19 Years Assessment Reportl

THE FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA
MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT
ETHIOPIAN ROADS AUTHORITY
ROAD SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

19 YEARS PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
October, 2016
Addis Ababa
Road Sector Development Program: 19 Years Assessment
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................... 1
1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
1.2. Physical and Financial Performance of RSDP........................................................................ 2
1.3. Impact of RSDP .......................................................................................................................... 4
1.4. Capacity of Local Contractors and Consultants .................................................................... 5
1.5. Financing Pattern of RSDP ....................................................................................................... 7
II. RATIONALE FOR RSDP ........................................................................................... 8

2.1. Objectives of RSDP...................................................................................................................... 8
2.2. Project Selection Framework ..................................................................................................... 8
2.2.1. Preliminary Selection of Road Upgrading Projects .................................................... 8
2.2.2. Preliminary Selection of New Roads ............................................................................ 9
2.3. Final Prioritization and Selection........................................................................................... 10
III. PERFORMANCE OF RSDP ..................................................................................... 11

3.1. Performance of RSDP I ............................................................................................................ 11
3.2. Performance of RSDP II .......................................................................................................... 12
3.3. Performance of RSDP III ......................................................................................................... 13
3.4. Performance of RSDP IV ......................................................................................................... 15
3.5. Performance of RSDP V (First Year Assessment) ................................................................ 17
3.6. Overall Performance of RSDP ................................................................................................ 19
3.7. Overview of URRAP Performance ........................................................................................ 20
3.7.1. Performance of URRAP under RSDP IV .................................................................... 20
3.7.2. Performance of URRAP under RSDP V (First Year) ................................................. 24
3.7.3. Challenges Faced in the Implementation of URRAP ................................................ 25
3.8. Cost and Financing of RSDP .................................................................................................. 27
3.9. Institutional Capacity Building and Progress in Road Sector Polices .............................. 29
3.9.1. Institutional Capacity Building ............................................................................... 29
3.9.1.1. Restructuring and Modernization of ERA.................................................................... 29
3.9.1.2. ERA Management System .............................................................................................. 31
3.9.1.3. Balanced Score Card ........................................................................................................ 31
3.9.1.4. Establishment of Toll Roads Enterprise ........................................................................ 32
3.9.2. Progress in Road Sector Policies ............................................................................. 34
3.9.2.1. Human Resource Development ........................................................................................ 34
3.9.2.2. Participatory Project Planning ........................................................................................... 34
3.9.2.3. Monitoring of RSDP Indicators ......................................................................................... 35
3.10.Environmental Impacts of Road Projects ............................................................................. 35
3.10.1. Environmental Management in the Ethiopian RSDP ............................................. 35
3.10.2. Establishment of the Environmental and Social Management Team................... 35
3.10.3. Development of Institutional Environmental Management Frameworks .......... 36
3.10.4. Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)............................................... 36
3.10.5. Site Environmental Management .............................................................................. 37
3.10.6. Environmental Auditing ............................................................................................. 37
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ETHIOPIAN ROADS AUTHORITY OCTOBER, 2016
3.10.8. Monitoring and Evaluation ........................................................................................ 39

3.10.9. Training and Capacity Building ................................................................................ 39
3.10.10. Non-Transport Projects (Emergency Access to Health Service) ......................... 39
3.10.11. Enhancing the Capacity of Roads and Hydropower Subsectors towards Climate
Resilience .................................................................................................................... 40
3.11.Improving Axle Load Control................................................................................................ 41
3.12.Research and Development under RSDP ............................................................................. 43
IV. IMPACT OF RSDP .................................................................................................... 44

4.1. Impact on Accessibility ........................................................................................................... 44
4.2. Impact on Mobility .................................................................................................................. 46
4.3. Impact on Quality .................................................................................................................... 47
4.4. Impact on Domestic Construction Industry ......................................................................... 48
4.5. Impact on Poverty .................................................................................................................... 51
4.5.1. Impact of URRAP Roads............................................................................................... 51
4.5.2. Impact of Investment on Road Corridors................................................................... 51
V. LESSONS LEARNED AND THE WAY FORWARD .......................................... 55

5.1. Lessons Learned ....................................................................................................................... 55
5.2. The Way Forward .................................................................................................................... 56
ANNEX..................................................................................................................................... 59
List of RSDP and MDG Indicators ................................................................................................. 59
ii
List of Tables
Table 1: Summary of 19 yrs Performance of RSDP...................................................................... 2
Table 2: Performance by Implementers (in %) ............................................................................. 2
Table 3: Share of Expenditure by Implementers (1997-2016) ..................................................... 3
Table 4: Change in Selected Indicators .......................................................................................... 5
Table 5: Financing Pattern of RSDP (in million ETB) .................................................................. 7
Table 6 : Summary of Accomplishment for RSDP I .................................................................. 11
Table 7: Summary of Accomplishment of RSDP II .................................................................... 13
Table 8: Summary of Accomplishment of RSDP III .................................................................. 14
Table 9: Summary of Accomplishment for RSDP IV (5 years) ................................................ 16
Table 10: Summary of Accomplishment for RSDP V (First Year) ........................................... 17
Table 11: Summary of Accomplishment of 19 years of RSDP ................................................. 19
Table 12: SME development, training, and manual distribution ............................................ 21
Table 13: URRAP Performance under RSDP IV........................................................................ 22
Table 14፡ Level of Kebele Connectivity by All Weather Roads ............................................... 23
Table 15: URRAP Performance under RSDP V (First Year) ..................................................... 24
Table 16: Kebele Connectivity under URRAP ............................................................................ 25
Table 17: Disbursement by Financiers (1997-2016) .................................................................... 28
Table 18: Total Checked Front and Rear Axles (2002/03 – 2015/16) ...................................... 42
Table 19: Growth of the Classified Road Network and Change in Road Density ................ 44
Table 20: Rural Access Index Values ........................................................................................... 46
Table 21: Traffic Trend over the Period of the RSDP ................................................................ 46
Table 22: Road Condition Improvement (in %) ......................................................................... 47
Table 23: Total Cost of Projects Awarded to Local and Foreign Contractors ........................ 48
Table 24: Value of Services Contracts from July 1997 to June 2016 ......................................... 50
Table 25: Awarded Service contracts from July 1997 to June 2016.......................................... 50
Table 26: Transport Poverty Observatory Study I projects ..................................................... 52
Table 27: Transport Poverty Observatory Study II projects .................................................... 53

iii
Acronyms and Abbreviations
AADT Annual Average Daily Traffic

AC Asphaltic Concrete
ADB African Development Bank
BADEA Bank of Arab for Economic Development in Africa
BMS Bridge Management System
DBST Double Surface Treatment
DCI Domestic Construction Industry
DFID Department for International Development, U.K.
EFY Ethiopian Fiscal Year
ERA Ethiopian Roads Authority
ETB Ethiopian Birr
EU European Union
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GIS Geographical Information System
GOE Government of Ethiopia
GTP Growth and Transformation Plan
ICT Information Communication Technology
IDA International Development Association
JICA Japanese International Corporation Agency
KfW Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederanfbaw
MCA Multi Criteria Analysis
METEC Metal and Engineering Corporation
NDF Nordic Development Fund
OFID OPEC Fund for International Development
PIAs Project Influence Areas
RAI Rural Access Index
RC Road Corridor
RRAs Regional/Rural Roads Authorities
RSDP Road Sector Development Program
RSDP I Road Sector Development Program Phase I
RSDP II Road Sector Development Program Phase II
RSDP III Road Sector Development Program Phase III
RSDP IV Road Sector Development Program Phase IV
SFD Saudi Fund for Development
SNNPR Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples Region
TA Technical Assistance
TPO Transport Poverty Observatory
U.K. United Kingdom
URRAP Universal Rural Road Access Program
USD United States Dollar
WROs Woreda Road Offices
iv
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1. Introduction
In the context of Ethiopia, road is the most important infrastructure that provides access to
rural and urban areas in the country. Road plays crucial role to reduce transportation cost
and support economic growth in the country. However, in the late 1990‟s; the road
network coverage was limited to major urban areas and some rural areas. Most areas in
the country were isolated from economic centers, market and basic social services. The
existing road network was largely deteriorated and in poor condition.
The Government of Ethiopia has well recognized that limited road network coverage and
poor condition of the existing road network has been an impediment to economic recovery
and economic growth. Therefore, to address the problems in the road sector; the
Government has launched the Road Sector Development Program (RSDP) in 1997. Since
then, four phases of RSDP were implemented over the period of 1997 - 2015 and the fifth
phase; RSDP V has been implemented since July 2015.
 RSDP I - From July 1997 to June 2002 (5 years plan)

 RSDP II - From July 2002 to June 2007 (5 years plan)
 RSDP III - From July 2007 to June 2010 (3 years plan)
 RSDP IV - From July 2010 to June 2015 (5 years plan)
 RSDP V - From July 2015 to June 2020 (Ongoing)
Over nineteen years of RSDP, physical works consisting of rehabilitation and upgrading of
trunk and link roads, construction of new link roads, rural roads & district roads and
maintenance of federal and regional roads have been carried out by Ethiopian Roads
Authority (ERA), Regional Roads Authorities (RRAs) and Woreda Road offices (WRO)
and the community and municipalities. Series of policy and institutional reforms have
been implemented in the sector, which have enhanced implementation capacity of road
projects and effectiveness of Road Asset Management.
RSDP has been financed from domestic sources including GOE, Road users through Road
Fund Office and community, and foreign sources including bilateral and multilateral
institutions. The Government has been major financer of RSDP followed by the World
Bank. Development partners including the World Bank (WB), European Union (EU),
African Development Bank (ADB), Nordic Development Fund (NDF), Bank of Arab for
Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), OPEC Fund for International Development
(OFID) and the Governments of Japan, Germany, U.K, Ireland, the Saudi Fund for
Development, the Kuwait Fund and the Government of China have been involving in
financing the Program. The recent donor which joined this effort is Abu Dhabi Fund.

1
Nineteen years have passed since the launch of the RSDP. This report summarizes and
highlights both the major accomplishments of the program over its nineteen years in
general and the first year performance of RSDP V in particular.
1.2. Physical and Financial Performance of RSDP

Over the nineteen years of the RSDP, physical works have been undertaken on a total of
128,470 km of roads excluding routine maintenance work and community roads. The total
budget for the planned works during this period amounted to ETB 232.5 billion (USD 15.9
billion). The total amount disbursed in the same period, is ETB 266.2 billion (USD 17.4
billion). Physical and financial performance of RSDP over the past 19 years against plan
is 86% and 115% respectively. Table 1 shows summary of 19 years physical and financial
performance of RSDP.
Table 1: Summary of 19 yrs Performance of RSDP
Physical Plan Vs. Financial Plan Vs. Disbursement, in
Program Accomplishment, km million ETB
Plan Actual % age Budget Disb. % age
Total RSDP I 8908 8709 98 9812.9 7284.6 74
Total RSDP II 8252 11589 140 15985.9 18112.8 113
Total RSDP III 14686 12395 84 34643.9 34957.9 101
Total RSDP IV 97,517 85,860 88 125409.1 158,333.5 126
RSDP V (First Year) 20270 9917 49 46605.1 47520.3 102
Total RSDP (19 yrs) 149,633 128,470 86 232456.9 266209 115
Chart 1 :Physical Plan Vs. Accomplishment (in Chart : 2 Financial Plan Vs. Disbursement
km)
300000 (cost in million)
160000 86% 115%
140000 88% 250000
120000 Plan 200000 % age
100000 126%
80000 Actual 150000
60000 100000
40000 98% 140% 84% 49%
101% 102%
20000 50000 74% 113%
0
RSDP I RSDP II RSDP RSDP IV RSDP V Total 0
RSDP I RSDP II RSDP RSDP RSDP V Total
III 1st year RSDP
III IV 1st year RSDP
(19 yrs)
(19 yrs)
Table 2: Performance by Implementers (in %)

Federal Regional Woreda/URRAP Overall
Program
Plan Actua % Plan Actual Plan Actua % Plan Actual
% age % age
(km) l (km) age (km) (km) (km) l (km) age (km) (km)
RSDP I 3777 2709 72 5131 6000 117 8908 8709 98

RSDP II 5375 7483 139 2877 4106 143 8252 11589 140
RSDP III 8956 7996 89 5730 4399 77 14,686 12395 84
RSDP IV 14782 13,633 92 11212 9814 88 71,523 62,413 87 97,517 85,860 88
RSDP V (first
2585 2374 92 1451 1920 132 16234 5622 35 20270 9917 49
Year)
Total RSDP 35475 34195 96 26401 26239 99 87757 68035 78 149633 128,470 86
2
The Fifth Phase of RSDP which is also known as GTP II has been implemented since July
2015. During the past one year of RSDP V, a total of 9917 km physical work has been
carried out, of which 2374 km by Federal roads, 1920 km by regional roads and 5622 km
by woreda road desks. Table 2 above shows performance of RSDP by implementers.
Compared to the planned target, physical accomplishments of RSDP V was 49%. The
physical accomplishment is low mainly due to the poor performance of Woreda roads. In
addition, regular routine maintenance was conducted on all types of roads. Supporting
studies and services are being undertaken, including policy and capacity building projects,
detailed design/design review studies, feasibility and EIA studies.
Over the past 19 years, 37.8% of the total RSDP expenditure was on rehabilitation and
upgrading roads, 29.6% was on construction of link roads, 4.5% on maintenance of federal
roads, 12.1% on regional road and 12.9% on Woreda roads and 2.5% was on institutional
support projects and other activities at the federal level. Table 3 and chart 3 show the
RSDP expenditure by category and implementers.
Table 3: Share of Expenditure by Implementers (1997-2016)

Expenditure Category Share of Expenditures (%)
Federal Roads 74.7
- Rehabilitation of Trunk Roads 6.4
- Upgrading of Trunk Roads 11.3
- Upgrading of Link Roads 20.1
- Construction of Link Roads 29.6
-Construction of Expressways 0.3
- Maintenance 4.5
- Others (including Institutional Support) 2.5
Regional Roads 12.1
- Construction 10.9
- Emergency and Routine Maintenance 1.2
- Others 0.04
Woreda / Community Roads 12.9
Urban Roads (only maintenance) 0.3
Total 100
3
Chart 3: Share of Expenditure by Implementers.
Share of Expenditure by implementers % Urban Roads (only

Woreda / Community maintenance)
Roads 0.3%
12.9%
Regional Roads
12%
Federal Roads
74.7
1.3. Impact of RSDP

Overall, RSDP is achieving satisfactory progress against its objectives and benchmarks.
Substantial results have been achieved in improving rural accessibility and the condition
of the road network. The capacity of ERA has been strengthened over the years and
demonstrated its leadership in the sector despite huge works, various technical sector
issues and staff turnover.
Improvement in the Road Network: The country„s road network has increased from
26550 km in 1997 to 113,066 km in 2016 (an increase of 326 percent). As a result, the road
density per 1000 sq. km has increased from 24.1 km in 1997 to 102.8 km in 2016. Also,
substantial improvement has been registered in the condition of the country‟s road
network. The proportion of road network in good condition increased from 22% in 1997 to
72% in 2016. Table 4 shows the progress made against selected indicators during 19 years
of RSDP.
4
Table 4: Change in Selected Indicators

