Pakistan: Punjab Road Development Sector Project
This performance evaluation report assesses the performance and impact of the project and generates a series of findings, lessons and recommendations to contribute in the future design and implementation of similar ADB projects.
At the time the project was designed, Pakistan underwent a period of macroeconomic instability. Successive years of fiscal and external deficits had resulted in accumulation of large domestic and external debts. Far-reaching reforms focusing on macroeconomic stabilization, debt rescheduling, and an economic restructuring initiative brought relief. Such reforms were at the center of the project. The project was to support them by, among others, improving the country's trade competitiveness. Improvements to physical infrastructure were expected to help reduce Pakistan's high trade transaction cost. In addition, the government embarked on sector programs to address national and provincial policy issues.
ADB provided a loan of $150 million, of which $82.8 million was disbursed. The project focused on Punjab Province because it suffered from inadequate connectivity and many sections of the provincial road network were in poor condition. The Punjab provincial government took measures to minimize institutional constraints and give attention to some key road sector policy issues, especially road maintenance and private sector involvement.
Overall, the performance of the project is rated less than successful on the basis of the individual ratings - relevant, less than effective, efficient, and less than likely sustainable. In addition, the impact on institutions was deemed negligible, and both ADB's and the borrower's performance was rated less than satisfactory.
One of the issues identified in the evaluation relates to project design and how quality at entry could be improved. The quality of project formulation in view of the low original cost estimates and the substantial cost overruns incurred by the civil works could have been avoided by taking into account contract prices of a previously completed project. The seemingly low ownership by the Punjab provincial government of the institutional and policy reforms should have been mitigated by more thorough baseline analysis of the institutions involved.
- Basic data
- Executive summary
- Design and implementation
- Policy assessment
- Other assessments
- Issues and lessons