OFFICE OF THE ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF (CIVIL), ODISHA,

NIRMAN SOUDHA, KESHARI NAGAR, UNIT-V, BHUBANESWAR

File No: PMU (WB) -33/2012(Vol.-II)/

November 08, 2013

From
Er. Bharat Chandra Pradhan,
Chief Engineer, D.P.I. & Roads ( Odisha),
Tel: - 0674-2396783, Fax: 0674-2390080.
Email: pmuosrp@gmail.com
To
Mr. Arun P. Mokashi,
The Team Leader,
(OSRP: RSID Consultant)
M/s ICT-Grant Thornton JV & ARKITECHNO sub-consultant
N-3/91, IRC Village, Nayapalli,
BBSR-751015; Fax-0674-2553689,
Email: orissa@ictonline.com, business@ictonline.com
Kind Attention: Mr. Prashanta. Kapila, COO& President, ICT (P) Ltd. &
authorized signatory

Sub: OSRP: Comments and suggestions of World Bank on Deliverables under

RSID Assignment. Compliance and further submissions, where
applicable, thereof
Sir,
During the recent Bank mission in Bhubaneswar, the deliverables
submitted by you, were reviewed in detail. Bank comments and stance on
clearance of the respective deliverables are summarized below.
1.
Draft Report on Odisha Road Sector Policy and
Requirements for its Implementation: This document presents
reasonable detail of the sector features, issues, challenges and likely
options, including by reference to other states endeavors in
implementing similar Policy in the roads sector. However, there are
some weaknesses in the draft that need to be remedied; (i) it lacks any
direct addressing of the sectors role, size and influence in the states
economy and in the overall socio-economic development of the state,
which should inform the framing of the new sector Policy; (ii) the
proposed Policy Framework involves too many specific objectives and
overall, conveys the impression that development of the road sector
shall henceforth take precedence in GOO priorities over the needs of
all other sectors, which is too unrealistic and imbalanced; (iii) the
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proposals on implementation needs and monitoring arrangements for a

new sector Policy need to be more strategic setting only higher-level
outcomes as monitorable targets and less labour-intensive in terms
of their burden on the GOO machinery of government and resources.
These weaknesses may be partly overcome by the consultants
inclusion early in this Report of a well focussed Executive Summary
which can be linked to an (annexed) high-level outline of the likely
Road Sector Policy statement. Once the consultants make that
enhancement to this Report, the OWD will be in a position to move on
preparation of a high-level submission to the GOO cabinet about the
proposed Policy statement and seeking at least in-principle
endorsement of its key features, targets and implications. It is needed
to revise this draft Report on the basis of these Bank comments (as
well as any OWD views) as a matter of urgency in the overall OSRP / I
D strategy, and the revised Report should be forwarded to the Bank for
further review / clearance by end-November 2013.
2.
Draft Report on Proposed Odisha Road Safety Action Plan:
This document is generally satisfactory as a basis for further GOO-level
deliberations about a coherent and strategic state-wide approach to
sustainable roads safety improvements in Odisha, subject to some
limited further action by the RSID consultants to the following matters;
(i) many of the proposed initial targets and dated milestones are very
optimistic or even unrealistic, given that the proposed O-RSAP may
only be considered at GOO level in early 2014, revision should be made
in that light; (ii) several of the action proposals are overly generic
(having been influenced directly by global best practice advice) and
should be more evidently tailored to the ground realities, gaps and/or
opportunities of the Odisha context and the states institutional
framework; (iii) the various major blocs of proposed action should be
phased more strategically, rather than presuming on effective
simultaneous implementation; and (iv) there needs to more
acknowledgement and room in the proposed Plan for progressive
initiatives now by nodal agencies like OWD on matters being within
their existing mandate (such road safety engineering improvements in
ongoing works) and thus not needing to await the eventual GOO
endorsement of a major state-wide Action Plan.
The draft Report needs enhancement along these lines to enable the
OWD to use it as the main focus for a senior GOO-level workshop (to
be chaired by the Chief Secretary, Odisha) to be convened in end-2013
or very early 2014 on the way forward for a dedicated state Road
Safety Action Plan. Improvements to this draft Report on the basis of
these Bank comments may please be made to the satisfaction of the
OWD ISAP Review Committee.
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3.
Report on Vehicle Axle Load Regulation & Management,
Volume 1: The study of the topic and its context (in India as well as
internationally) is generally well documented and presented in this
Report. However, the Report still needs improvement in the following
aspects; (i) the broad proposition that the present system (in India?
and/or in Odisha? - left unclear) is failing is not supported by any
detailed outline of the purported system and its key elements, nor by
a closer analysis of the factors and causes in such a system failure;
(ii) the positive overseas examples of Kenya and Tanzania initiatives in
this field are put forward as comparative successes without an
examination of any non-technical factors in such success; (iii) there is
only limited presentation of possible options (in India and at state
level) in response to the problem of road transport vehicle
overloading, with an arguably untested shift to favouring technological
solutions without closely examining the legal / statutory framework
applying to both the current problem/s and to any likely solution(s);
and the possibility of an economic regulation intervention instead of
or alongside technology-based initiatives needs to be considered.
This Report does not necessarily need to conclude with one clearcut positive recommendation and may instead aim to facilitate GOOlevel deliberation about the complex issues and strategic choices
involved, from which a solution may be identified. The Report may
please be revised on the basis of these Bank comments and then being
accepted as final by the OWD.
4.
Proposed TNA-Based Programs and OWD Training Role:
The overall content of this document is quite comprehensive and will
mostly prove to be a valuable technical resource in future OWD action
on the implementation and management of a dedicated Training Plan.
However the document needs to be improved in order to be effective
now as a basis for the imminent OWD and GOO decision-making about
the scope, organization and funding of such a Training Plan / Program.
The Bank suggests the document should be strengthened as follows;
(i) the HRD Policy that was finalized separately earlier (including with
Bank input during the April 2013 mission) should now be incorporated
upfront in this document, to communicate the policy framework for the
technical and operational training course information provided
thereafter; (ii) indeed, that very substantial information provide on
proposed courses and programs for the various levels and categories
of OWD staff and management (at Sections 2 and 3) would be better
re-positioned as two new Annexes at the rear of the document, for
reference there as required by the different stakeholders in this
matter; (iii) the existing Sections 4 and 7 would be mutually
strengthened if combined and merged as one overall Section, which
should itself be enhanced by then also offering some review of any
possible alternatives to the Plan, programs and supporting resources
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being proposed in this document; (iv) somewhere in the main text,

