The World Bank’s Interim Mission to the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) Phase II has noted “some good progress made over the past six months” in the ongoing upgrade of 363 km of State highways into worldclass ones at a loan of $216 million.
The WB team, which ended its interim mission on Friday, welcomed the government’s decision to implement a time-bound priority action plan to hasten the pace and quality of project implementation, which has experienced delays since its launch in 2013. The project has shown a steady trend of improvement in the civil work component, with incremental disbursement in the last six months being the highest during the project tenure, according to an assessment by the WB team. “We are encouraged by the improved quality of project administration in recent months. The government does recognise that much more needs to be done to bring the project back on track,” said Karla Gonzalez Carvajal, Practice Manager, Transport, World Bank.
“We look forward to working closely with the government, as it implements a set of priority projects in the coming months, focusing on stronger contract management and payment processes, staff capacity, and overall quality assurance,” the WB said, quoting Carvajal, a former Minister of Public Works in Costa Rica. The mission was headed by Anders Hjorth Agerskov, while Arnab Bandopadhyay, lead transport specialist, and Sudeep Majumdar, were part of it.
The action plan will help KSTP improve the overall project administration and governance, enabling people to use better and safer roads at the earliest.
Ensuring the continuation of the project director and key project staff till the end of the project, strengthening the action plan to improve the overall quality assurance system and fiduciary management and implementing them in the next four months are the key components of the plan.
The mission also held discussions with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Minister for Public Works G. Sudhakaran in the capital on Friday.
