SPEAKERS:
Cesar Queiroz, Former Highways Adviser in the WB
Asif Faiz, Former Highways Adviser in the WB

CHAIR/MODERATOR:
Peter O'Neill, Lead Infrastructure Specialist, TWITR

DESCRIPTION:
Evolution of PBC in Estonia (Cesar Queiroz):
In 1995 the Estonian Road Administration (ERA) launched two pilot performance-based contracts for road management and maintenance. Between 1995 and 2000, ERA tested several one-year and two-year PBC contracts for road maintenance. Since 2000 several five-year PBCs have been awarded. Currently, 100 percent of ERA’s road network (16,487 km) is maintained under PBCs. A point of particular interest is that, contrary to the experience in most countries that have implemented PBC, Estonia moved directly from force account operations to performance based contracting of road maintenance.

Overview  of road maintenance management from force-account to PBC (Asif Faiz):
Asif traces the evolution of Bank's highway lending from about 1971 to 2011. And in that context  he will discuss the Bank support for road maintenance -- how it evolved from the late 1970s to 2010's.-- and describe the changing anatomy of a typical Bank  road/highway  maintenance project. He argues that a pre-requisite for good roads is institutional sustainability.  Moreover, performance -based contracting (including its multiple derivatives) is a means to an end  and not an end in itself. Where PBC is externally-imposed as a condition of donor financing , it will  succeed as long as  donor support is forthcoming and will wither away once the donor support ends.  For PBC to work, there must be a constituency of shared interests and checks and balances to ensure value for money. The end game is more than asset management -- it is provision of high quality  and cost-effective  service to road users encompassing several  dimensions of sustainability-- technical, financial, economic, environmental, social, and institutional.  In trying to achieve this objective , it is important to avoid the temptation of one size fit all, a zealous devotion to a concept or ideology (the true believer syndrome), and  a blurring of  the line between means and ends.  

PRESENTATIONS & MATERIALS
 
Performance Based Contracting in Estonia. Word Bank PBC Resource Guide, Cesar Queiroz 




Road Maintenance and Performance-Based Contracting, Asif Faiz