Northern Rural Infrastructure Development Sector Project

In view of the fact that roads represent some 20% of the infrastructure allocation, and that many of these roads are to be rehabilitated in challenging mountainous environs, there is a need to have access to advanced engineering skills in road design to ensure quality and thereby achieve sustainability. With the emphasis being on quality of design and construction, the specialists will review road designs prepared by national consultants with particular attention being paid to designing road sections to the local conditions. This position will require frequent travel to participating provinces and involve the recommendations for improving road design to meet topographic conditions where the alignment is to be rehabilitated. The review process is necessary to ensure that standard designs are not blindly applied in this challenging environment and that designs are not dominated by the budget limitations of the subproject and cost norms but provide for anticipated volumes of traffic under conditions of minimal maintenance. He/she will be based within the NPMO but will be required to travel on frequent occasions to the project area, sometimes for extended periods. Duties of the specialist will include the following: Undertake a technical review of proposed road designs prepared by consultants in participating provinces and prepare SIRs for each subproject; Following site investigations, provide written comments and recommendations on each subproject reviewed detailing recommended changes to the technical design parameters; Prepare design guidelines to ensure that designs take account of more intense and frequent extreme rainfall events, and more severe droughts expected to develop with climate change. In particular ensuring design measures to increase resistance to damage associated with increased runoff. These include hydraulic design of road drainage structures and of slope protection measures, including retention and revetment structures and low cost, plant based measures; With the support of the national counterpart roads specialist, brief national consulting engineers on the proposed changes and explain the reasons for these changes; Review the traffic volume estimates used in the feasibility studies and confirm if estimates are realistic and that the design adequately accommodates this level of surface and road base specifications; Review and assess the O&M requirements of the alignment to be rehabilitated and recommend the optimum level of O&M needed for maintenance of the function of the road; Assist in the preparation of quality assurance guidelines to be followed for rural road rehabilitation funded under the proposed Project; Assist in the preparation of construction supervision guidelines to be followed by the national consultants appointed to carry out this task. This should nominate the types and frequency of materials testing (in cooperation with the geotechnical engineer) such as routine quality monitoring of compaction etc.; Review quality of completed subprojects and O&M arrangements during the commissioning period; and Involve in activities related to capacity building for and skill transfers to the EA and IA staff.