1997 2016
Indicators (RSDP Start) (First Year of RSDP
V)
Proportion of Asphalt roads in Good Condition 17% 73%
Proportion of Gravel roads in Good Condition 25% 59%
Proportion of Rural roads in Good Condition 21% 55%
Proportion of Woreda roads in Good Condition - 83%
Proportion of Total Road network in Good
22% 72%
Condition
Road Density 1/1000 sq.km 24.1 km 102.8km
Road Density 1/1000 population 0.46 km 1.23 km
Proportion of area more than 5 km from all
79% 35.8%
weather road
Average distance to all weather road 21km 4.9 km
Road Network length (in km) including URRAP
26,550 113,066
and Municipality Roads
Policy and Institutional Reforms under RSDP: Substantial progress has also been made
in implementing institutional and policy reforms, which were intended to build
institutional capacity of the road sector. The capacity of ERA has been strengthened over
the years and demonstrated its leadership in the sector despite huge works, various
technical sector issues and staff turnover.
1.4. Capacity of Local Contractors and Consultants

The impact of the program on building the capacity of the domestic construction industry
is encouraging. Over the last nineteen years of the RSDP, participation of the local
construction industry has increased in terms of both the value and number of projects. For
instance, the total value of contracts awarded to local contractors is about ETB 82.7 billion,
which accounts 45% of the total contract amount awarded since July 1997. Some local
contractors are now taking bigger contracts, with values amounting as much as ETB 2.7
billion. Chart 4 below shows total cost of projects awarded to local and foreign contractors.
5
Chart 4: Participation of local and foreign Contractors (1998-2016)
Local Contractors,
82740.07, 45%
Foreign Contractors,
102763.63, 55%
Participation of local consultants has been particularly encouraging. In terms of contract

value, local consultants have received around 62% of the consultancy services during the
nineteen of RSDP. Local consultants have been awarded a total of ETB 3.9 billion contract
value. Chart 5 shows cost of consultancy projects awarded to local and foreign
consultants.
Chart 5: Total Cost of Projects Awarded to Local and Foreign Consultants

(1998-2016)
(Cost in million ETB)
Foreign Consultants,
2420.07, 38%
Local Consultants,
3928.66, 62%
In terms of number of projects, of the 1358 contracts (both construction & consultancy)
awarded over the last nineteen years of the RSDP, some 1032 contracts were awarded to
local companies of which 56% were for consultancy services and 44% for construction
contracts.
6
No of Chart: 6 Local and Foreign Contractors ,Vs No No of

Chart:7 :Number of Projects awarded to
projects of Projects projects
Contracted Contracted to Local
to foreign foreign and Foregin Consultants
Consultants,
Contractors
203, 26%
, 123, 21%
No of
projects No of
projects
Contracted Contracted to
to local local
contractors consultants ,
, 456, 79% 576, 74%
1.5. Financing Pattern of RSDP

Around 81% of the RSDP financing over the last nineteen years came from internal
sources, where the Government of Ethiopia has financed 73.3%, 6.1% from the office of the
Road Fund and the community has contributed 1.6% of the total finance of RSDP. The
remaining 19% was pooled from the development partners. The share of the Government
of Ethiopia was the highest (73.3%), followed by the IDA (6.7%), the Road Fund (6.1%)
and China (4.2%). Table 5 shows financing pattern of RSDP.
Table 5: Financing Pattern of RSDP (in million ETB)

Phases of Financing from Local Financing from External
RSDP Sources Sources Total
Amount Percentage Amount Percentage

RSDP I 4,433.7 60.9 2,850.9 39.1 7,284.55
RSDP II 11,497.4 63.5 6,615.5 36.5 18,112.86
RSDP III 26,298.2 75.2 8,659.6 24.8 34,957.77
RSDP IV 130,949.9 83 27,383.6 17 158,333.50
RSDP V ( First 42474.9 89.4 5045.4 10.6 47520.3
Year)
Total 215,654.0 81.0 50,555.0 19.0 266,209.0
Chart 8: Local and External Finance Sources in the RSDPs

Financing Pattern of RSDP
Disbursement in
250,000.0
mill ETB
200,000.0 Financing from

150,000.0 Local Sources
100,000.0
Financing from
50,000.0
External Sources
0.0
RSDP I RSDP II RSDP III RSDP IV RSDP V (
First Year) Total
Phases of RSDP
7
II. RATIONALE FOR RSDP
2.1. Objectives of RSDP
The objectives of RSDP are to:

 Improve transport operating efficiency and reduce road transport costs for
freight and passengers so as to encourage production, distribution and export;
 Provide access to previously neglected food deficit rural areas to support efficient
production, exchange and distribution throughout the country, and
 Develop adequate institutional capacity of the road sub-sector both at central as

well as regional level.
2.2. Project Selection Framework

Selection of Projects that have been implemented under the RSDP over the past 19 years
had passed through different stages of preparation. The early stages of project selection
and preliminary prioritization were based on a multi-criteria approach, MCA, described
in the sections below. After preliminary selection, using the MCA approach, the project
preparation moved to feasibility studies when a detailed economic and environmental
analysis was carried out.
2.2.1. Preliminary Selection of Road Upgrading Projects
Five criteria were used for preliminary selection of road upgrading projects. These criteria
were traffic level of the proposed road; network connectivity; road condition; investment
potential and import-export road.
Traffic Level: Roads are built with a design capacity to accommodate a given volume of
traffic per day. When traffic levels exceed the design capacity, roads reach to the point
where maintaining them is no longer economical. Roads with high traffic were given
priority for upgrading or rehabilitation - 30% weight.
Network Connectivity: Existing roads, particularly main roads, are connected with other
roads that collect and feed in traffic. Roads which improve the efficiency of the road
network connectivity were given priority for upgrading - 20% weight.
Road Condition: Some gravel and asphalt roads had passed their initial design life and
had deteriorated to the point where maintaining them is no longer economical. In such
cases, it was impossible to restore them to their original condition by heavy maintenance
and reconstruction and/or upgrading was necessary to bring them back to a serviceable
standard. Priority was given to roads or sections of road that were in a poor condition -
20% weight.
8
Investment Potential: The number of medium and large-scale industries under a licensing
phase or under implementation in emerging towns of the country was accelerating.
Absence of road infrastructure was frequently cited as the main impediment to existing
industries and this was also an investment restraint to attract new industries. Lack of
adequate road infrastructure also hampered growth of the economy at the national level
and priority was given to upgrading roads, connecting with these towns - 10% weight.
Import/Export Corridor and Regional Integration Roads: Ethiopia imports and exports
goods through the port of Djibouti and to some extent through ports of Berbera in Somali
Land and the port of Sudan. Ethiopia is also planning to use the port Mombasa in Kenya
as an alternative outlet.
Upgrading roads linking to ports of neighboring countries was important as they provide
alternatives and promotes competitiveness. Ethiopia also needs to ensure links with
neighboring countries to improve trade and promote regional integration. Priority was
given to upgrading import/export and regional integration corridors - 20% weight.
2.2.2. Preliminary Selection of New Roads

Five criteria were applied for preliminary selection of new roads. These criteria were roads
leading to economic development potential areas; roads leading to surplus food crop and
cash crop growing areas; missing links between main roads or shortcuts; new access to
large population centers and roads in emerging regions.
Economic Development Potential: Ethiopia is endowed with natural resources in

different parts of the country, mainly irrigable potential agricultural land and minerals,
which were not exploited. Priority was given to the construction of new roads providing
access to areas with unexploited natural resources - 20% weight.
Surplus Food Crops and Cash Crops Growing Areas: Some areas grow and supply
surplus food crops to urban and rural markets and food deficit areas. In addition, there are
areas producing exportable crops. Not all of these surplus food crops and cash crops
growing areas were connected by roads. To improve supply of food crops to urban and
rural markets and increase the volume of exportable crops, construction of new roads
linking to these areas was vital. Priority was given to the construction of new roads
creating access to these areas - 20%.
Missing links: Several towns in the country are linked to each other by circuitous roads
and connectivity of the road network was not optimized. Consequently, transportation
cost and travel times were high between these towns. Costs and time of travelling could be
reduced significantly by constructing link or short access roads between some towns in
the country and priority was given to the construction of link roads - 20% weight.
9
New Access to Population Centers: There were large rural communities in different parts
of the country which were totally isolated from the rest of the country because of the
absence of roads. These communities needed to become socially and economically
integrated with the rest of the country.
By the virtue of this, priority was given to the construction of new roads providing access
to large isolated rural communities in the country - 30% weight.
Emerging Regions/Isolated Areas: There are four emerging regions in the country namely
Gambella, Benishangul-Gumuz, Afar and Somali. Due to neglect in the past, distribution
of main roads in these regions and some pastoral areas of the country is minimal. To bring
about balanced development amongst the regions in the country, roads provision should
be equitable. Priority was given to construction of new roads in these emerging regions -
10% weight.
2.3. Final Prioritization and Selection
It was during the feasibility stage that final project selection was made on the basis of
economic viability. All new construction and upgrading projects used a conventional
producer surplus or HDM project level model approach to compare the total costs with
the total benefits of the project discounted at 10%. Total project costs included the
construction and the maintenance cost of the road during the service period of the road.
Benefits took into account vehicle operating cost and travel time savings. Each project was
assessed on its Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR) and Net Present Value.
Feasibility studies for most of the roads ear-marked for upgrading or new construction
were well underway or well advanced. Finalization of procurement for civil works and
consultancy for those projects scheduled to start in the early years of the program was well
advanced.
The Roads Economic Decision Model (RED), developed by the World Bank, was used to
improve the decision-making process for the development and maintenance of low-
volume regional roads. The model performs an economic evaluation of road investment
options using the consumer surplus approach and was customized to the characteristics
and needs of low-volume roads.
10
III. PERFORMANCE OF RSDP

3.1. Performance of RSDP I
During RSDP I, a total of 8709 km of roads were rehabilitated, upgraded, constructed and
maintained of which 2709 km of roads were federal roads, 6000 km of roads were regional
roads. During RSDP I, ETB 7.3 billion was disbursed of which 5.5 billion was on federal
roads and ETB 1.7 billion was on regional roads.
With regard to the federal road network, 975 km of trunk roads were rehabilitated, 549 km
of trunk and link roads were upgraded and 928 km of new link roads were constructed
during RSDP I. In parallel with these works, a total of 257 km of heavy/emergency
maintenance work was carried out on federal paved and gravel roads. Physical and
Financial performance against plan during RSDP I was 98% and 74% respectively. In
addition, detailed design studies, design reviews, feasibility and EIA studies were
undertaken for a number of pipeline road projects.
By the end of RSDP I, in 2002 achievements were registered in improving rural

accessibility and condition of the road network. The road network of the country
increased to 33,297 km in 2002 from 26550 km in 1997. As a result, Road density per 1000
sq. km increased to 30.3 km in 2002 from 24.1 km in to 1997. The proportion of the road
network in good condition increased to 30 % in 2002 from 22% in 1997. Table 6 provides a
summary of the accomplishment of the RSDP I.
Table 6 : Summary of Accomplishment for RSDP I

Length in km, Budget & Disbursement in million ETB
Item RSDP I, 5 Years

No. Project Physical Financial
Plan Acco. % Budget Disbu. %
I. Federal Roads
1.1 Rehabilitation of Trunk Roads 1259 975 77 3161.4 2543.3 80
1.2 Upgrading of Trunk Roads 822 540 66 1332.9 894.0 67
1.3 Upgrading of Link Roads 0 9 200.1 176.7 88
1.4 Construction of Link Roads 930 928 100 768.8 878.1 114
1.5 Heavy/Emergency Maintenance 766 257 34 313.8 92.1 29
1.6 Routine Maintenance 701.0 676.2 97
1.7 Feasibility & EIA Study 15.6 5.5 35
1.8 Procurement of Equipment and Spare Parts 304.2
1.9 Bridge & Structures Maintenance & construction 63.6 32.6 51

1.10 Policy and Capacity Building 156 129.9 83
1.11 Recurrent Expenditure 96.4
Sub – Total 3777 2709 72 7017.4 5524.8 79
11
Cont’d
Item RSDP I, 5 Years

II. Regional Roads
2.1 Construction of Rural Roads & Bridges 5131 6000 117 2588.7 1500.0 58
2.2 Maintenance 206.7 170.0 82
2.3 Recurrent Budget
Sub – Total 5131 6000 117 2795.4 1670.0 60
III. Community Roads /ERTTP/
3.1 Studies/Pilot Woreda Implementation/Main Road
Program (Roads Component) 0.1 2.7
Sub– Total 0.1 2.7

IV. Urban Roads Maintenance
Sub – Total 87.0

Grand Total 8908 8709 98 9812.9 7284.5 74
3.2. Performance of RSDP II

During RSDP II, a total of 11,589 km of roads were rehabilitated, upgraded, constructed
and maintained of which 7483 km of roads were federal roads, 4106 km of roads were
regional roads. During RSDP II, ETB 18.1 billion was disbursed of which 14.7 billion was
on federal roads and ETB 1.8 billion was on regional roads.
With regard to the federal road network, 970 km of trunk roads were rehabilitated, 1,702
km of trunk and link roads were upgraded and 612 km of link roads were constructed
during RSDP II. In parallel with these works, a total of 4,199 km of heavy/emergency
maintenance work was carried out on federal paved and gravel roads.
RRAs managed to construct 4106 km of rural roads, disbursing around ETB 1.8 billion. In
addition, 58,114 km of community roads were constructed by Woredas, with an
expenditure of ETB 1.4 billion. Table 7 provides a summary of the accomplishment of the
RSDP II.
Physical and Financial performance against plan during RSDP II was 140% and 113%
respectively. Performance of RSDP II was remarkable as physical performance was much
higher than plan and financial performance was also higher than plan.
By the end of RSDP II, in 2007 achievements were registered in improving rural
increased to 42,429 km in 2007 from 33,297 km in 2002. As a result, Road density per 1000
12
sq. km increased to 38.6 km in 2007 from 30km in 2002. The proportion of the road
network in good condition increased to 49 % in 2007 from 30% in 2002.
Table 7: Summary of Accomplishment of RSDP II
Item RSDP II, 5 Years

