serve the expected life. In order to tackle the above mentioned shortcomings of the traditional approaches of project delivery systems, other alternative project delivery systems that account the serviceability and usability of the road becomes critical. One of the project delivery systems that is being used by different countries and now initiated for implementation in our country (for Nekemte - Bure Road Project with its three lots) as a pilot project is OPRC (Output and Performance based Road Contract) which is believed to address the design, improvement works/construction and management and maintenance services in one package. This research tries to study the specific characteristics/features, advantages and disadvantages of this type of project delivery system from different stakeholder’s perspective, study the experience of other countries, and evaluate the contract and performance to date and encountered challenges of the newly initiated projects in our country by benchmarking other countries experiences and forward recommendation for further implementation for Ethiopian Federal Road Projects.

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Keywords

Road Contracting System, Ethiopian Federal Road Construction, road maintenance, Output and Performance, developing countries

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