Evaluation Team

Evaluation Team: Joseph MOUANDA; Diomandé Mabarakissa This document was prepared following a mission to Benin from 30 November to 18 December 2009 by a team consisting of Mr. Joseph MOUANDA, Evaluation Officer, and a group of consultants from the company SCET-TUNISIE comprising Messrs. Ahmed BASTI (Economist and Development Specialist), Noureddine KRIAA, (Roads Engineer) and Dona Michel AKLAMAVO (Socio-economist). Questions on the report should be referred to Mr. Mohamed Hédi MANAÏ (m.manai@afdb.org), Manager, Project and Programme Evaluation Division (OPEV.1), or to Mr. MOUANDA (j.mouanda@afdb.org)

Objective

At sector level, the project aimed to improve Benin’s foreign and domestic trade and that of neighbouring countries, thereby contributing to strengthening regional integration. The specific objective was to improve traffic conditions in the Eastern peri-urban zone of Cotonou, trade among the country’s southern administrative Departments as well as regional trade using the trans-West African Accra – Lomé – Cotonou – Lagos route. In terms of outcomes, improvements were anticipated in: (i) traffic fluidity; (ii) transport costs; (iii) road safety; (iv) partial cost recovery; (v) national and international trade, stimulation of economic activity and PAC competitiveness; and (vi) regional integration by promoting transit and inter- or intra-regional trade.

Main Findings

• Upgrading the Cotonou – Porto Novo road put an end to a situation deemed unbearable by all stakeholders since the degree of damage to the previous road seriously impeded the movement of goods and persons. Overall, the project had a positive impact. As main project gain, the most widely used trunk road in Benin was upgraded with characteristics matching the volume of the demand. The corridor changed profoundly, largely thanks to the road.

• The project had a considerable impact by improving traffic flow, reducing traffic jam, lowering costs, providing relative improvement of road safety, improving partial cost recovery through the toll/weighing station, enhancing the state of the network, strengthening trade and economic activity as well as the competitiveness of PAC. In terms of economic impact, it generated revenue, allowed for requalification of peri-urban areas and relocation of activities that clogged up Cotonou city and its port. Given the strategic nature of the Cotonou – Porto Novo road, the project contributed to strengthening regional integration by facilitating inter- et intra-regional transit or trade. In contrast, in light of the first years of operations, serious malfunctioning related to the cycle path and service roads is affecting the quality of the technical outputs.

• At the institutional level, progress in network management in the transport sector remains inadequate, especially in terms of tools for monitoring, programming, prioritisation and implementation (for instance, the road data bank). The project did not provide adequate support to the system to promote and train local small- and medium-sized enterprises, and the road maintenance equipment hiring system. The development of SMEs, to whom a large road maintenance market offers greater opportunities (thanks to the remarkable increase of RF resources), remains limited. Furthermore, structuring the urban spaces developed by the project was not followed up, especially by local municipalities. However, the practice of delegating services to the private sector exemplified by a concession for the project’s toll bridge, is promising. The impact of the project on the executing agency was seriously eroded by staff attrition, the low capitalisation level and inadequate archiving of project records

• In terms of sustainability, there are some risks for the technical outputs and outcomes, namely: (i) the continued failure to enforce axle load limits for heavy trucks: this challenge must be overcome without further delay; (ii) the inadequate use of resources ring-fenced for maintenance because of the inappropriate annual budget cycle and the weak capacity of SMEs; (iii) the persistent, if not worsening, malfunctioning of public lighting – a crucial component for the safety and quality of life of communities living along the road; (iii) the pressure of the road environment on its functionality; and (iv) the limited contribution of road users to the maintenance/operational costs, given the direct and indirect potential offered by the project.

Main Lessons

• An independent road fund with resource mobilisation capacity and strict management guarantees the proper use of funds for maintaining the road network. 

• Insufficient integration of the urban context and decentralisation into this type of project may contribute to limiting its impact and threatening its sustainability.

Main Recommendations

Recommendation(s) to the Borrower:

• The Government should apply the regulation on axle load limits for heavy trucks, while carrying through the related investments: extension of weighing facilities for the network.

• To achieve increased resource mobilisation, the Government should: (i) update the tariff policy applicable to toll gates; and (ii) consider extending commercial activities at the toll gates. In particular, technical (for instance, the initiative taken by the RF to study the upgrading of spaces) and legal solutions (financial arrangements/involvement of municipalities crossed by the road) should be sought. 

• The municipalities must become more involved in organising and monitoring activity spaces within their jurisdiction to reduce the risks run by the road, attributable to pressure on its functionality owing to lack of organisation that often characterises new activities. Support from the RF/concessionaire to municipalities for the preparation, financing and implementation of physical activities (activity areas, etc.) would be necessary. 

• The Government should develop and fund monitoring, programming and prioritising tools, for example the road data bank, especially in the context of support programmes implemented with donors, in particular the European Union. 

• In consultation with donors supporting decentralisation, the State must ensure that municipal investment programmes are in line with the structuring sector works carried out. In decentralisation projects, service roads should be earmarked for future development. 

• The donor should clarify the responsibilities of the Public Works Department, the RF, the concessionaire, the municipalities and SBEE, with a view to taking concrete action to address public lighting problems. 

• The Government, together with the local authorities, should find solutions for the future of the cycle path, in respect of which organisation and checks can only have a limited impact. Two solutions may be envisaged: (i) widening the path to 2.8 – 3m, which could compromise the possibility of widening the road someday from two to three lanes to handle the general traffic increase; and (ii) integrate the widened cycle path into the service road, which should be developed some time in future. 

• To leverage sector investments, the Government should ensure that city planning tools as well as the priority municipal investment programmes include the structuring road network. 

• At sector level, the Government should consider a multi-modal planning approach to urban transport; the example of the problems raised regarding the cycle path show that, in an urban context, public transport should be given serious consideration, especially for the main trunk roads (for instance the road section that is the subject of this evaluation) where light modes of transport (zémidjans, i.e. motorcycle taxis) have their limitation. 

Recommendation(s) to the Bank:

• The Bank should incorporate the urban dimension of this type of infrastructure when preparing road projects by factoring in the specificities of urban transport (in particular the multi-modal approach) and funding specific studies with a view to adapting infrastructure to urban constraints. 

•  For urban road projects, the Bank should during project appraisal use the services of consultants to monitor and evaluate changes in the land use situation and spatial organisation. 

• For projects including toll components, the Bank should endeavour to increase private sector involvement by giving it a sense of responsibility, thereby reducing dependence on public financing to fund commercial-type components. . 

• Within the context of regional integration projects, the Bank should, instead of simply stating the objectives: (i) quantify, for each country likely to benefit from the project, trade development, logistic aspects and infrastructure constraints; (ii) prepare a costs/benefit analysis of the project’s impact on each country likely to benefit from it, so that those countries take ownership of the project; and (iii) identify the performance indicators with a target value and a system to monitor project implementation.