I. Federal Roads
1.3 Upgrading of Link Roads 295 289 98 1365.5 1414.4 104
1.7 Feasibility & EIA Study 25.6 41.2 161
Procurement of Equipment and
1.8 Spare Parts 41.2 208.1 505
Bridge & Structures Maintenance &
1.9 construction 116.7 121.3 104
1.10 Policy and Capacity Building 363.7 295.7 81
1.11 Recurrent Expenditure 118.8 142.5 120
Sub – Total 5375 7483 139 11708.9 14688.0 125
II. Regional Roads
Construction of Rural Roads &
2.1 Bridges 2877 4106 143 1808.4 1174.1 65
2.2 Maintenance 454.8 513.4 113
2.3 Recurrent Budget 203.0 115.4 57
Sub – Total 2877 4106 142 2466.2 1802.9 73
Studies/Pilot Woreda
Implementation/Main Road
3.1 Program (Roads Component) 1708.1 1426.0 84
Sub – Total 1708.1 1426.0 84
IV. Urban Roads Maintenance
Sub – Total 102.7 196.0 191
Grand Total 8252 11,589 140 15,985.9 18,112.9 113
3.3. Performance of RSDP III

During RSDP III, a total of 12,395 km of roads were rehabilitated, upgraded, constructed
and maintained of which 7996 km of roads were federal roads, 4399 km of roads were
regional roads. During RSDP III, ETB 34.9 billion was disbursed of which 31.4 billion was
on federal roads and ETB 2.4 billion was on regional roads.
13
With regard to the federal road network, 344 km of trunk roads were rehabilitated, 2,723
km of trunk and link roads were upgraded and 1603 km of link roads were constructed
during RSDP III.
In parallel with these works, a total of 3,326 km of heavy maintenance work was carried
out on federal paved and gravel roads. RRAs managed to construct 4399 km of rural
roads, disbursing around ETB 2.4 billion. In addition, 42,270 km of community roads were
constructed by Woredas, with an expenditure of ETB 0.9 billion overall, physical and
financial performance against plan during RSDP III was 84% and 101% respectively. .
Table 8 provides a summary of the accomplishment of the RSDP III.
By the end of RSDP III, achievements were registered in improving rural accessibility and
condition of the road network. The road network of the country increased to 48,793 km in
2010 from 42,429 km in 2007. As a result, Road density per 1000 sq. km increased to 44.4
km in 2010 from 38.6km in 2007. The proportion of the road network in good condition
increased to 56 % in 2010 from 49% in 2007.
Table 8: Summary of Accomplishment of RSDP III

Item RSDP III, 3 Years
I. Federal Roads
1.3 Upgrading of Link Roads 1968 1641 83 8255.0 8570.3 104
1.7 Feasibility & EIA Study 4.1
1.8 Procurement of Equipment and Spare Parts 16.7
Bridge & Structures Maintenance &
1.9 construction 135.0 183.4 136
1.10 Policy and Capacity Building 109.7 383.3 349
1.11 Recurrent Expenditure 96.0 190.9 199
Sub – Total 8956 7996 89 29549.2 31439.2 106
II. Regional Roads
2.1 Construction of Rural Roads & Bridges 5730 4399 77 2865.0 1759.3 61
2.2 Maintenance 450.0 439.0 98
2.3 Recurrent Budget 340.0 188.2 55
Sub – Total 5730 4399 77 3655.0 2386.5 65
14
Cont’d
RSDP III, 3 Years

Item Physical Financial
No Project
Studies/Pilot Woreda
Implementation/Main Road Program
3.1 (Roads Component) 934.7 867.1 93
Sub – Total 934.7 867.1 93
IV. Urban Roads Maintenance 505.0 265.0 53
Sub –
Total 505.0 265.0 53
V. Road Safety/Support Services
Grand Total 14686 12395 84 34643.9 34,957.8 101
3.4. Performance of RSDP IV

During the past five years of RSDP IV, a total of 85,860 km physical work has been carried
out, of which 13,633 km by Federal roads; 9814 km by regional roads and 62,413 km of
roads were URRAP roads. During RSDP IV; ETB 158.3 billion was disbursed of which
117.9 billion was on federal roads and ETB 12.2 billion was on regional roads and 28.0
billion was on URRAP roads.
With regard to the federal road network, 575 km of trunk roads were rehabilitated,
4,500 km of trunk and link roads were upgraded and 3,894 km of new link roads were
constructed during RSDP IV. In parallel with these works, a total of 4,664 km of heavy
maintenance work was carried out on federal paved and gravel roads.
The overall physical and financial performance against plan during of RSDP IV was 88%
and 126% respectively. Table 9 shows a summary of the accomplishment of the RSDP IV.
By the end of RSDP IV, in 2015 achievements were registered in improving rural
increased to 110,414 km in 2015 from 48,793 km in 2010. As a result, Road density per 1000
sq. km increased to 100.4 km in 2015 from 44.4 km in 2010. The proportion of the road
network in good condition increased to 70 % in 2015 from 56% in 2010.
15
Table 9: Summary of Accomplishment for RSDP IV (5 years)
Length in km, Budget and Disbursement in million ETB
Type of Work RSDP IV (five years) RSDP IV (five years)

% %
Planned Actual Budget Disb.
age age
A. Federal Roads
Rehabilitation of Trunk Roads 728 575 79 4757.8 4757.8 143
Upgrading of Trunk Roads 1089 1268 116 8541.5 15432.3 181

Upgrading of Link Roads 3,934 3232 82 26029.8 34735.5 133
Construction of New Link Roads 4331 3894 90 35078.9 54589.8 156
Periodic Maintenance 4700 4664 99 4636.3 2056.7 44
Performance Based Maintenance 931.2 73.4 8
Routine Maintenance 2700.0 2370.3 88

Others 2941.9 3873.1 132
Sub Total 14,782 13,633 92 84186.8 117888.8 128

B. Regional Roads
Construction
11212 9814 87.5 13341.8 10765.5 81
Maintenance
1049.9 1433.0 136
Sub Total 11,212 9814 87.5 14391.7 12198.6 85
C. Woreda Roads
Construction of URRAP
71523 62,413 87 26431.8 27964.7 106
Sub Total 71523 62,413 87 26431.8 27964.7 106
D.Urban Roads
Urban Roads 398.9 281.2 70
Sub Total 398.9 281.2 70
TOTAL 97,517 85,860 88 125,409.1 158,333.3 126

16
3.5. Performance of RSDP V (First Year Assessment)
During the first year of RSDP V, a total of 9917 km physical work has been carried
out, of which 1594 km by Federal roads; 1920 km by regional roads and 5622 km of
roads were URRAP roads. About ETB 47.5 billion was disbursed of which 29.4
billion was on federal roads and ETB 14.1 billion was on regional roads and 4.0
billion was on URRAP roads.
With regard to the federal road network, 114 km of trunk roads were rehabilitated,
764 km of trunk and link roads were upgraded, 714 of new link roads were
constructed and 2 km of expressway roads were constructed in the first year of
RSDP V. In parallel with these works, a total of 780 km of heavy maintenance work
was carried out on federal paved and gravel roads.
The overall physical and financial performance against plan during the first year of
RSDP V was 49% and 102% respectively. The low physical performance is mostly
attributed to low performance of Wereda roads.
Table 10: Summary of Accomplishment for RSDP V (First Year)
Length in km, Budget and Disbursement in million ETB
Type of Work RSDP V (First year) RSDP V (First year)

Planne %
Actual Budget Disb. % age
d age
A. Federal Roads
Rehabilitation of Trunk Roads 200 114 57 1576.8 1605.3 101.8
Upgrading of Trunk Roads 206 191 93 3076.7 2651.0 86.2

Upgrading of Link Roads 640 573 90 9838.7 8518.0 86.6
Construction of New Link Roads 781 714 91 14698.7 13993.9 95.2
Construction of Expressway Roads 5 2 34 2225.8 867.2 39.0
Periodic Maintenance 753 780 104 317.7 348.2 109.6
Routine Maintenance 619.2 514.3 83.1

Performance Based Maintenance
Others 1813.4 927.4 51.1
Sub Total 1832 1594 87 34166.9 29425.3 86.1
B. Regional Roads
Construction
1451 1920 132 3627.5 13722.2 378.3
Maintenance 459.6 363.4 79.1
17
Sub Total 1451 1920 132 4087.1 14085.6 344.6
C. Woreda Roads
Construction of URRAP
16234 5622 35 8117.0 3972.7 48.9
Maintenance
234.1 36.8 15.7
Sub Total 16234 5622 35 8351.1 4009.4 48.0
D.Urban Roads
Urban Roads
TOTAL 20,270 9917 49 46,605.1 47,520.3 102.0
18
3.6. Overall Performance of RSDP

The nineteen years performance of RSDP has brought significant improvements in
the restoration and expansion of Ethiopia‟s road network. Physical achievements
have been matched by significant improvements in the condition of the network,
strengthening of the management capacity of the road agencies and delivery on
policy reform.
A total of 128,470 km of major physical road works excluding routine maintenance

was carried out of which 34,195 km was on federal roads, 26,239 km was on regional
roads construction and 68,035 km URRAP roads. Overall physical accomplishment
against plan was 86%. Total disbursement was about ETB 266.2 billion and this
disbursement was 115% of the plan.
With regard to federal roads, 2,979 km of rehabilitation of trunk roads and 10236 km
of upgrading of trunk and link roads and 7752 km construction of new link roads
were carried out under the program. In parallel with this, heavy maintenance on
13,226 km of federal road was also carried out. Table 11 shows summary of
performance of RSDP over the past nineteen years.
Table 11: Summary of Accomplishment of 19 years of RSDP
Total RSDP 19 yrs
Type of Work %
Planned Actual % age Budget Disb.
age
A. Federal Roads
Rehabilitation of Trunk Roads 3282 2979.4 91 13930.2 17153.6 123
Upgrading of Trunk Roads 4827 4492.9 93 22901.9 30013.8 131
Upgrading of Link Roads 6837 5742.9 84 45689.0 53414.9 117
Construction of New Link Roads 8684 7752.4 89 60599.5 78898.2 130
Construction of Expressway Roads 5 1.7 34 2225.8 867.2 39
Federal Roads Periodic Maintenance 11840 13226 112 8673.9 6114.2 70
Routine Maintenance 0 0 5376.3 5778.8 107
Performance based Maintenance 0 0 931.2 73.4 8
Others 6301.4 6652.0 106
Sub Total Federal Roads 35475 34195 96 166629.1 198966.07 119
B. Regional Roads
Construction 26401 26239 99 4231.4 28921.1 119
Maintenance 2961.0 3107.0 105
Others 203.0 115.4 57
Sub Total Regional Roads 26401 26239 99 27395.4 32143.52 117
19
Cont’d
C. Woreda Roads
Construction of URRAP 87757 68035 78 33148.4 31885.2 96

Maintenance 1634.5 88.9 5
Sub Total Woreda Roads 87757 68035 78 34782.9 31974.1 92
D.ERTTP/Community Road
Community Roads 2642.9 2295.9 87
Sub Total Community Roads 2642.9 2295.9 87
E.Urban Roads 1,006.6 829.25 82
Sub Total Municipalities
Maintenance 1,006.6 829.25 82
TOTAL 149,633 128,470 86 232456.9 266208.8 115
3.7. Overview of URRAP Performance

3.7.1. Performance of URRAP under RSDP IV
As major component of the RSDP-IV, Universal Rural Road Access Program

(URRAP) was launched envisaging connecting all Kebeles by standard and
affordable all-weather roads that provide year round access. Within the program
implementation period, it was planned to construct 71,523 km of all-weather roads
throughout the country at an estimated cost of more than ETB 26.4 billion. The full-
fledged implementation of URRAP was supposed to ensure year round access to
road for about 80% of the total rural population. The program has been designed to
be fully financed by the Government of Ethiopia.
During the first year of implementation, which was largely a year of preparation,
only 854 km of roads were constructed. Some of the preparation works were even
extended to second quarters of the 2nd year of RSDP IV budget year in some regions.
Though the preparation work took more time than anticipated, it has laid the
foundation for the success of the program and same was reflected by the promising
performance being observed recently. Table 12 shows some of the preparatory
activities.
20
Table 12: SME development, training, and manual distribution

Training provided
No. of LVR
SME Development by ERA
Design Manuals
No. Region
RSDP V
RSDP
Consultants Contractors (First
IV Distributed
Year)
1 SNNPR 98 254 686 201 1546
2 Amhara 35 151 920 198 1345
3 Oromia 120 470 1436 301 2946
4 Tigray 11 34 1150 59 400
5 B/Gumuz 6 17 58 16 245
6 Dire Dawa 2 11 34 47 95
7 Harari 1 2 34 33 112
8 Gambella 2 6 72 22 154
9 Somali 40 39 382
10 Afar 22 13 216
Total 275 945 4452 929 7461
As can be seen from table 11; the following preparatory activities have been carried
out to effectively implement URRAP.
 More than 7461 Low Volume Roads Design Manuals were distributed to all
Regions, Woredas, and consultants involving in URRAP.
 More than 8000 small and medium capacity equipments; including tractors,
trailers, towed rollers, towed graders, water tankers, fuel tankers, and pick-
ups, were manufactured/assembled and distributed to Regions by Metal and
Engineering Corporation.
 More than 1220 medium Enterprises, consultants and contractors, were
developed, trained, and are involving in the program.
On top of the above, during RSDP IV Regions managed to construct 46,810 km of

(by 6m wide) all weather roads, which is 65% of planned for the period of the 5
years. In addition, regions have also managed to maintain 535 km of the constructed
URRAP roads. It is to be recalled that URRAP roads are planned to be constructed
with the minimum standard of 4.5m wide surfacing. Due to some design and
structural changes by the implementing regions; almost all roads are constructed by
considering 6m wide. So it has its own implication on construction costs as well as
on the physical accomplishments. If the whole roads were constructed by 4.5m wide,
the physical accomplishment could have been 62,413 km which yields an
accomplishment of 87% against the plan. The Regional disaggregation of same is
presented in table 12.
21
Table 13: URRAP Performance under RSDP IV

Accomplishment
Accomplishment
5 Years
(by 6m wide surfacing)
(by 4.5m wide Community Employ’t
Regions Plan surfacing) Participation ( in man - Opportu’y
No. (Km) days*) in number
In Km In Percent In Km In Percent
1 51 9580 68 5,082,223 522,978
SNNPR 14,003 7,185
2 4,661,630 165,728
Amhara 18,003 9,415 52 12,553 70
3 18,339,648 663,903
Oromia 30,007 27,158 91 36,211 100
4 2,517,294 133,818
Tigray 2,500 2,283 91 3,044 100
5 2,360 2543
B/Gumuz 1,800 366 20 488 27
6 645 3326
D/Dawa 159 214 ›100 285 100
7 280 1416
Harari 50 144 ›100 192 100
8 573 428
Gambella 200 45 23 60 30
9 - -
Somali 3,001
0 0 0 0
10 Afar 1,800 - -
0 0 0 0
Total 71,523 46,810 65 62,413 87 30,604,653 1,494,140
*Man-days are a unit of one day’s work by one person.
As a whole, more than 30 million man-days had been contributed as a free labor
contribution during the implementation years of URRAP. The monetary value of
this contribution plus the voluntary monetary contribution by those who can‟t
contribute their labor because of different reasons was well above ETB 2.7 million.
As far as the overall financial performance of URRAP is concerned, including the

community contribution is about ETB 28 billion was expended during RSDP IV.
This fairly substantiates the extent of low cost per km investment on URRAP roads.
Including all direct (construction) and indirect (training, supervision, operational,
etc) costs; the per km cost of roads under URRAP is around ETB 689,025.
Another important achievement of the program is the employment opportunity it

was creating for the rural population. The program, reflecting the broad-based
development strategy of the country, has created more than 1,494,140 thousand
permanent and temporary job opportunities in the five years period.
It is to be recalled that with the limited road network coverage, many Kebeles of the
country were remained inaccessible by motorized transport and several areas
inhabited by relatively large rural populations were isolated from the rest of the
country. URRAP was launched for the mission of connecting all these rural kebeles
throughout the country, 15,602 in total, by all weather roads at the end of 2014/15.
Detail of kebele connectivity before and after URRAP to the nearest main road is
presented hereunder. Table 13 shows level of Kebele Connectivity.
22
Table 14፡ Level of Kebele Connectivity by All Weather Roads

