Components and Sub-components:

The Project will have two main components: Component 1 (rural infrastructure development); and Component2 (Pourashava infrastructure and governance improvement). Those main components are supported by Component 3 (project management and implementation support). In addition to the yen-loan Project, a technical assistance (TA) project will be considered for local governance improvement that will complement and strengthen the yen-loan Project.

1) Component1: Rural infrastructure development

The Project consists of the following eight sub-components.

Sub-component 1-1: Upazila roads (include bridges and culverts)

The Project will upgrade at least 69 Upazila roads(Total 637.3 km) in 14 districts.This sub-component will   provide continuous, efficient access between important rural locations, Growth Centers (GCs), Upazila headquarters, and connections to higher levels of the road network under the management of Road and Highway Department, and extend efficient connectivity between rural areas and pourashavas and other local urban centers.

Sub-component 1-2: Union roads (include bridges and culverts)

The project will upgrade at least 47 Union roads (Total 331.5 km) in 14 districts which are, in spite of their importance, currently partly or completely brick-paved or earthen. This sub-component will provide continuous, efficient access to connect rural areas to important locations, rural markets, Union headquarters, Growth Centers and all-weather UZRs, and further extend efficient connectivity in rural areas and to pourashavas and other local urban centers.

Sub-component 1-3: Upazila roads rehabilitation

 In Bangladesh,the condition of a road can change significantly during one wet season. If it would be left in the damaged condition, the need for financial resources and management will increase. SFYP emphasis the importance of the continuing investment in development of the rural road network. A draft Rural Road Maintenance Policy(2012), prepared by LGED, also sets out clearly for giving priority to sustaining the benefit of improved rural roads through rehabilitation works. To sustain the improved level of transport service, the Project will rehabilitate Upazila roads (Total 300 km) through repairs to and replacement of sections of damaged pavement and re-sealing, together with repairs to embankments and cross-drainage structures.

Sub-component 1-4: Growth centers and rural markets

As it is emphasized in the Rural Road Master Plan (2005), the development of rural roads that connect growth centers with Upazila headquarters and villages with growth centers is critical to poverty reduction, and the development of rural markets and other facilities in a comprehensive manner is recognized as an effective approach. The project will support improvement and development of 70 growth center markets and 74 rural markets selected by determined selection methodology.

Sub-component 1-5: Ghats

One of the recommendations of the Rural Infrastructure Strategy (1996) was to coordinate the development of the rural road network with the use of rural waterway. LGED responded to this by taking up the improvement of riverbank and land-side facilities at rural ghats in order to facilitate the efficient and safe transfer of people and goods between waterway and road transport. The Project will include river infrastructure such as ghats, and jetties at about 20locations in Kishoreganj and Netrokona district.

Sub-component 1-6: Labor contracting society (LCS)  scheme

Under Component 1, the Project will put emphasis on poverty reduction through the approach that has been developed by the LGED for rural infrastructure development projects. As one of such approach, Labor Contracting Societies(LCSs) will be utilized for off-pavement routine maintenance works and tree plantation under the Project. This will benefit LCSs members that consist of destitute and disadvantaged women. For effective implementation of LCS scheme, the Project will involve local authorities and coordination mechanism at Union level in monitoring and selection of LCS scheme.

Sub-component 1-7: Community-based road safety program

Once UZR or UNR are improved under the Project, it is expected that the number of traffic accidents will increase as drivers generally tend to increase speed on the newly improved roads. Anticipating the potential road safety risk, the Project will need to take preventive measures of road safety in both hard and soft aspects. In line with the Sixth National Road Safety Strategic Action Plan2011-2013, the Project will formulate and implement a participatory Community-based Road Safety (CBRS) program. The objective of the participatory CBRS program will be to provide assistance to local people to mitigate any adverse effects arising from road improvement sub-projects, and to improve road safety in the Project area. The Project will coordinate with the Road Maintenance and Road Safety Unit (RMRSU) to implement this Program.

Sub-component 1-8: Training and capacity development

The project will develop capacities of (i) LGED officials; (ii) contractors and construction workers; (iii) concerned Upazila and Union Chairpersons; (iv) stakeholders of growth centers and rural markets,including women shopkeepers and physically challenged shopkeepers; (v) LCS members. The capacity development of those stakeholders will be carried out through training, workshops and meetings.

2.Component 2: Urban infrastructure and governance improvement

The Project selected target 18 (eighteen) pourashavas that fall in category Band C. Two main steps have been taken to determine target pourashavas. First step is to determine which categories of pourashavas (i.e., category A, B or C) should be supported under the Project. Second, the pourashavas in the selected categories have been ranked according to the weighted averages of indicators in the selection criteria.  

Sub-component 2-1: Urban infrastructure development and service delivery

The project will develop basic infrastructure and improve service delivery including (i) roads,bridges and culverts, (ii) drains, (iii) municipal markets, (iv)slaughterhouses, (v) water distribution network and tubewells, (vi) public and community toilets, (vii) solid waste management, (viii) bus and truck terminals, (ix) streetlight, (x) parking area, and (xi) basic services for the poor; and basic services for the poor comprises a) the basic infrastructure improvement, such as footpath,drains, dustbins, tubewells, and streetlights, and b) livelihood and living standard improvement such as group saving and credit, income-generating activities such as vocational training program, primary health care including hygiene education,pre-primary school education such as satellite school program, and birth registration. The sub-projects in each pourashava will be selected from the investment plan under Pourashava Development Plan (PDP) and identified through participatory planning process by using Town Level Coordination Committee (TLCC) and Ward Level Coordination Committee (WLCC). The implementation of component 2will be divided into three phases. The Project will start 20% of infrastructure investments from phase 1 to provide stronger incentives for pourashavas to participate in governance improvement activities. This initial allocation will provide positive incentives for pourashavas to tackle governance improvement and capacity development including on-the-job-training for their engineers. The amount of investment funds for phase 2 and 3 allocated to each pourashava depends on the progress of its governance reforms. The maximum amount or ceiling of the funds to be allocated is up to BDT 150 million for category-B pourashavas, and BDT 100 million for category-C pourashavas.

