Post Mitch road rehabilitation project

This presentation is taken from the outcome assessment of the results and lessons learned of Swedish development cooperation with Nicaragua 2001 – 2008 – for full text and detailed references see document Outcome Assessment 2001-2008.

POST MITCH ROAD REHABILITATION PROJECT

(1999-2003; 350 MSEK)

This project forms part of the special Swedish support to reconstruction after the hurricane Mitch which caused major destruction in Nicaragua. It was started before the Country Program 2003 – 2005 was adopted and had no relation to the themes of this Program. To sum up, the aim of the project was achieved, although at a substantially higher cost than expected.

The aim of the project was the rehabilitation of a road in northern Nicaragua leading to the border with Honduras (Yalaquina –Las Manos, 43 km), which had been severely damaged by the hurricane Mitch in October 1998. The total cost of the project amounted to 350 MSEK.

In view of the urgency to repair the road, the project was set up to be implemented by a Swedish contractor, with a Swedish consultant responsible for design and control and with a limited role for the responsible ministry in Nicaragua. The guiding principles for the procurement and implementation of the Swedish Mitch support were only partly applied. The reason for this was the lack of a long term perspective and insufficient capacity on the recipient side in Nicaragua. This was also noted in a review of the special Mitch support commissioned by Sida in 2002. The rehabilitation work started in the beginning of 2000 and was finally completed in the beginning of 2003. The work was also affected by the fact that the road had to be kept open for traffic while during the reconstruction.

In 2001, the project encountered technical construction problems. At the same time, the initial organisation of the project, with built in conflicts of interest, led to problems in the cooperation between the contractor and the consultant. Due to this situation, the project was renegotiated in early 2002, as a turn key project with the Swedish contractor. Partly because of these problems, partly because of substantial changes in exchange rates (USD/SEK), the initial cost, estimated to 200 MSEK, increased by 150 MSEK.