Kebeles connected by
Number Number of all weather roads before Kebeles connected by all
of rural rural URRAP weather roads so far
No. Region Woredas Kebeles In number In percent In number In percent
1 SNNPR 134 3,808 1553 41 2,531 66
2 Amhara 129 3,217 1,132 35 2,030 63
3 Oromia 295 6,478 2,714 42 6,028 93
4 Tigray 35 714 383 54 565 79
5 B/Gumuz 20 377 95 25 252 67
6 Dire Dawa 1 38 19 50 38 100
7 Harari 3 - - 25
8 Gambella 11 198 67 34 87 44
9 Somali 50 401 95 24 122 30
10 Afar 29 371 164 44 193 52
Total 707 15,602 6,222 40 11,871 76
Maintenance (sustainability), everyone‟s concern while thinking about URRAP, is

also given the proper attention. The two important inputs for sustainable
maintenance and service of URRAP roads are finance, and most importantly
institutional arrangement and capacity. On this regard there is clear and shared
direction that the roads will be owned by the respective Woreda Road Offices
(WROs). As far as the maintenance modality is concerned, the Woreda road office,
whenever possible, mobilized the community for routine maintenance while
allocates budget for periodic maintenance, which may be handled by URRAP
contractors. The maintenance booklet (one volume from the LVRs Design Manual
Series) is another step ahead for ensuring sustainable maintenance.
This has two fold implications: one thing it creates sense of ownership on the
community and another it drives the effort to build the capacity at Woreda level as it
will no more be an option. The investment and road asset at Woreda level fairly
justifies any capacity building initiative at that level. ERA will play the leading role
in this regard, especially by continuing provision of training in its training centers to
technicians and professionals from RRAs and WROs.
Last, but not least, ERA has hired two consultants which will capture baseline data
and subsequently undertake impact assessment study on URRAP roads. Till the end
of June 2015, one consultant had already submitted the draft baseline survey report
of its respective regional study areas and the other was expected to submit the same
report of its own study areas. This does not only show the commitment of the
Government to closely monitor the impact of infrastructure investments, but also its
strong will and readiness to improve future polices based on lessons from the past.
23
3.7.2. Performance of URRAP under RSDP V (First Year)
The second phase of URRAP has continued in RSDP V with a target of constructing
90,000 km of URRAP roads. In this first year of RSDP V; the following tasks have
been implemented.
 More than 1220 medium Enterprises, consultants and contractors that were
developed and involved in first phase of URRAP under RSDP IV have also
continued their participation in this first year of RSDP V.
 Training is given to about 929 persons to the various consultants and
contractors across different regions.
Meanwhile, regions managed to construct 5622 km of all – weather roads in the
2015/16 fiscal year. The encouraging impact of URRAP roads has already been
reflected on the improved accessibility situation of the rural population as the
average hours households have to travel to get all weather road reduced from 2.9
hrs (8.7 km) in year 2010/11 to 1.6 hours (4.9 km) in 2015/16. In addition, more than
1 million man-days have been contributed as a free labor contribution during the
implementation years of URRAP.
Regarding the financial performance of URRAP in RSDP V first year; about ETB 4
billion is expended. Further, the program created employment opportunity for
more than 103 thousand people including the rural population which are permanent
and temporary jobs.
Table 15: URRAP Performance under RSDP V (First Year)

2008
5 Years Community Employ’t
Regions Plan Participation ( in man - Opportu’y
No. (Km) Plan Acco. days*) in number
1 104,222 8,348
SNNPR 18,722 2,006 1,067
2 674,427 45,825
Amhara 20,488 3,886 1006
3 138,980 39,000
Oromia 35,005 7,339 1718
4 175,472 10,405
Tigray 5,164 983 395
5 - -
B/Gumuz 1,126 225 63
6 - -
D/Dawa 286 45 3
7 - -
Harari 135 27 -
8 - -
Gambella 428 66 -
9 - -
Somali 6,619
1356 -
10 Afar 2,027 - -
301 -
Total 90,000 16,234 5622 1,093,101 103,578
*Man-days are a unit of one day’s work by one person.
24
Regarding kebele connectivity in the second phase of URRAP; 96 kebeles were

connected in the first year of RSDP V; which totals the kebeles connected so far to
11,967. Detail of kebele connectivity before and after URRAP to the nearest main
road is presented hereunder. Table 16 shows level of Kebele Connectivity.
Table 16: Kebele Connectivity under URRAP

Kebeles connected Kebeles connected
by all weather roads by all weather
in RSDP IV under roads in RSDP V
URRAP first year under Kebeles connected by all
Number Number of URRAP weather roads so far
of rural rural In In number
No. Region Woredas Kebeles number In percent In number In percent
1 SNNPR 134 3,808 2,531 66 5 2,536 67
2 Amhara 129 3,217 2,030 63 59 2,089 65
3 Oromia 295 6,478 6,028 93 30 6,058 94
4 Tigray 35 714 565 79 2 567 79
5 B/Gumuz 20 377 252 67 - 252 67
6 Dire Dawa 1 38 38 100 - 38 100
7 Harari 3 - 25 - 25
8 Gambella 11 198 87 44 - 87 44
9 Somali 50 401 122 30 - 122 30
10 Afar 29 371 193 52 - 193 52
Total 707 15,602 11,871 76 96 11,967 77
It is to be recalled ERA has hired two consultants which will capture baseline data
and subsequently undertake impact assessment study on URRAP roads. Till the end
of October 2016, the consultants are expected to submit their first follow-up survey
results.
3.7.3. Challenges Faced in the Implementation of URRAP
As in any area of development work, there are some challenges and problems faced
by implementing agencies. The following are major challenges.
 Capacity Gap
There is a capacity gap observed both from the side of implementing agencies
(Regional Road Authorities and Woreda Road Offices) and the implementers
(consultants and contractors). In most regional road offices the capacity gap is
mostly reflected in the areas of design review, contract management, financial
management, and rural road asset management whereas most of the consultants
involving in the sector lack project management skills. Following their project
management skill gap, it is not uncommon to see projects deviating from the
intended quality, time, and cost. Some of the quality gaps observed is somehow
attributed to capacity gaps at both levels.
25
 Frequent Turnover of Experienced and Trained Employees

Even though this is a national concern, the challenge is that the turnover of
experienced and trained staff at regional and wereda level makes it difficult for the
relevant office to manage the works in reasonable time with a newly substituted
staff, so that the preparation of action plans and report would usually be late until
they get the experience to do so. The newly hired staffs may also lack the experience
and skill to properly support consultants and contractors. This will also have its own
impact on the overall performance of contactors.
 Shortage and Late Release of Budget

Some of the regions mostly will have an annual plan which is by far lower than
what they can actually perform had it been with their full capacity. One of the main
reasons for such below capacity plan and performance is shortage of budget. What
the regions receive as MDG support budget from the central treasury will be
rationed to different MDG sectors as per the priority of the respective region. On top
of this, the flow of the allotted budget from the Federal to Regions, and sometimes to
Woredas will take time and results in delay of payments. Considering the low
financial position of URRAP contractors and consultants, such delay of payments
will have significant adverse effect in their cash flow and ultimate performance of
the project.
 Delay and Quality Issues of Locally Assembled Construction Equipments

One of the success stories of URRAP is that it was made possible to manufacture
and/or assemble more than 8,000 small and medium capacity construction
equipments and their accessories locally, mainly by the state owned Metal and
Engineering Corporation. But the delay in providing these equipments to regions
and the quality issues raised afterwards contributed for not achieving the target as
planned. Absence of maintenance capacity has been also mentioned as a concern.
 Rent Seeking Behavior

Such a behavior is reported to exist in some regions among the government
structure, consultants & contractors. According to reports, lack of good governance
starts from the very beginning of selecting the consultants and contractors to involve
in the program and it goes to effecting payments which are not in par with the work
done.
 Community Participation/Contribution
URRAP as a program is praised for involving a wide range of community at
different levels in different ways. But still the community participation is not free
from drawbacks. The first thing to be mentioned here is that there are regions who
could not totally participate the community and even those who do they are
26
mobilizing below the potential. Second, the level of productivity of the mobilized
people is very low that their contribution to the project is minimal. Absence of close
supervision by consultants on community activities has also contributed for the low
productivity and quality of works done by the community.
 Delay of Project Handover

There was a gap observed in some regions to properly handover and accept
completed projects timely. This will have its own implication in terms of opening
the roads to the society and contractual complications which were resulting to
disagreements between contracting parties.
 Relationship between Consultants and Contractors

The expectation is that contractors and consultants will work hand in hand without
compromising their professional integrity. However, there were quite many cases
appeared because of disagreements between these two parties. In some case the
disagreements result from lack of experience and absence of skill of organizational
management.
 Reporting and Documenting

The challenge here is putting in place systems that enable for documenting and
reporting well-structured quality information on the lesson learnt by the lead
implementers at different level. Also obtaining timely reports and action plans are
very critical and considered as major challenge.
3.8. Cost and Financing of RSDP

An assessment of contribution of finance to the implementation of the RSDP shows
that 81% came from internal sources (the Government, the Road Fund and the
Community). The remaining 19% has been pooled from the international
community. Specifically, the share of the Government of Ethiopia is the highest
(73.3%), followed by IDA (6.7%), the Road Fund (6.1%), China (4.2%), EU (3.5%) and
AfDB (2.4%). The overall disbursement over 19 years of RSDP is about Birr 266.2
billion (USD 17.4 billion). Contributions by GOE, the Road Fund and communities
are growing at the fastest rate in recent years. Table 17 gives a breakdown of the
RSDP disbursements by financier.
27
Table 17: Disbursement by Financiers (1997-2016)

Disbursement in million ETB
Total RSDP
Total RSDP I Total RSDP II RSDP IV Total RSDP
III RSDP V %
Financiers (5yrs,1997/98- (5yrs,2002/03- (5yrs,2010/11- _19 Years
(3yrs,2007/08- (First Year) age
2002) 2007) 2015) (1997/98-2016)
2010)
GOE 3455.5 8056.7 20584.5 121817.6 41212.2 195126.5 73.3
Road Fund** 978.2 2555.8 5030.1 6383.6 1262.7 16210.5 6.1
Community 0.0 884.8 683.5 2748.7 4317.1 1.6
World Bank 1432.9 3135.3 2544.2 8648.2 2084.4 17844.9 6.7
European
Union * 678.1 1662.6 3255.2 3612.2 0.0 9208.1 3.5
China 0.0 0.0 1252.7 8558.2 1405.0 11215.9 4.2
African
Development
Bank 506.4 517.8 496.4 3787.9 1045.9 6354.3 2.4
Japan 164.9 380.0 307.1 1317.7 0.0 2169.7 0.8
OFID 0.3 293.3 213.6 108.7 178.4 794.3 0.3
Germany 27.7 302.6 67.0 45.2 0.0 442.5 0.2
BADEA 0.0 59.9 175.2 457.1 108.5 800.7 0.3
Saudi Fund
for
Development 0.0 39.3 123.2 199.7 117.3 479.4 0.2
Kuwait
Fund 0.0 0.0 49.9 437.1 80.9 567.9 0.2
Abu Dhabi 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.6 24.4 29.0 0.0
Various 40.6 224.8 175.1 207.0 0.6 648.1 0.2
Total 7284.6 18112.9 34957.8 158333.5 47520.3 266209.0 100

*Sector Budget Support contribution is considered
** ETB 281.1 is disbursement for Municipality from Road Fund.
28
3.9. Institutional Capacity Building and Progress in Road Sector Polices
3.9.1. Institutional Capacity Building
3.9.1.1. Restructuring and Modernization of ERA
To cope up with rapidly increasing number of road construction and upgrading projects
with successive phases of RSDP, reform in the role and organizational structure of ERA
has been introduced. The reform is intended to build Institutional capacity of ERA to
efficiently implement road projects and effectively manage road asset.
 Re-establishment of ERA as Regulatory Institution
ERA is reestablished as regulatory Federal Government institution in July 8, 2011 under

proclamation 247/2011. Consequently, ERA‟s operations Department which was
responsible for carrying out routine and heavy maintenance of federal roads and
construction of road projects with more than 10 thousand employees was established as
independent public contractor named as Ethiopian Road Construction Corporation
(ERCC). ERA‟s withdrawal from operational activities made it smaller and efficient in
the administration of construction & other contracts and road asset Management and
road network planning.
ERCC operates as profit making public parastatal. ERA award to ERCC road projects
that would be too expensive if awarded to private contractors because of reasons such
as difficult terrain and remoteness.ERA also award to ERCC most of the routine and
heavy maintenance of federal roads through direct negotiation. In the future, ERCC will
participate in bidding to win construction project with local private contractors to
increase the number of its road construction projects. ERCC‟s 60 years‟ experiences in
the construction of both gravel and asphalt roads as force account of ERA would
enhance its competitiveness in bidding. ERCC as government parastatal plays crucial
role in stabilizing cost of road construction in the sector.
 Restructuring of Construction Contract Administration
To enhance capacity of construction contract administration, ERA has been reorganized

under six Contract Administration Directorates. Of the six contract Administration
Directorates five are organized geographically as North, South, West, East and Central
region contract administration Directorates which assume responsibility to administer
construction & design contracts under their respective jurisdiction and another
Directorate is organized to administer Design & Build contracts. After ERA is organized
under six contract administration Directorates the number of contract engineers, team
leaders and directors is substantially increased and hence the efficiency of contract
administration substantially improved.
29
 Other New Directorates
A quality Assurance Directorate has been set up to ensure Road Safety and quality of
design implementation process as per the established standards and procedures.
Research and Development Directorate has been set up for providing the necessary
material and manpower resources to undertake research projects on key areas in the
road sector in order to reduce construction costs and improve quality. Training
Directorate has also been formed to administer ERA is training center and training
needs of employees. Women‟s Affair Directorate has been formed to administer gender
issues. In addition, Strategic Management and Institutional Transformation Directorate
has been set up.
 Restructuring of Road Asset Management
To enhance the capacity of road asset Management, the previous Road Network
Management Directorate has been upgraded to Department level headed by Deputy
Director General reporting to the Director General. The Department has Road Network
& Bridge management Directorate under its direct supervision. The Directorate in turn
has 10 Road Network Branch Directorates in different parts of the country which
directly roads under their respective jurisdiction. This restructuring has improved
effectiveness of road asset management.
 Modernization of ERA
Besides undergoing reform in organizational structure ERA is in the process of