The Project will also introduce special allocation of investment fund to create a new, additional financial incentive mechanism for pourashavasto implement sub-projects and thereby strengthen rural-urban linkages. The special allocation is intended to promote sub-projects under sub-component 2-1that contribute to strengthening of linkages between pourashavas and surrounding rural areas by providing pourashavas with additional fund to such sub-projects. The sub-project funded by the special allocation will improve the pourashava road and build connectivity among the disconnected Upazila road/Union road and the disconnecting pourashava road.

Sub-component 2-2: Governance improvement and capacity development

The Project will support to improve the governance and develop the capacity of pourashavas. Target pourashavas will carry out series of reform activities in six key areas defined in the Urban Governance Improvement Action Program (UGIAP): (i) citizen awareness and participation, (ii) urban planning (formulation of PDP), (iii) women’s participation, (iv) integration of the urban poor, (v) financial accountability and sustainability, and (vi) administrative transparency. The UGIAP is used in ADB funded  Urban Governance and Infrastructure Improvement Project (UGIIP) 1 and 2, and the Project adopts a refined version based on experiences and lessons. The activities will be supported by training and facilitation. The performance of pourashavas will be intensively monitored and assessed to determine the amount of investment funds allocated to them.

3)    Component 3: Institutional development

This component will support to strengthen institutional development of the Project, by providing the manpower and procurement of vehicles and equipment. This component consists of two part;administration support and procurement support.

Sub-component3-1: Administration support

This sub-component will provide incremental staffing for Project Management Office (PMO) and Urban Management Support Unit (UMSU) in LGED. For PMO and UMSU, six types of incremental staff will be hired;(i) project monitoring and reporting support (PMRS) assistant, (ii) project accounting support (PAS) assistant,(iii) equipment procurement support (EPS) assistant, (iv) performance monitoring and evaluation(PME) assistant for UGIAP evaluation, (v) statistical analysis (SA) assistant for rating of UGIAP, and (vi) publicity campaign (PC). In addition, the cost of a chartered accountant firm for internal audit will be borne by this component.

Sub-component3-2: Equipment Procurement

For the smooth implementation, this sub component will support to procuring activities for the Project. Vehicles and goods, including heavy construction and maintenance equipment such as static roller, will be procured by central buying. The static roller(8-10 ton) will be provided to each PIO and PIU to rent out to the contractors for road construction and maintenance works in order to ensure good quality of compaction works.

4)     Component 4: Consulting services

The component 4 will support overall management,implementation and reporting for component 1 and 2. This component consists of the following three consultancy services; (i) design, supervision and monitoring (DSM) for component 1,sub-component 2-1, and component 3; and (ii) governance improvement and capacity development (GICD) for sub-component 2-2 and component 3; (iii) benefit monitoring and evaluation (BME).

Sub-component 4-1: Design, supervision and monitoring (DSM) consultant for component 1 and sub-component 2-1

DSM consultants will support LGED in: (i) preparing and reviewing detailed engineering design and cost estimates for all civil works sub-projects;(ii) preparing and managing project implementation plans; (iii) assisting land acquisition and environmental assessments for sub-projects; (iv) preparing sub-project tender documents; (v) supervising, monitoring and reporting, including cost and quality control, the implementation of all civil works sub-project; (vi)preparing, implementing, monitoring and reporting on operation and maintenance action plans for rural and urban infrastructure; (vii) supporting LCS activities to ensure a fairness and transparency; and (viii) providing trainings for capacity development of LGED, engineers of pourashavas, contractors, local communities, women beneficiaries and other stakeholders related to component 1 and sub-component 2-1 in cooperation with LGED Training Unit and UMSU.

Sub-component 4-2: Governance improvement and capacity development (GICD) consultant for sub-component 2-2

In co-operation with LGED Training Unit and UMSU, GICD consultants will conduct capacity development activities under sub-component 2-2 on Urban Governance Improvement Action Program (UGIAP) implementation for pourashava mayors, officers, and citizens through orientations, trainings, workshops, and Training of Trainers(ToT). GICD consultants will: (i) prepare Pourashava Development Plan (PDP) of each target pourashava;(ii) prepare operational guidelines and implementation methodology of UGIAP, including the preparation of operational guidelines for TLCC and WLCC; (iii)provide training of Assistant Engineers(urban planners) and other staff on urban planning; (iv) introduce computerized modern accounting system; (v) introduce computerized tax record system; (vi) improve holding tax assessment and collection; (vii) provide training on financial management; (viii) introduce communication campaign; and (ix) introduce e-governance,such as web based information management and disclosure.

Sub-component 4-3: Benefit monitoring and evaluation(BME) consultant

BME consultants will be engaged in monitoring and evaluating outcomes and impacts of the Project, with the exception of UGIAP evaluation for component2-2. BME consultant will: (i) conduct the baseline survey and midterm and ex-post assessments by organizing field surveys; (ii) develop a system, methodologies,measures, processes, and tools for the BME; and (iii) conduct capacity improvement of PMO, Supervision and Monitoring Offices (SMOs), Project Implementation Offices (PIOs), and Project Implementation Units (PIUs) in conducting BME.