Annual Reports 2062/63

Introduction

The Roads Board Nepal (RBN) was established with the aim of preserving and maintaining existing road assets through collection of road user fees as authorized by the law. This fund has been utilized to improve implementation of planned road maintenance management as well as to contribute towards comfortable road transport service to the road users. Road Board's objectives as defined in the prevailing Roads Board Act 2002 is to create a stable fund through involving road users, channel it to the road sector to implement the Integrated Annual Plan (IAP) and other road development and research activities.

The Integrated Annual Plan for FY 2062/63 was approved in packages; first for the SRN in 2062/4/32 and for the LRN in 2062/10/4. Due to various reasons such as; absence of decision making mechanism in local bodies and shortfalls in existing reporting system, the overall disbursement of the funds to road agencies has not been satisfactory. During this FY, RBN has been disbursing fund for the program of last two fiscal years as carried over works. It has been extended till the first trimester of this fiscal year. Due to this reason, account keeping has been more complex and complicated. Although RBN is trying to maintain transparency, our effort has been hindered due to non receiving of audited financial report in prescribed time by the RAs.

RBN is putting its maximum effort to deliver its mandated job of fund collection, its management and channeling it to road agencies and to overview the jobs carried out by the agencies. It is constantly and progressively improving its work to deliver its service. Way forward for it is to induce more efficiency in the working culture of road agencies to which it provides fund for road maintenance together with to ensure the effectiveness in terms of cost, time and quality of road maintenance activities as according to approved IAP. The overall competency of RBN can be reflected only when RAs perform their job effectively and efficiently.

Since RBN is in its fourth year of establishment, the focus should be on collection of data, transform it to useful information and use it to facilitate rational and objective decisions. In this way, it can be in a better position to make judicious demand regarding fixation of road user fees based on the level of service and willingness to pay from the road users. Further, it supports prioritization of fund allocation in more beneficial maintenance activities in important roads and towards better implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the works.

Strategically, the mission of RBN is to establish itself as a competent funding agency for road maintenance in Nepal and become exemplary institution in the region. It emphasized on improving service delivery for the road transport sector by funding for planned road maintenance management to competent road agencies. It has taken responsibilities in managing fund and supporting RAs for implementation of the program. It has given more specificity to implement control measure in order to establish enhanced management practices of timely planning, implementing and reporting at the RAs based upon competition for better outcome.

In the fourth year of its tenure, it has come up with improvement in terms of operational status. It has been realized that the partnership with the RAs is improving. The attempt to establish a corporate culture in line with thinking of “ managing roads like business ” is grooming in RBN Secretariat. RBN's effort to create awareness amongst the stakeholders about the need of road maintenance is a continuous process and it will continue to be more focused into its mission.

Review of FY 062/63

A. Programs

The total plan of RBN, which is known as Integrated Annual Plan [IAP] is the combination of Annual Road Maintenance Plan of all the Road Agencies. The Road Agencies include Department of Roads [DoR] to take care of all the Strategic Road Networks [SRN], District Development Committees [DDC] to take care of District and Village Roads whereas Municipalities [MCP] to take care of Urban Roads. The road network under the jurisdiction of DDCs and Municipalities are known as Local Road Networks [LRN].

Though it was required to approve the IAP in the beginning of the Fiscal Year and at one go by the Executive Committee of RBN, but was done so in two stages. At first stage, the IARMP [Integrated Annual Road Maintenance Plan] presented by DOR for maintenance of Strategic Road Network was approved by the Nineteenth Executive Committee Meeting of RBN on 2062/4/32. Then at second stage, IARMP presented by DOLIDAR [Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads] was approved by the Twenty-third Executive Committee Meeting only on 2062/10/4.

B. Progress

Due to delay in submission of IARMP by DOLIDAR, the work progress in Local Roads had been affected in the FY 062/63. Thus it can be seen that significantly less progress is achieved till the end of the FY, whereas, the work progress by DOR has been satisfactory during the stated time. Also that since the Executive Committee had extended the work completion cycle for DOR till the end of Ashwin, more progress was achieved after the end of FY 2062/63. The Executive Committee has also extended the completion time for Local Road Authorities till the end of Kartik 2063, and more progress is expected during that time.

C.  Challenges

RBN is constantly facing few challenges. Among them, first is untimely approval of IAP. This could be improved by the Executive Committee themselves by timely approving them. Second challenge is difficulty in receiving the Progress report from the Road Agencies as required in MoU [Memorandum of Understanding]. Third challenge is difficulty in budget release through the District Treasury. This can be simplified through the instruction from the Ministry of Finance [MOF]. Since RBN itself monitors the progress and releases the fund as per the need, it should not be tied with the consolidated progress from all the road agencies. It has affected the timely release of fund to the needy agencies in individual basis and caused delay in payment for the daily wages of the Length Workers and Supervisors of roads in all Strategic Road Network.

D. Administrative Report

As per the demand of MPPW [Ministry of Physical Planning and Works], RBN has been dispatching Monthly Progress Reports to the Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office. The format of the Monthly Progress Report is attached in the Annex-1 (a-c).

The list of Executive Members representing RBN since its formation is attached in Annex-5. Similarly the detail of RBN Staff Members as of end of Ashar 2063 is attached in Annex-6.

I. Human Resource Development

In order to enhance the knowledge and capability of present human resources of RBN, training in the following field were provided to the listed employees.

II. Dissemination/Training

Even though RBN is in its fourth year of establishment, the stakeholders are found to have problems in preparation of ARMP. Therefore RBN has organized workshops in collaboration with DoLIDAR. The workshop was focused on departing knowledge in preparation of ARMP and give away solution to the problem that is related to the preparation of ARMP. The following seminar was conducted in different Development Regions.