modernizing itself to ensure organizational excellence in order to better satisfy its
customers‟ needs. To achieve this, modernizing the core processes like Engineering
Procurement, Design Management, Contract Management, Asset Management,
Quality Assurance and Performance Monitoring; and key enablers such as Engineering
Innovation and Research, Right of Way Management, Project Handover, Human
Resource Development and Management, Financial Management, Facility
Management, etc. is underway. Also modernization of axle load control is going on.
This, beyond improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Authority, will be
decisive to enhance transparency and accountability. The overall process of
modernizing and transforming ERA will be guided by the Road Map developed
particularly for this purpose. Accordingly, most of the studies undertaken by in-house
capacity on the above mentioned areas are now being finalized and hence will
progress to implementation soon. The overall transformation of ERA to the envisioned
level of excellence may take from three to five years.
ERA commissioned technical assistance on the study of ERA and Road Sector
Modernization and Institutional Transformation. The technical assistance will help
ERA to transform itself institutionally.
30
3.9.1.2. ERA Management System
ERA Management system (ERAMS) is a tool mounted on a computer server in ERA Data
Centre and accessed either by the Internet or Internet over a secure website. It is
available to assist in management of projects and Contracts at all levels from Project
Engineers performing their duties on individual contracts, through executive chain to
the Director General. ERAMS provides centrally connected data storage, designed to
allow additional systems to link with data already stored.
ERAMS provide a mechanism by which all works of the design and supervision
consulting firms and contractors can be subject to a systematic and consistent review by
management at all level. Therefore, ERAMS substantially improves performance of
design and construction contracts of road projects through readily available information
for closer monitoring by management at all level. The activities that are undertaken by
ERAMS are summarized below.
 Almost all of ERA‟s Projects and their data are under the system and is available in
softcopy irrespective of further refinement,
 The system is used as centralized data system for the projects status,
 All top managements are able to access and consistently review of the Contractors
and Consultants Project Performance,
 Different summary and detail reports are available on the system for research,
analysis and future decision making in relation to cost, and time overrun and others
issues,
 The system are already available to review the historical rate of different projects,
 Easily accessible and helps to monitor the physical and financial progress of the
Contracts,
3.9.1.3. Balanced Score Card
ERA has introduced Balanced Score Cared (B.S.C) in all its directorates since 2013 as part
of Government Civil Service Reform Program under the guidance and supervision of
System Development Directorate. Under B.S.C strategic goal is set for ERA and strategic
goal for all Directorates directly emanate from strategic goal of ERA. Strategic goal of all
teams emanate from strategic goal of Directorates and goals for individual workers
originate from teams strategic goal. All Directorates, Teams and individuals daily
activities focus on attaining the strategic goal of ERA.
B.S.C provides rapid review mechanism of work at all level. Groups known as 1 to 5
(one leader and five members) have been formed under all Directorates and Teams to
review progress on daily basis. Each leader of the group holds meeting with the other
group members every day to discuss progress of its individual members in carrying out
plan in to action. Each group discuss and address problems encountered by each
31
member of the group each day. The group report problems that could not be addressed
at group level to the Directorate for solution. Moreover, group leaders hold weekly
meeting with the Director to discus and address problems that could not be solved by
the group. The Directorate in turn report problems that could not be addressed at
Directorate level to be addressed by the management of ERA.
The management of ERA holds weekly meeting to discuss and address problems
reported by each Directorate. B.S.C also provides performance evaluation mechanism at
organizational, Directorate, Team and individual level and provides incentive
mechanism for outstanding performance. Therefore, B.S.C allowed ERA to discus and
address problems encountered in translating plan in to action sooner rather than later at
group, Directorate and top management level which in turn has had significant impact
on improving ERA‟s overall annual performance.
3.9.1.4. Establishment of Toll Roads Enterprise
Ethiopian Toll Roads Enterprise has been set up to administer Addis- Adama Express
way including toll collection and traffic management.
The objectives of the Enterprise are:-

 To provide toll road services to road users
 To operate and ensure the maintenance of toll roads
 To operate service stations constructed within the boundaries of toll roads
 To undertake other related activities necessary for the attainment of its
objective
The enterprise has the three Directorates: - Tolling Management, Toll operation and
Engineering & Human Resources & Finance. There are eight teams reporting to the three
Directorates and another three teams reporting to the General Manager. As per
organizational structure, the enterprise has a total of 486 employees.
The enterprise is administered by Board of Directors appointed by the Government and

the day to day operation is administered by General Manager.
The express way is built to be operated as toll road while the existing Addis – Adama
road remain a free high way. The expressway reduces travel time from Addis Ababa to
Adama by 90 minutes.
One of the responsibilities of the enterprise is to collect toll from vehicles operating on
the express way. The enterprise charge ETB 0.66 per km for Cars, Utilities, Small Buses,
Large Buses, Small Trucks & Medium Trucks, ETB 0.79 per km for Heavy Trucks and
ETB 0.92 per km for Truck with Trailers.
The Organizational Structure of the enterprise is shown below.
32
Board
General Manager
Legal Service
Team Audit
Service
Team
Customers’
communicatio
n & Public
Relation Team
Toll Operation & Engineering Directorate HR & Finance Directorate

Tolling management Directorate
Planning & Central Tolling Engineering Road Safety Electro HR & facility Finance
Program System management procurement & Security mechanical management Team
Team Monitoring Team & Contract Team Manageme Team
Team Management
nt Team
Team
33
3.9.2. Progress in Road Sector Policies
3.9.2.1. Human Resource Development

 Training of Professionals with M.Sc
Engineers have been trained in seven engineering fields in seven local universities under
M.Sc. program with ERA‟s sponsorship. The target is to train 3000 engineers with M.Sc.
by 2015. Since July 2010 to June 30, 2016, 5619 engineers were registered for the study of
whom 4401 are now attending the M.Sc program. For this first year of RSDP V; 1000
were registered for the training program. So far, 1006 engineers have graduated with
M.Sc.
 Training of Technicians
Starting from July 2010 to June 30, 2016; 47,953 technicians have been trained in ERA‟s
training Centers and Technical and Vocational Education and Training centers, of which
9200 technicians have been tested. In this first year of RSDP V; 5782 technicians were
trained and 1200 were tested and certified and certified.
3.9.2.2. Participatory Project Planning
Government builds roads primarily to support local community development. Local

communities have the right not only to know about the project but also to have their say
on the project so that their interests, concerns and expectations are addressed before &
during the project construction. Therefore, local communities are consulted during
environmental and social Impact Assessment and detail Engineering Design especially
during route selection.
Local communities interest, concerns and expectations which they raise during the
consultations are well documented and reported to ERA by consultants whom ERA
hired to undertake engineering design and other project studies. Local communities that
are consulted include local administration officials and other groups as necessary.
Local communities‟ participation during project planning has played important role to
ensure local peoples all round support to the project during construction of the road
project and protect the project from damage after construction is completed and opened
to traffic. Local communities‟ participation at road project planning stage also has made
important contribution to maximize local peoples benefit from the project during and
after construction.
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3.9.2.3. Monitoring of RSDP Indicators
Monitoring of RSDP Indicators and MDG Indicators has been going on yearly since 1999
by local consultant to verify the objectives of RSDP are achieved with the finance from
European Union. The consultant has been submitting reports on the trend of RSDP and
MDG indicators each year since 1999.
The findings of the monitoring of the trend of RSDP and MDG indicators has served as
basis for actions by Government and development partners to improve performance of
indicators.
ERA has signed contract agreement with same consultant for consultancy services for
monitoring of RSDP and MDG indicators over the period 2016 – 2020.
The list of RSDP and MDG indicators that have been monitored annually are attached as
annex.
3.10. Environmental Impacts of Road Projects
3.10.1. Environmental Management in the Ethiopian RSDP
The road network comprises a huge asset that requires adherence to appropriate
environmental considerations during design, construction, operations and maintenance
of roads in order to provide a high level service. As the length of the engineered road
network is increasing, appropriate choice of methods and procedures to protect the
environment and to preserve the road asset becomes increasingly important.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a recent phenomenon in Ethiopia. It became a

legally required procedure toward the end of year 2002, though emerged de facto before
2002 when a few land developers, including state-owned agencies approached the
Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to have their environmental impact studies
reviewed. Since the Environmental Impact Assessment Proclamation № 299 of 2002 was
adopted by the House of Peoples‟ Representatives, some efforts have been made to
implement the law by the EPA and the relevant regional environmental organs, which
were themselves established by Proclamation № 295 of 2002.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was used by ERA as a tool before EIA
proclamation was issued and legally required procedure since 2002. Since then all road
projects pass through EIA process including small projects like bridge construction and
heavy maintenance.
3.10.2. Establishment of the Environmental and Social Management Team
Immediately after the commencement of implementation of the first Road Sector

Development Program, in 1998 the Environmental and Social management team is
35
established under the planning and program management directorate. The following are
the major duties and responsibilities of the team:-
 Ensuring the incorporation of Environmental issues in the road planning and
implementation procedures,
 Systematically organize/coordinate/supervise Resettlement Action Plans and
Environmental Impact Assessment Studies for newly built road projects,
rehabilitation and upgrading,
 Carryout coordinated environmental monitoring activities on on-going projects so
as to check the implementation of mitigation measures.
 Build the in-house capacity to conduct Resettlement Action Plans and
Environmental Impact Assessment Studies whenever necessary.
 Mainstream and ensure the incorporation of HIV/AIDS Prevention and control
activities in the road sector.
 Prepare Road Sector Environmental Frameworks, Guidelines and Manuals based
on the existing national, international and financers safeguard policies.
3.10.3. Development of Institutional Environmental Management Frameworks
ERA has developed guidelines to attain the required quality of EIA. Its effective
implementation is also improving from time to time. In addition, ERA also prepare
Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) as inseparable tools from EIA to ensure the livelihood of
the project affected persons maintain pre-project status or even improved. Similar to EIA,
the standard and quality of RAP is improving from time to time.
Since the establishment of the environmental and social management team in 1998, the
Ethiopian Roads Authority has prepared the following environmental and social
management manuals and guidelines in order to standardize methods and procedures
which are the key references to conduct the Environmental Impact Assessment studies
and Resettlement Action plans. The manuals provide a step-by-step approach to
environmental management activities to be conducted during each phase of the project
cycle. In this regard, the following manuals and guidelines have been developed.
 Environmental Procedural Manual (2002)
 Road Safety Audit Manual(2004)
 Sectoral Policy for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control in the workplace of ERA
(2004)
 Resettlement /Rehabilitation Policy Framework (2006)
 Environmental and Social Management Manual (2008)
3.10.4. Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)
ERA is one of the pioneer organizations in using EIA, though, its effective
implementation still need improvement.
One of the main challenge of environmental management in the road sector is, the
shallowness of the study emanated from, little emphasis given to environmental matters
(EIA findings) by design consultants. As a result, EIA findings have not been reflected in
the design of the roads as required. Lack of adequate consultation has impaired the
36
design consultants to reflect the needs and aspiration of the local community in the
design.
In order to incorporate environmental considerations properly clauses and associated

costs for the effective implementation of environmental and social mitigation measures
has been fully addressed in the contract agreements. Moreover, the technical standard
specification of ERA which was prepared in 2002 and revised recently is under
implementation since 2013.
3.10.5. Site Environmental Management
Despite the availability of many tools, there are enormous gaps to be bridged regarding
the implementation. Most of the environmental impacts are actually temporary in nature.
Some of these are borrow pits and quarry sites development and reinstatement, spoil
material handling, dust pollution, preservation of roadside vegetation, handling of solid
and liquid wastes, occupational health and safety, provision of access for the community,
cut and fill section treatment, etc. Most of these impacts are causes of grievance by local
community. Out of this, cut surface treatment by contractors show improvement
currently. Most of the road projects are implementing roadside grassing.
As a temporary solution; ERA is supporting project contractors to develop Environmental
Management Plan (EMP) in advance of construction commencement, regularly
monitoring projects and finally making reinstatement works as a precondition for project
hand-over.
3.10.6. Environmental Auditing
Road construction projects involve several phases, parties and activities that potentially
affect the environment. ERA has prepared guidelines and set different requirements in
line with existing national standards. In order to ensure compliance to these
requirements, it would be better to introduce Environmental Compliance Audit (a
systematic scrutiny and objective evaluation of environmental performance throughout
the authority‟s existing operation) and awarding environmental clearance certificate for
good conduct and compliance to environmental care and respect shown by contractors
and supervision consultants.
The scope of the audit can vary from simple compliance testing to rigorous evaluation.
The process of conducting audit and awarding environmental clearance certificate is a
continuous process (not snap shot) and involves both internal and external auditing.
The ongoing projects are too much in number and it is crystal clear that, these large
numbers of projects cannot be monitored by ERA‟s own force i.e. the Environmental and
Social Management Team and the respective regional contract management directorates.
Moreover, Currently, Web Based Ethiopian Roads Authority Management System-