there needs to be a matrix-style summary (perhaps with some
supporting
schematic/s)
of
the
main
decision-making
and
implementation stages being proposed in this scenario, also identifying
where the decision-making responsibility will lie, and indicating the size
and phasing of funding requirements for the main elements and stages
of the proposed multi-year Training Plan, to inform OWD / GOO action
on appropriate Budget measures; and (v) an Executive Summary
should be provided at the beginning of this document, giving (inter
alia) a succinct rendering of the Training / HRD proposals, their origin,
the main options and recommended choices, the decision-making now
being sought, the implementation timeframe and the required
resources, and whether there are alternative approaches if different
budget / funding scenarios became applicable.
The Report may be revised on the basis of these Bank comments
(as well as any OWD views) as a matter of some urgency in the overall
ISAP strategy, and the revised document should be forwarded for
Banks further review / clearance by mid-December 2013, please.
5.
Mid Term Status (MTS) Report: The submitted Report
basically offers only half of what the Bank would normally expect from
consultants leading a major multi-year ISAP-implementation program,
such as the RSID consultancy partnership. The various Bank concerns
with the present version of this MTS Report are as follows: (i) the
material presented is essentially an aggregation of QPR-style
information, accounting for activities, outputs and related operational
issues; (ii) there is a lack of information about the expected
information-sharing and collaboration between the RSID consultants
and other major I D consultancies (e.g., on the AMS and on IT-ICT-MIS
enhancements), which is disappointing given its importance to overall
ISAP outcomes; (iii) the given Executive Summary is mostly focussed
on methodology and process-level aspects of the RSID services, and
lacking in focus on overall strategy and whether the current Projectsupported I D strategy being expressed through the ISAP is still
appropriate for the intended ISAP outcomes, at least in the main RSIDlinked fields; and (iv) to remedy such shortcomings in the existing
MTSR version, the consultants should at least provide direct comments
in the Report on (a) the effectiveness of current ISAP strategy(-ies) and
the likelihood of achieving required outcomes with planned outputs as
per the current output targets and scheduling, (b) on what are the
project-critical milestones over the remaining RSID services period
where the success or otherwise of the ISAP program will be largely
determined, and (c) whether any corrective measures or interventions
are needed (and when and by whom) at the strategic level of the ISAP
program to improve the prospect of sustainable ID successes as
planned.
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These are quite serious weaknesses in the present MTSR

submission and this Report is intended to enable the OWD and the
Bank to jointly determine the strategic effectiveness and health of
the RSID services to the ISAP implementation effort at the contractual
mid-point.
Accordingly, this document needs to be revised this
document on the basis of the above Bank comments (as well as any
OWD views in this area) quite promptly and that a suitably-revised
MTSR document should be forwarded to the Bank for final review /
clearance by mid-December 2013.

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6.

Road Networking Master Plan:

The Report is ordinarily mostly satisfactory. However, early

attention should now be given for OWD capacity building and
sustainability options and measures.
7.

OWD Re-organisation and Strengthening

The work in this area has to be geared up further taking

into consideration the constraints of OWD on new staffing numbers and
limits to the scope and timeframe.
8.

OPWD Code Revision and OPWD Manual

The Interim Report on OPWD Code revision and Manual has been
accepted by OWD ISAP Review Committee. Further, the revised OPWD
Code and Manual as submitted by you, need to be corrected in respect
of its structure and content, addition, alteration, omissions linked with
provisions as discussed and incorporation of amended Office
Memorandums till date, Finance Department Circulars etc. More or
less, the Revised Code and Manual to be drafted with congruity and
conformity of Clauses there on.
Yours faithfully,
Chief Engineer,
(D.P.I. & Roads, Odisha)
Memo

Date

Copy submitted to Mr. Rajesh Rohatagi, Senior Transport Specialist & Task
Team Leader OSRP, Sustainable Development (South Asia Region), 18-20, Kasturba
Gandhi Marg,Connaught Place,New Delhi 110001 through E-mail for information.

Chief Engineer,
(D.P.I. & Roads, Odisha)
Memo

Date

Copy to Mr. V. murahari Reddy, ISAP Facilitator ( OSRP) through E-mail for
information.

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Chief Engineer,
(D.P.I. & Roads, Odisha)

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