III. Billboards at the Toll Booths

RBN has been creating awareness regarding Road User Charges at different Toll Booths by installing billboards. Information in the Bill Boards includes provisions in the “Road Board Acts 2058”, Toll Fee and provision of punishment in non-compliance by the vehicle owners. In FY 2061/62, only two billboards were installed at Naubise and Mugling, whereas in FY 2062/63 four billboards were installed at Gaidakot, Butawal, Tikauli and Heauda.

IV. Improvement in Tender Document

In FY 061/62, tender was called for toll collection for three road sectors, but contractors did not turn up to sign the agreement. They requested that some clauses should be amended before signing of contract, but that was not possible then. Thus the job was taken by none. Hence DOR was requested to continue with the collection process. RBN thus felt that the tender documents had to be improved and many committees were formed, but did not materialize. Lastly the Executive Committee of RBN decided to have a committee comprising of experts Mr. Dinkar Sharma, Joint Secretary of MPPW and Mr. K. B. Thapa Senior Divisional Engineer to improve the toll documents. They have worked hard and produced a refined tender document to head for the tolls as early as possible. The improved Tender Documents was approved by the Executive Committee of RBN and endorsed by the Government.

V. Road Users Satisfaction Survey

As RBN is on the verge of completing its third year in operation, with the initiation and funding from World Bank, it was planned to have a “Road Users' Satisfaction Survey”. As a result, Request for Proposal in order to have assessment of road user's satisfaction was made and it was published on 9 th Bhadra 2062. Different reputed firms competed for the proposals. RBN is planning to accomplish RUSS by the end of 2006, and thus process is in progress.

VI. TV Program

In the FY 2062/63, RBN has aired five episodes of TV program highlighting its activities and performances. It was not only focused on the fund disbursement, but also on its programs along with the feedback from the road users. The feedback of the program is coming up in the form of suggestions from various stake holders. RBN has felt that for some years, a continuous program has to be run in order to educate and create awareness among the road users. The concept of Roads Board is still very less understood by the stakeholders and particularly the Road Agencies. RBN is striving hard to make people understand that Roads Board is meant for fund mobilization for purely road maintenance works only.

VII. Toll collection

Due to contractors' shyness in signing the contract, DOR has been collecting Toll Fees in the request of RBN. It is expected that in the FY 063/64, contractors will be mobilized efficiently.

E. Financial Report

In the FY 062/63, RBN received Rs.33,00,00,000/- from MOF through MPPW and the installments received were in the following manner.

The graphical presentation of allocation and disbursement of FY 2062/2063 is given in Annex-3 (a-g). Similarly Financial Statement of FY 2062/2062 is given in Annex-3 and allocation details of RAs is in Annex-4 (a-c)

F. Monitoring and Evaluation

In FY 062/63, the following RAs have been monitored and information collected has been taken as the suggestion for future.

G. Experiences while monitoring:

Monitoring and Evaluation of RBN funded road maintenance is vital for efficient running of the program. Although, RBN lacks in its human resources for rigorous monitoring, it has aimed at doing so through outsourcing. There has been some hindrance with respect to approval of the monitoring budget through the Executive Committee, thus the secretariat had been able to monitor less than desired. Even with the limited employees, RBN has managed to assess few road agencies and expect to do better in future. It is highly appreciable if in-house monitoring is done, because that will help in collection of all the information and feed back first hand and the improvement process could be expedited.

The foremost problems that have emerged through discussion is the inability in preparation of ARMP by the road agencies. Low bidding by contractors has often led towards deterioration in quality works. Thus this is a major part that has to be addressed properly. In order to minimize the problems, RBN has been conducting series of workshops with the local road agencies towards preparation of ARMP and simplifying them. Four workshops were conducted to acquaint the technical human resources in preparation of ARMP. Situation is slowly improving and given the mobility in the coming days, we are looking forward for better results.

Conclusion

It is considered worthwhile to mention at this juncture that a lot of work remains ahead in order to establish the Roads Board Nepal as a second generation road fund capable to take care of the road management in our country. The World Bank [WB], under whose initiative, the establishment of RBN commenced, reviewed its operation of two years operation. In this context, WB has provided to the government its performance assessment note with some recommendations. Though the recommendations have been owned by the government, its implementation is lagging behind in schedule.

Given the situation in the country, RBN's issue seems not being getting adequate attention where it matters. But with the recent development in overall scenario, positive outcome can be expected.

Despite all these, RBN has been able to function and is delivering its mandated service to the road users within its capacity in prevailing environment. A few of the short falls are relevant to be mentioned here. The following issues are to be resolved for achieving RBN's objectives in the long run:

•  Independent Board with strong user representation implies that funds will be used in user interests which by default leads to:

- Secure revenue required for planned maintenance,

- Ensure appropriateness of use of the funds through technical, financial and other types of audits,

- Promote transparency in procurement of works, goods and services

- Enhance confidence of those who are actually providing funds that it is being used properly

•  In order to achieve a better road maintenance management, a more functional road fund has to be promoted with:

- Technical capability and financial adequacy for need based maintenance expenditure

- Adequate level of political commitment and support

- Strong agencies to actually implement maintenance work based on performance agreement

•  Toll collection is becoming more complex and challenging in terms of its contract management, cash handling, and crisis of confidence.

•  Recruitment of capable staff and retaining already developed human resources has becoming a threat as there has not been any improvement of incentive framework as suggested by the WB.

With the initiatives of the government towards improvement of its legislation and other regulations, it is hoped that the situation should improve in future.