ERAMS is ensuring quality and monitor the progress achieved in implementation of the
road delivery and management core process.
37
3.10.7. HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Activities
In the course of HIV/AIDS control and prevention campaign ,ERA coordinates many
partners like contractors, consultants, daily laborers of the road construction and road
side communities, etc., hence in this regard, successes as well as challenges were
encountered.
Before the commencement of HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities within ERA,
many staffs were left helpless and led miserable life. Their families were disintegrated;
children left uncared. In 2001, the authority recognized that it was time to take action so
that HIV/AIDS prevention and control program has been started. The first strategic plan
for HIV/AIDS prevention and in the work place of ERA has been started by developing
sectoral HIV/AIDS policy in 2004.
Later it was recognized that, implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention and control
activities on each projects with centrally designed intervention plans didn‟t attain the
level of expectation. This condition called for an innovative approach to address the
prevention and control activities.
ERA revised the Bill of Quantity (BOQ) for HIV/AIDS related activities and terms of
references (ToR) by which minimum packages of services against HIV/AIDS or primary
prevention like (condom promotion and distribution, peer education, care and support,
networking and referral linkage) were identified. The HIV/AIDS knowledge, Attitude
and Practices (KAP) survey was incorporated to assess the existing situation about
HIV/AIDS. Therefore, all contractors have been abided by this component of the ToR,
and they carryout KAP surveys in each project and re-plan intervention accordingly
before they commence the HIV/AIDS prevention and control services.
ERA is also working closely with the federal and regional institutions like the Federal
HIV/AIDS prevention and control office, the Ministry of social Affairs, Regional
governments, zonal and Wereda Women and youth offices, Agricultural and
Environmental offices, the ministry of environment, forestry and climate change, national
and international civil societies as well as with non-governmental organizations.
There are, however, challenges like delays in commencing the services on time which
calls for improving the procurement system in order to recruit HIV/AIDS prevention and
control sub-consultant on time, create awareness about the importance of the services and
promote commitment of stakeholders (consultants, contractors and subcontractors), and
revision of provisions in the contract agreements. Occupational health and safety
including construction site traffic management similarly need improvement.
38
3.10.8. Monitoring and Evaluation
It is crystal clear that the large number of ongoing projects cannot be monitored by ERA‟s
environmental management team alone. Cognizant of this fact, ERA has outsourced two
consultancy services for two independent local consultants namely classic consulting
engineers PLC and civil works consulting engineers on environmental and road safety
performance monitoring by dividing the countries road network coverage in to two, as
south and north regions and over 80 road projects are covered. The service includes
baseline survey to monitor projects in social, environmental and road safety aspects.
The Authority also planned and currently working to scale-up the service to other
projects such as on the Modjo-Hawassa design and build highway. In a similar fashion,
both the internal and external Auditing will be continued on the ongoing and upcoming
projects.
Although there are improvements; site environmental management is far behind the
requirement. Therefore, there must be spirit of ownership among all the stakeholders.
The quality of ToR, ESIA, RAP, clauses in the contract and technical specification must be
improved in order to socially acceptable and environmentally friendly road projects.
3.10.9. Training and Capacity Building
Among the bottlenecks to integrate environmental management to road construction is

lack of awareness and laxity. Awareness creation through training is a crucial tool to
reach all the stakeholders. However, in terms of training sessions are not adequate, ERA,
ESMT has used few stages prepared by the organization to convey recurring
environmental and social problems, contract requirements and general awareness on the
environment to the contractors, consultants, ERA own staffs, regional road construction
experts. This has to be continued regularly to bring result driven change.
3.10.10. Non-Transport Projects (Emergency Access to Health Service)
Genesis of the EAHS goes back to a World Bank mission that traveled to Ethiopia from
August 30 to September 13, 2004 to carry out activities under the Japanese Social
Development Fund (JSDF) for a project that would address the role of transport in
preventing obstetric fistula, in particular, and providing Emergency Access to Health
Services, in general. During same period, a workshop organized under the theme
“Preventing Fistulas: Transport‟s Role in Empowering Communities in Ethiopia”
combined with series of stakeholder and community consultations were undertaken with
the objectives of discussing and identifying the range of social, health and transport
issues underlining fistula, the possible intervention and opportunities for collaboration,
and institutional framework as well as monitoring mechanism.
Subsequently, the EAHS pilot project emerged as a three-pronged intervention that could
effectively address:
 The transport,
39
 Health and
 Social problems inhibiting (EAHS) in interconnected way.
From the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State [Lokeabaya and
Hula] woredas and from the Amhara National Regional State [Dangila and Mecha]
woredas were then selected as areas for the project‟s pilot intervention based on a
number of criteria including:
 Prevalence rates of fistula,

 Creation of fistula outreach centers at regional hospitals (in Bahirdar and
Yirgalem), and
 Potential for aligning efforts with ongoing Rural Road Access (RRA) program.
The Baseline Survey, Preparation of IEC/BCC materials, community level manual, M&E
technical tools, Emergency Access Cards Dissemination and TOTs for EAHS pilot project
and Management consultancy service for provision of EAHS, Trainings on IEC/BCC,
Community referral manual, and on community level data collection and analysis;
upgrading of existing roads, new construction and replacement new bridge or
construction activities are fully accomplished. Maintenance hand tools for minor civil
works and Goods for Monitoring and Evaluation were procured and distributed.
Procurement of three wheel motor bike ambulance, emergency kit and animal driven cart
were a challenge for different reasons.
3.10.11. Enhancing the Capacity of Roads and Hydropower Subsectors towards

Climate Resilience
Ethiopia did not cause climate change, but we are confronted by the threat that it poses,
and should recognize the opportunity that it presents. Climate change is not a future
possibility for Ethiopia, it is a present reality. That is why it is imperative that we start
now to protect our people and our environment, while at the same time building a green
economy that will help to realize the ambitions set out in the Growth and Transformation
Plan.
The largest problems facing the current Ethiopian road network seem to be overloading
and missing maintenance and repair. The most influential climate impact on roads will in
the future come from changes in rain patterns and only to a smaller extent from increased
temperatures.
Cognizant of this fact, the Ethiopian Roads Authority has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding on 22 of August 2013 with Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy
(MoWIE) and Sustainable Land Use Forum (SLUF) a local NGO, to implement a project
entitled “Enhancing the Capacity of Road and Hydropower Sub-sectors towards Climate
Resiliency”. The following consultancy services and one project have been successfully
accomplished.
 Capacity building training to the environmental and social management team.

40
 Experience sharing visit in Vietnam on road side slope stabilization using

biological measures for ESMT and Road Asset.
 Review of EIA Application Practices in the Road Sector
 Assessment of Joint Planning and Implementation Practices of Road and
Hydropower Subsectors in Ethiopia.
 Review of Road Asset Elements Management Manuals and Guidelines of the Road
Sector.
 Review of existing institutional program and operational manuals.
 Demonstration on Roadside Slope Stabilization using vetiver grass on the 5 Km
Ambo–Gedo and Gedo-Bako Road Corridors.
3.11. Improving Axle Load Control

Special attention has been given to the enforcement of axle load limits by the ERA. To
assist with effective enforcement, the operation of the weighbridge stations falls under
the direct supervision of ERA. Ten stationary weighbridges operate at strategically
important sites throughout the country. The weighbridges operate full time, 24 hours a
day and 7 days a week and are located in such a way that they cover most of the main
routes. Enforcement is further strengthened by employing the use of mobile
weighbridges for random axle load control activities. Three mobile teams are dedicated
to this task, operating in different areas of the country and covering those routes missed
by the stationary weighbridges.
Data on individual axles of each heavy vehicle is recorded, with each station sending
summary reports of the recorded data to ERA headquarters. Reports are sent on a
monthly basis and are collated and analyzed at head office. A summary of the annual
axle load information forms part of the annual road condition report. These reports
provide detailed information on the level of overloading at each station.
Off-loading of excess loads commenced in March 2004 at all weighbridge stations.

Vehicles, found to be overloaded, are forced to offload excess cargo and operators can be
penalized at the nearby courts. This has brought a significant improvement in the
enforcement effort. However, the level of penalty is so small that it does not have a
serious effect on persistent offenders.
Maintenance of weighbridges, renovation of stations to improve the working conditions

at the stations, regular monitoring and intensive use of the mobile weigh scales are some
of the activities currently being undertaken by ERA.
With the exception of 2006/07 and 2015/16 fiscal year, the number of checked front and
rear axles has increased from year to year. The number of illegal axles has decreased
from 38% (in 2003/04) to 6% (in 2015/16) as the enforcement effort is strengthened and
further improvement on the situation is expected. The trend in the Illegal Axle Load
data from the 2002/03 to 2015/16 is presented in Table 18 and Chart below.
41
Table 18: Total Checked Front and Rear Axles (2002/03 – 2015/16)
Axles
Year Total Checked Illegal %
Illegal
Front Rear Total %
2002/2003 86,122 216,279 302,401 113,708 38
2003/2004 88,427 228,528 316,955 109,987 35
2004/2005 105,476 309,422 414,898 149,145 36
2005/2006 113,876 320,997 434,873 157,688 36
2006/2007 99,477 317,303 416,780 136,944 33
2007/2008 115,565 378,107 493,672 159,598 32
2008/2009 141,359 459,950 601,309 179,181 30
2009/2010 148,046 485,947 633,993 89,940 14
2010/2011 142,253 473,406 615,659 76,013 12
2011/2012 132,344 493,160 625,504 36,897 6
2012/2013 173,024 556,258 800,504 71,222 9
2013/2014 180,384 619,871 851,249 50,994 6
2014/2015 196,719 642,626 909,700 70,355 8
2015/20161 81,014 256,497 337,511 20,537 6
ERA is considering modernizing weigh bridges at its existing stations and opened 9 new
stations in order to improve the efficiency and transparency of axle load control with
Japanese Government grant.
Chart 9: Yearly Percentage of Illegal Axle Load

40
Illegal Axle Load %
35
30
25
20
Illegal %
15
10
5
0
200 200 200 200 200 200 200 201 201 201 201 201 201 201
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Illegal % 38 35 36 36 33 32 30 14 12 6 9 6 8 6
Year
1
The Axle Load data for 2016 does not include Alemgena Station as it is not functional. Thus, that is why the number
of axles checked is less than the previous years.
42
3.12. Research and Development under RSDP
As part of the Road Sector Development Programme (RSDP), it became increasingly

obvious that the national road research and development capacity had to be
strengthened and expanded to support the goals and objectives of the RSDP.
Accordingly, the Research and Development Directorate was established to support the
RSDP to achieve its goals through research and technology transfer activities.
Aligned with the first Growth and Transformation Plan from 2011 to 2015; various
research and technology transfer activities and establishing the Road Research centre are
being carried out since the establishment of the Research and Development Directorate
in 2010. The first task was to conduct a preparatory study for the preparation of
establishing the Road Research Centre (RRC). In parallel to establishing the research
centre various research activities are conducted either in collaboration or by the RRC
research staff. The Research projects are identified and formulated based on the current
key issues in the road sector. Most of these researches and studies promote quality,
reducing time and cost of road network development by investigating and optimizing
the use of naturally occurring construction materials in the country.
The research activities being carried out are currently at different stages and most of the
trial construction (where needed) are completed and under monitoring. Data are being
collected and this will continue for a minimum of three years and above before final
outcome of the research is being obtained. Technology transfer activities are also the
main tasks being carried out under the RRC. The Technology Transfer Strategy is to be
followed strictly so that the process is regulated and better technologies are transferred.
Furthermore, there are over ten companies who approached ERA with various road
construction technologies. The majority of these companies have the soil stabilization
chemicals and RRC is testing them to make sure these chemicals are able to deliver the
results that the companies claim to yield. Most of them are being tested and the results
are under compilation. The Centre is expected to work very hard to produce results that
feed in to the current road design, construction and maintenance practices so that the
expected support from the center for the RSDP is achieved.
43
IV. IMPACT OF RSDP

As a result of road sector investment under the RSDP, the total road network of the country
and its condition has improved. The impact of the RSDP on accessibility, quality and
mobility is discussed below.
4.1. Impact on Accessibility
Network Expansion: Since its inception in 1997, the RSDP has focused on rehabilitation
and expansion of the main paved and unpaved roads and important regional roads. The
total road network has expanded from about 26,550 km at the beginning of the RSDP to its
current 113,066 km including woreda and municipality roads, increasing the road density
from 24.1 to 102.8 km per 1000 sq. km and from 0.46 to 1.23 km per 1000 population in
2015/16. The growth of the Classified Road Network over the RSDP period is summarized
in Table 19.
Table 19: Growth of the Classified Road Network and Change in Road Density (1997 – 2016)
Road network in km Growth Road Road density
Paved Gravel Rural Woreda Municipality Total Rate (%) Density /1000sq. km
Year
Paved Gravel /1000
popn.
1997 3,708 12,162 10,680 26,550 0.46 24.14
1998 3,760 12,240 11,737 27,737 4.5 0.46 25.22
1999 3,812 12,250 12,600 28,662 3.3 0.47 26.06
2000 3,824 12,250 15,480 31,554 10.1 0.50 28.69
2001 3,924 12,467 16,480 32,871 4.2 0.50 29.88
2002 4,053 12,564 16,680 33,297 1.3 0.49 30.27
2003 4,362 12,340 17,154 33,856 1.7 0.49 30.78
2004 4,635 13,905 17,956 36,496 7.8 0.51 33.18
2005 4,972 13,640 18,406 37,018 1.4 0.51 33.60
2006 5,002 14,311 20,164 39,477 6.6 0.53 35.89
2007 5,452 14,628 22,349 42,429 7.5 0.55 38.60
2008 6,066 14,363 23,930 44,359 4.5 0.56 40.30
2009 6,938 14,234 25,640 46,812 5.5 0.57 42.60
2010 7,476 14,373 26,944 48,793 4.2 0.58 44.39
2011 8,295 14,136 30,712 854 53,997 10.7 0.66 49.09
2112 9875 14675 31550 6983 63083 16.8 0.75 57.30
2013 11301 14455 32582 27628 85966 36.3 1.0 78.20
2014 12640 14217 33609 39056 99522 15.8 1.1 90.5
2015 13,551 14,055 30641 46810 1693 3664 110414 10.9 1.2 100.4
2016 14632 13400 31620 48057 1693 3664 113066 2.4 1.23 102.8
Average Road Network Growth 8.2
ETHIOPIAN ROADS AUTHORITY OCTOBER, 2016 44

Indicators of Accessibility: Accessibility, measured in terms of average distance from the

road network and proportion of area farther than 5 km from an all weather road, shows that
substantial progress has been made in expanding the road network. Specifically, due to the
construction of new roads, the average distance from a road has been reduced from 21km in
1997 to 4.9 km in 2016. The proportion of area farther than 5 km from an all weather road,
which was 79% in 1997, has been reduced to 35.8% in 2016.
Rural Access Index: Isolation is a key characteristic of poverty. Improved road access offers
for the rural poor the ability to reach, visit or use services effectively and also contributes to
the country‟s economy and development. Improving rural road access can provide an
effective poverty alleviation catalyst by reducing constraints and providing access to new
opportunities.
Improving access to transport for rural men and women is considered essential to promote
rural development, to increase uptake of human development services (educational and
health), to facilitate inclusion of different ethnic and other groups, to improve employment
opportunities, and to stimulate growth for poverty reduction.
The Rural Access Index, RAI, measures the number of rural people who live within two
kilometers (typically equivalent to a walk of 20-25 minutes) of an all-season road as a
proportion of the total rural population. An “all-season road” is a road that is motorable all
year round by the prevailing means of rural transport. Occasional interruptions of short
duration during inclement weather (e.g. heavy rainfall) are accepted, particularly on lightly
trafficked roads.
The RAI is one of the indicators of access that is recommended by the World Bank in 2003
and RAI is accepted by the African Ministers of Transport as a comparative measure of rural
access in Africa. Table 20 shows the current level of accessibility of the rural population to
an all weather road as measured by the RAI and the progress made to improve accessibility
through successive RSDP implementation years. The average RAI for the whole country is
currently around 57%, a significant improvement compared to the situation at the outset of
the RSDP. Table 20 shows rural access index for the country.
45
Table 20: Rural Access Index Values

Total Inhabited
Total Rural Rural Pop’n. Rural Pop’n Rural
Area Area (80%) Year Road
Population Population Density Within 2km Access
(‘000 (‘000 km2) Network
Access Index (%)
km )2
1997 58,117,000 46,493,600 58 26,550 6,203,041 13

2002 67,220,000 53,776,000 68 33,297 8,997,887 17
1,176 796
2007 74,186,830 61,259,132 77 42,429 13,061,124 21
2010 79,777,690 65,680,187 83 48,793 16,104,158 25
2011 82,100,000 68,143,000 86 53,997 18,483,797 27
2012 84,500,000 70,135,000 88 63,083 22,232,795 32
2013 86,000,000 71,380,000 90 85,966 30,835,443 43
2014 87,000,000 72075,185 91 99,522 36,045,561 50
2015 89,887,957 73,228,102 92 110,414 40,630,189 55
2016 91865492 74839120 94 113,067 42,521,783 57
4.2. Impact on Mobility

Classified traffic counts have been undertaken on most of the road network since the 1950s.
An assessment of traffic on the main roads reveals a rapid and continuous increase in the
volume of motorized traffic. Vehicle kilometer of travel increased from 3.8 million in 1997 to
18.9 million in 2015, showing an average annual increase of 9.2%. Table 21 and the chart
below show the trend in vehicle kilometer of Travel during RSDP.
Table 21: Traffic Trend over the Period of the RSDP
Growth Rate
Year VKM
(%)
1997 3,771,565
1998 4,121,402 9
1999 4,499,496 6
2000 4,505,138 0.1
2001 4,711,689 5
2002 5,007,451 6 Chart : 10 Traffic Trend (1997-2015)
2003 5,604,395 12 20,000,000
18,000,000
2004 6,092,633 9
16,000,000
2005 6,769,424 11 14,000,000
2006 7,715,397 14 12,000,000
10,000,000
VKM
2007 9,324,985 21 8,000,000

2008 9,639,445 3 6,000,000
2009 11,752,452 22 4,000,000
2,000,000
2010 12,127,535 3 0
2003
2009
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2011 14,203,046 17
2012 14,683,918 3
2013 16,273619 11 Year
2014 17,291,368 6
2015 18,917,205 9
Average % 9.2
46
4.3. Impact on Quality

Improving the condition of the road network was a challenge. In the first year of the RSDP
52% of the road network was in poor condition and only 22% was in good condition. The
rehabilitation, upgrading and maintenance intervention effort under the RSDP improved
the proportion of the road network in good condition to 72 percent, with only 8% remaining
in a poor condition. Roads in fair and poor condition are consistently declining. The trend in
the condition of the classified road network during RSDP from 1997 to 2016 is presented in
Table 22 and Chart below.
Table 22: Road Condition Improvement (in %)
Year Good Fair Poor
1997 22 26 52
1998 23 26 51
1999 25 30 45
2000 28 32 41
2001 28 29 43
2002 30 30 40
2003 32 30 38
2004 37 28 35
2005 39 26 35
2006 47 22 31
2007 49 22 29
2008 53 20 27
2009 54 24 22
2010 56 23 21
2011 57 24 19
2012 64 22 14
2013 70 20 10
2014 70 21 9
2015 70 21 9
2016 72 20 8
Chart 11: Road Condittion Improvement in Ethiopia(1997/98 -

2015/16))
100%
80%
Poor
60%
Fair
40% Good
20%
0%
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
47
4.4. Impact on Domestic Construction Industry
Domestic Construction Industry Development: The impact of the program in building

the capacity of the domestic construction industry is encouraging. Specifically, participation
of the local contracting industry has increased, in terms of both the value and number of
projects, over the last nineteen years of the RSDP. ERA had been caring out a small number
of civil works to its previous own force account, which is now independent public
contractor, particularly in areas where the private industry was not willing to work. Table
23 depicts the cost of contracts awarded to local and foreign contractors over the period of
the RSDP.
Table 23: Total Cost of Projects Awarded to Local and Foreign Contractors
Value in Million ETB
Local Foreign
Contractors Contractors Total
1998 00.00 310.98 310.98
1999 180.25 3350.66 3530.92
2000 93.46 - 93.46
2001 531.30 513.49 1044.79
2002 252.21 395.58 647.79
2003 659.25 172.53 831.79
2004 514.12 286.37 800.49
2005 1052.96 1460.62 2513.58
2006 3773.91 3356.40 7130.31
2007 3266.81 4751.42 8018.22
2008 7527.30 4952.53 12479.83
2009 3088.32 12660.08 15748.40
2010 6428.22 745.40 7173.61
2011 8607.15 4798.36 13405.51
2012 8470.92 4676.23 13147.15
2013 5593.86 17815.45 23409.32
2014 4941.05 17248.95 22190.00
2015 10039.34 13233.02 23272.36
2016 17719.64 12035.56 29755.20
Total 82740.07 102763.63 185503.70
% 45 55
The total amount of cost of contract awarded to foreign contractors is larger than the local
contractors since complex and huge projects are awarded to them like expressways and
projects which have difficult terrain. And also; private local construction companies are post
1991 phenomena in Ethiopia and the local companies are building their capacity throughout
the RSDP which still requires further improvement.
48
Chart: 12: Total Costs of Projects Awarded to Local and Foreign Contractors from 1997 to 2016
18000.00
16000.00
14000.00 Local Contractors Foreign Contractors

12000.00
10000.00
Value in million ETB
8000.00
6000.00
4000.00
2000.00
00.00
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
Year
Of the 1358 contracts (both construction & consultancy) awarded over the last nineteen
years of the RSDP, some 1032 contracts were awarded to local companies of which 56%,
were for consultancy services, and 46% for road construction works. The value of civil
works contracts awarded to local firms was ETB 82.7 billion to June 2016. Chart 13 shows
number of projects awarded to local and foreign contractors.
Chart: 13: Number of Projects contracted to local and Foreign Contractors, from July 1997 to 2016
80
80
No of projects Contracted to local
70 contractors
No of projects Contracted to foreign 58
60 Contractors
No. of Projects
50
39
40
32 32
30 29
29
23
19 21 13
20 18 17 19 11
15
11 11 10 18 6
10 12 4 7 10 7
1 6 4 2 1 2 6 2 3
1
0 Year
Over the last nineteen years of the RSDP, some 1358 contracts were awarded to local
companies of which 56% were for consultancy services. The value of consultancy services
contracts awarded to local firms is ETB 3.9 billion till the end of June 2016. Chart 14 shows
cost of contracts awarded to local and foreign Consultants.
49
Table 24: Value of Services Contracts from July 1997 to June 2016
Local Foreign
Year Total Chart 14: Cost of Projects to Local and Foreign
Consultants Consultants
1998 07.81 33.52 41.33 Foreign Consultants
1999 41.85 97.89 139.75
Consultants, (1997-2016,cost in million ETB)
2420.07, 38%
2000 11.70 63.53 75.23
2001 09.04 85.78 94.82
2002 33.77 46.26 80.03
2003 21.78 31.66 53.45
2004 32.56 87.46 120.02
2005 54.19 73.77 127.96
2006 145.51 305.99 451.51
2007 234.12 57.32 291.44 Local
2008 213.13 166.63 379.76 Consultants,
3928.66, 62%
2009 163.71 220.99 384.70
2010 663.59 198.82 862.41
2011 183.32 273.80 457.13
2012 462.58 134.78 597.37
2013 354.60 130.89 485.49
2014 290.95 121.19 412.13
2015 723.09 81.64 804.74
2016 281.34 186.06 467.39
Total 3928.66 2420.07 6348.72
% 62 38
Table 25: Awarded Service contracts from July 1997 to June 2016
No of projects
No of projects
Contracted to No of
Year Contracted to Total
foreign projects Chart:15 :Number of Projects awarded to Local
local consultants
Consultants Contracted and Foregin Consultants
1998 7 9 16 to foreign
Consultants,
1999 21 15 36
203, 26%
2000 5 7 12
2001 10 10 20
2002 20 11 31
2003 17 6 23
2004 18 16 34
2005 18 5 23
2006 46 26 72
2007 37 13 50
2008 46 12 58 No of
2009 22 18 40 projects
Contracted
2010 11 8 19 to local
2011 28 8 36 consultants ,
2012 83 7 90 576, 74%
2013 50 7 57
2014 37 9 46
2015 68 4 72
2016 32 12 44
Total 576 203 779
% 74 26
50
4.5. Impact on Poverty
4.5.1. Impact of URRAP Roads
The Government of Ethiopia designed a five-year programme to link each kebele centre
with the nearest all weather roads through construction of 71,532 km in 2010; which further
extended to other five years under GTP II; and includes construction of other 90,000 km
roads by 2020. Access to all weather road and vital institutions supporting the livelihood of
the poor is greatly improving under URRAP. Most of Kebeles and communities have access
to primary schools, extension services, cooperative societies, health extension services
within their reach. Institutions such as health centres, hospitals, woreda major markets;
however, need households to spend much of their income. The expansion of URRAP roads
and consequently the transition from traditional mode of transportation (on foot and pack
animals) to intermediate and modern transportation system has changed the rural
livelihood landscape. Traffic flow is increasing on these roads and in many areas;
households have easy access to transportation. The construction of these roads is also
changing the settlement patterns attracting large number of households across the road.
Daily markets, shops, pharmacies and veterinary drug shops, merchandise trade, food and
catering services and others are expanding at a rapid rate in most of the roads.
Diversification of employment is also rising as many poor households engaged in
construction activities and petty trade.
Despite significant stride towards improving access through road infrastructure

investments; welfare indicators that can be used for informed decision and policy making
are inadequately documented. Accordingly, a baseline survey therefore was designed to
monitor the impact evaluation and benchmark indicators on the welfare of the society
affected by the Universal Rural Road Access Program (URRAP) road construction
programme.
4.5.2. Impact of Investment on Road Corridors
Globally there are empirical results indicating that Road Investment‟s alleviate poverty.
Affordable access and adequate mobility of people and goods and principal Road
Investment outcomes, together with other socio-economic improvements, are believed to be
the keys to improving quality of life notably in developing countries like Ethiopia. Thus,
cognizant that Road Investment has positive impact on poverty mitigation; it has also the
ability to complement investments in infrastructures like power, telecommunications,
schools, health facilities, development of tourism attractions, etc. Hence, panel studies on
aimed at drawing the impacts of road investments on poverty would help to come up with
ideas and propositions of policy and strategy importance for Ethiopian Road Agencies
51
intended to enhance their contribution to poverty reduction process in Ethiopia.

Accordingly, the Ethiopian Roads Authority has been carrying out the Transport Poverty
Observatory Studies since 2007 in two phases as presented below to demonstrate the impact
of roads on poverty empirically.
The first study, a baseline, was carried out by an Indian Consulting Firm namely, Inter
Continental Consultants (ICT) in association with two local consulting firms. The study,
“Road Corridor Community Development Plan and Poverty Impact of Transport Operations”,
covered four road corridors, namely:
Table 26:Transport Poverty Observatory Study I projects
Road Project Length (Km) Regional State
Alemgena-Butajira-Sodo 309 SNNPR
Dera-Mechara 240 Oromiya National Regional State
Assosa-Guba 221 Benishangul Gumuz
Woreta-Woldiya 300 Amhara National Regional State
The study had two components: (1) Preparation of Community Development Plan
Connected to Road Investment, and (2) Assessment of Poverty Impact of Transport
Infrastructure and Operation. The overall objective was to establish empirical basis to
monitor social, economic and environmental outcomes of road transport investments. The
study also sought other objectives including identification of relationships between
transport investments and poverty alleviation. Further it was tasked to:
 prepare a road corridor community development plan;

 examine the impact of road investments on poverty and using the lessons learned as
inputs to policy decisions and project design;
 identify transport service characteristics along the study road corridors; and
 Develop a set of policy recommendations.
The second study was carried out in 2005 by a UK-based consultancy firm, WSP-impc, Inc.
association with a local consulting firm. It involved the Kombolcha-Gundo Wine Road
Corridor, located in the Amhara National Regional State. The study was conducted under
the title, “Road Area Community Development and Study of Poverty Impact of Transport
Infrastructure and Operations.”
It had two components similar to the first study. The first was to develop a road area
community development plan that included enhancements to improve accessibility in the
road project area, interventions necessary to improve connectivity with adjacent
communities, benefits accruing from interventions, opportunities to motivate community-
driven development, and costs estimates including funding arrangements. The second
component was to assess poverty impact as a result of the road investment.
The third study carried out a series of annual impact monitoring surveys on the basis of the
baseline report on the four roads of the first study. Selam Development Consultants, a
52
locally based consulting firm, carried out the surveys. This assignment included the task of
updating monitoring outputs, outcome and impact indicators.
The TPO study also continued in RSDP-IV. In December 2011, the Ethiopian Roads
Authority (ERA) commissioned Sheladia Associates, Inc. of the USA and two other local
associates- Development Studies Associates and Hitcon Engineering PLC to undertake a
panel study on Transport and Poverty Observatory. The study went operational in early
2012, and it is expected to be completed end of 2016. It covered four road projects:
Table 27:
Transport Poverty Observatory Study II projects
Road Project Length Regional State
(Km)
Aposto-Wondo-Negele 267 SNNPR/ONRS
Kombolcha-Bati-Mille 130 Amhara and Afar National Regional
States
Mekenajo-DembiDollo 181 Oromiya National Regional State
(ONRS)
*Ankober-AliyuAmba- 89 Amhara & Afar National Regional
AwashArba Road States
*Control Road
The study sought the following three main objectives:

 to carry out a baseline survey;
 to monitor annual changes occurring that are attributable to the project roads; and,
 to recommend measures capable of enhancing policy/strategy making capability of
the client
The study made use of both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data needed for
performance monitoring and contribution of the road investment towards reducing
poverty.
The following main findings have been noted:
 Supply of and demands for motorized transport have been steadily increasing in the
entire four project roads over the study period, notably in those roads that became
serviceable. URRAP roads should have contributed to the state situation, especially
in Aposto-Wendo-Negele.
 Diversity of transport means both for passengers and freight improved, especially in
roads where construction is completed.
 Passenger and freight transport cost decreased by a range of 25% to 100% in Aposto-
Wendo-Negele where in the pre-road construction period, the extent of road
deterioration was very serious. Transport cost has steadily been increasing over the
study period in Kombolcha-Bati-Mille and Ankober-AliyuAmba-Awash Arba road
corridors.
53
 Average time taken to reach all-weather road in the four road corridors decreased
over the study period by 25% to 50%. URRAP roads have a more significant
contribution compared to the project roads.
 The construction phase in all of the four road corridors has sufficiently been sensitive
to the environment needs. Slopes have been planted to various types of grasses,
notably vetiver that has appreciable conservation capability. Conversely, frugality is
observed in the provision of drainage outlets and crossings for pedestrians and
livestock.
 Trends seem very encouraging in respect to employment creation in serviceable

project roads, especially in semi-urban and urban locations. For example, in Aleta
Wendo Township, construction, rural and urban agriculture, trade, and catering
services employment size increased by 145% in 2015 compared to 2014 in which
female share was 41%. Evidently this is bound to decrease disguised unemployment
in rural localities in the process increasing rural labor productivity. Results of in-
depth interviews with government agencies attribute some 40% of the increase to the
project road.
Increasing trend is evident in investment in micro and small-scale investment in the four
road corridors, which views of stakeholders mostly attribute to the road investment, even in
project roads where construction experienced considerable delays. Anticipation is
reportedly in the driver seat.
54
V. LESSONS LEARNED AND THE WAY FORWARD

5.1. Lessons Learned
 Improved Efficiency of ERA as a Regulatory Institution
Re-establishment of ERA as regulatory institution made ERA to withdraw from

construction of road projects and Maintenance of roads by force account which consists of
more than 10 thousand employees. Therefore, ERA has become smaller with just 2847
employees and its efficiency in contract administration has significantly improved. As a
result, ERA administer much more construction and design project now than before the
reform. As regulatory institution; ERA focus on contract administration, road network
planning and road asset Management only.
Establishment of ERA‟s force account as independent public contractor (ERCC) made it to

operate on the basis of commercial principle. ERA award ERCC road construction and
maintenance projects based on formal contract agreement which both sign. ERCC is
abiding by all the terms and conditions of contract agreement like any other private
contractor.
This arrangement made ERCC to operate on the basis of profitability and encouraged to
improve efficiency of its employees and construction equipment. Consequently ERCC has
been operating with profit since its establishment in 2011.
 The Growth of Domestic Construction Industry
The four phases of RSDP that have been implemented in the past nineteen years have
created enormous opportunity for the domestic construction industry to grow. The
number of local contractors and consultants increased rapidly. Not only the number of
local contractors & consultants grown rapidly but also the capacity of local contractors &
consultant also grown. Local contractors have been awarded 45% of the total road
construction contract amount and local consultants have been awarded 62% of the total
value of consultancy services. Local contractors have been awarded construction project as
high as ETB 2.7 billion in a single contract. Local contractors are now in a position to be
awarded not only construction of new gravel roads but also upgrading of existing roads
with high standard asphalt and construction of new asphalt roads.
Local contractors are also in position to be awarded not only construction projects financed
by Government but also construction projects financed by international financial
institutions such as World Bank.
Performance of the local contractors has also shown significant improvement. Some local
contractors have been able to complete construction projects on time and even earlier.
55
Local consultants are awarded almost all of consultancy services financed by Government.
Local consultants are also participating in consultancy services conducted by foreign
consultants as local associates.
URRAP which has been implemented since 2010 has been creating opportunity for small
and medium labor base contractors to emerge and grow. More than 1000 small & medium
contractors have been set up & operating since 2010.
 Improved Rural Accessibility
It is recognized that expanding link roads which are gravel road by Federal Government is
not sufficient to improve access to rural population with scattered settlements. Expanding
lower standard gravel roads (rural roads) is understood as essential to improve rural
accessibility. Therefore, the responsibility to build & maintain rural roads has been
decentralized to Regional Governments since 1993. Each regional government established
its own Rural Road Agency with responsibility to construct & maintain rural roads under
its jurisdiction with budget allocated by the respective regional government. Rural Road
Agencies played instrumental role in expanding the road network of the country and
improving access to the rural population. Construction and maintenance of rural roads has
been an integral component of RSDP since 1997. Rural roads construction by Rural Road
Agencies, account for 3.6% of the increase in the road network of the country. As part of
continued effort to improve rural accessibility attention is given to the construction of all-
weather community roads, which are lowest standard gravel roads in the fourth phase of
RSDP under URRAP.
The responsibility of constructing and maintaining all weather community roads under
URRAP is further decentralized to woreda Administrations under each regional
government. Construction of all-weather community roads in the past five years of the
fourth phase of RSDP has made important contribution to the growth of the road network
of the country and to improve access to rural population.
Therefore, the strategy to the decentralize responsibility for rural road construction to
regional Governments and the responsibility for all weather community roads to woreda
administration has increased the road network of the country and improved rural
accessibility within reasonable period of time.
5.2. The Way Forward
 Maintenance of Roads
The road network of the country is rapidly growing as new asphalt, gravel, rural and
community roads are built by ERA, RRAS & WRO respectively every year. Parallel with
rapid expansion of asphalt, gravel, rural & community roads, maintenance need is also
growing rapidly. However, shortage of fund has prevented timely and adequate
maintenance of roads in the country. The Road Fund Office has been collecting revenue
56
mainly from fuel levy and other sources and been allocating fund to road agencies for
maintenance of roads since 1998. The revenue and allocation of the Road Fund Office has
steadily been increasing every year since its establishment but has never been enough to
meet the maintenance need of the rapidly growing road network of the country.
In fact, the gap between maintenance need of the road network and allocation of fund has
been widening from year to year and as a consequence more & more roads unable to get
timely and adequate maintenance every year. Unless, worsening shortage of fund for
maintenance because of rapid growth of the road network both in size & quality is
addressed as early as possible it would lead to premature lose of investment on
infrastructure.
Therefore, the Road Fund office should generate and allocate sufficient fund for
maintenance of roads by raising fuel levy and diversifying sources of revenue as
recommended by Road Financing study.
 Self-Reliance of Local contractors
Having been established just over the past 20 years, local contractors did have shortage of
capital and insufficient experience in the management of road construction projects. As
Government has been committed to the growth of local contractors in number and size it
has provided a number of special supports to local contractors including 20% advance
payment as per contract agreement and additional advance payment beyond contract
agreement to address their shortage finance to buy construction materials
With these special supports, Government have awarded 376 road construction projects to
local contractors with contract price of ETB 82.7 billion over the past 19 years. Therefore,
they are now in much better position in terms capital and experience to undertake
construction of road projects awarded to them without special support from Government.
 Expanding Expressways
Traffic on paved roads radiating from Addis Ababa has been increasing at alarming rate in
the past 13 years. Traffic on some of the paved roads radiating from Addis Ababa exceeds
capacity and hence is already congested and on others traffic is expected to exceed
capacity and to be congested in the near future. Therefore, to address traffic congestion
and its negative impact on the economy alternative express ways need to be built. To
address traffic congestion on the existing Addis Ababa – Adama paved road alternative
express way is built and operating as toll roads. Alternative express way to the existing
Modjo – Hawassa road is being built in order to address imminent traffic congestion.
Alternative express way to the existing Adama – Awash paved roads and other paved
roads radiating from Addis Ababa will also follow in the near future to address upcoming
traffic congestion.
57
 Integration with Infrastructure Development Institutions
Lack of coordination among road, railway, power, telephone, water developing and
operating institutions has been responsible for large in efficiency & wastage of resources
and public dissatisfaction. Government has set up Ministerial Steering and Technical
committees to ensure coordination among ERA, Ethiopian Power Corporation (EPCO),
Ethiopian Telecom Corporation (ETCO) & Ethiopian Rail Way Corporation during
planning and construction and operation of their projects.
According to the new coordination arrangement, each institution incorporate right of way
clearance plan of all the other institutions in its annual physical action plan and
implement it within the planned time frame of the other concerned institution.
Accordingly, EPCO, ETCO and Railway Corporation will incorporate ERA‟s right of way
clearance plan, in their respective action plan and implement the same as planned by
ERA. ERA also incorporate Row clearance plan of EPCO, ETCO Railway Corporation in
its annual plan if any and will implement the same as planned by the other respective
institutions. The integration would address delay in row clearance due to lack of timely
cooperation by EPCO, ETCO, Water authorities in clearing Row for constriction to
commence and proceed as planned by ERA.
Following this need of integration; the Federal Integrated Infrastructure Development

Coordinating Agency is established in this 2015/16 fiscal year with proclamation number
of857/2014.
58
ANNEX
List of RSDP and MDG Indicators
RSDP Indicators
Indicator 1: Road density

Indicator 2: Traffic Flow
Indicator 3: Roughness and Road Condition
Indicator 4: Vehicle Operating Costs
Indicator 5: Freight rate and Passenger fare
Indicator 6: Fatalities and Accidents per Operational Vehicle
Indicator 7: Maintenance Budget and Expenditure
Indicator 8: Km Maintained
Indicator 9: Maintenance Costs/Costs of Maintaining Network Ratio
Indicator 10: Time for Payments to Consultants and Contractors
Indicator 11: Time for Contract Administration
Indicator 12: Private / Total Construction Ratio
Indicator 13: Labour-based/Total Construction Ratio
Indicator 14: Actual Axle Load/Legal Limit Ratio
Indicator 15: Construction, Rehabilitation and Maintenance Cost
Indicator 16: Journey Time
Indicator 17: Employment Opportunity for Local Labor
Indicator 18: Income Generation for Local Labor
Indicator 19: Improvement in Skill Levels
MDG Transport Indicators
Indicator 1: Proportion of rural population within 2 kilometer of all season mode of

transport
Indicator 2: Percentage Increase in Road and Rail Density
Indicator 3: Percentage Reduction of Travel and Vehicle Turn Around Time
Indicator 4: Percentage of Increased Agricultural Productivity and Economic Activities
Indicator 5: Percentage Increase in Employment Opportunities and Income Generation from
Transport Related Activities
Indicator 6: Percentage Reduction in Passenger Fares (Passenger Kilometer)
Indicator 7: Percentage Reduction in Unit Goods Transport Cost
Indicator 8: Level of Affordability of Transport Cost as percent of Income by the Urban and
Rural Poor
Indicator 9: Percentage Increase in the Use of Intermediate Means of Transport (IMTS)
Indicator 10: Existence of Sustainable financing Mechanisms such as Road Funds
Indicator 11: Percentage Increase in the Proportion of Modes of Transportation in Good and
Fair Condition
Indicator 12: Percentage of Schools, which have Reliable Access
Indicator 13: Transport Constraint on Education
Indicator 14: Proportion of Women with Access to Appropriate Means of Transport
ETHIOPIAN ROADS AUTHORITY OCTOBER, 2016 59

Indicator 15: Percentage Distribution of Households having Access to Health Centers,

Clinics.... etc with reliable access
Indicator 16: Percentage of Households Reporting Constraints on Access of Health Services
Indicator 18: Access to Health Care Services for Expectant or Post natal Mothers
Indicator 19: Children Under 5 Years
Indicator 20: Percentage of Child Birth at Home or on the Way to Health Facility
Indicator 25: Percent of Households (in the various urban living environment), which
Report Transport Cost, and Time as Major Obstacle to Employment
Indicator 26: Percentage of Households which Report Access a Major Obstacle for Essential
Services
Indicator 27: Environmental Impact Identified by Audits of Transportation Programs
Undertaken
Indicator 28: Implementation and Enforcement of International Conventions in Air and
Maritime Transport
Indicator 29: Status of banning sale of leaded Petrol
Indicator 30: Rate of Fatality (Per 100,000 Vehicle km)
Indicator 31: Adoption of Road Safety Strategies
Indicator 32: Percentage Reduction of Missing links of the Trans – African Highway
Network and Transit Corridors
Indicator 33: Percentage Reduction in Transport Cost for Land locked Countries
Indicator 35: Percentage Increase in Direct Private Investment
Indicator 36: Implementation and Enforcement of International Conventions in Air and
Marine Transport
Indicator 37: Proportion of check points along the main Transit Corridors to a maximum of
3 (between port and border of land – locked country)
Indicator 39: Percentage of Time to Cross border Compared to OECD / Industrialized
countries Average
Indicator 40: Percentage Increase in the Number of one stop border posts
Indicator 41: Proportion of Time to Port Clearing Compared to OECD / Industrialized
Countries
Indicator 42: Percentage Increase in Corridor Management Committees
Indicator 43: Implementation of Axle Load Limits and Design Standards for Transport
Infrastructure
Indicator 44: Number of New Air and Maritime Connections between Ethiopia and African
Countries
Indicator 45: Number of Products and Volume of Traffic of Products Transport by Air and
Sea
Indicator 47: Number of Ratification, Implementation and Enforcement of International
Conventions in the Transport Sector
60

19 Years Assessment Reportl

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THE FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA

ROAD SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

II. RATIONALE FOR RSDP ........................................................................................... 8

III. PERFORMANCE OF RSDP ..................................................................................... 11

3.10.8. Monitoring and Evaluation ........................................................................................ 39

IV. IMPACT OF RSDP .................................................................................................... 44

V. LESSONS LEARNED AND THE WAY FORWARD .......................................... 55

ETHIOPIAN ROADS AUTHORITY OCTOBER, 2016

Acronyms and Abbreviations

AADT Annual Average Daily Traffic

 RSDP I - From July 1997 to June 2002 (5 years plan)

ETHIOPIAN ROADS AUTHORITY OCTOBER, 2016

1.2. Physical and Financial Performance of RSDP

Table 2: Performance by Implementers (in %)

RSDP I 3777 2709 72 5131 6000 117 8908 8709 98

Table 3: Share of Expenditure by Implementers (1997-2016)

Chart 3: Share of Expenditure by Implementers.

Share of Expenditure by implementers % Urban Roads (only

1.3. Impact of RSDP

Table 4: Change in Selected Indicators

1.4. Capacity of Local Contractors and Consultants

Chart 4: Participation of local and foreign Contractors (1998-2016)

Participation of local consultants has been particularly encouraging. In terms of contract

Chart 5: Total Cost of Projects Awarded to Local and Foreign Consultants

No of Chart: 6 Local and Foreign Contractors ,Vs No No of

1.5. Financing Pattern of RSDP

Table 5: Financing Pattern of RSDP (in million ETB)

Amount Percentage Amount Percentage

Chart 8: Local and External Finance Sources in the RSDPs

200,000.0 Financing from

II. RATIONALE FOR RSDP

2.1. Objectives of RSDP

The objectives of RSDP are to:

 Develop adequate institutional capacity of the road sub-sector both at central as

2.2. Project Selection Framework

2.2.1. Preliminary Selection of Road Upgrading Projects

2.2.2. Preliminary Selection of New Roads

Economic Development Potential: Ethiopia is endowed with natural resources in

2.3. Final Prioritization and Selection

III. PERFORMANCE OF RSDP

By the end of RSDP I, in 2002 achievements were registered in improving rural

Table 6 : Summary of Accomplishment for RSDP I

Item RSDP I, 5 Years

1.9 Bridge & Structures Maintenance & construction 63.6 32.6 51

Item RSDP I, 5 Years

Sub– Total 0.1 2.7

Sub – Total 87.0

3.2. Performance of RSDP II

Item RSDP II, 5 Years

3.3. Performance of RSDP III

Table 8: Summary of Accomplishment of RSDP III

RSDP III, 3 Years

3.4. Performance of RSDP IV

Table 9: Summary of Accomplishment for RSDP IV (5 years)

Length in km, Budget and Disbursement in million ETB

Type of Work RSDP IV (five years) RSDP IV (five years)

Rehabilitation of Trunk Roads 728 575 79 4757.8 4757.8 143

Upgrading of Trunk Roads 1089 1268 116 8541.5 15432.3 181

Construction of New Link Roads 4331 3894 90 35078.9 54589.8 156

Periodic Maintenance 4700 4664 99 4636.3 2056.7 44

Performance Based Maintenance 931.2 73.4 8

Routine Maintenance 2700.0 2370.3 88

Sub Total 14,782 13,633 92 84186.8 117888.8 128