His Majesty’s Government of Nepal

Ministry of Works and Transportation

Department of Roads
January ‘96 Number 5

HMIS News
A NEWSLETTER FROM THE PLANNING BRANCH

RMRP RMRP

RMP: Bio - Engineering ROAD MAINTENANCE AND

Component REHABILITATION PROJECT
T he Geo-Environmental Unit (GEU) is a cell within
the Planning Branch of DOR. It came from the An Introduction
Section.
original Environmental Section of the former Design
R oad Maintenance & Rehabilitation Project is the
first ever major project taken up by DoR at
estimated cost of $ 81.1 million including 50.5
The Unit has a brief to: million IDA loan and assistance from SDC(Swiss), ODA(UK), and
• plan and implement bio-engineering operations through the UNDP. The project was launched on 23rd August 1994 and
Deppartment’s Maintenance Divisions and Projects; shall be completed by December 1998.
• provide a geotechnical support service; and
• undertake environmental assessment of road projects. This is a unique project initiated to address shortcomings in
development like maintenance, planning, monitoring, technical
Bio-engineering is supported by the Overseas Development and quality audit, material study, quality control, training, road
Administration (ODA) institution-strengthening Road safety, decentralisation, institutional development, plant
Maintenance Project (RMP) management, Environmental aspect, private sector etc.
(cont’d in page 4) Project Objective
The main objective of the project is to put the National Strategic
Road Network in a maintainable condition and to build DoR
capability for the same.
Project Description
The main components of the project comes under four basic
heading
1. Policy
2. Institutional Development
3. Maintenance and Rehabilitation Programme
4. Miscellaneous Programmes of consulting services

Policy component include

1. Development of Road Maintenance funding Mechanism by

introduction of a revolving fund to be financed from toll tax,
central government revenues & credit resources, and
increasing budgetary allocation for periodic emergency
(Contined in page 3)
A GLANCE AT THE PROPOSED

The Highway Management

Inside this issue:
RMRP - IDA Component
Information System(HMIS)
located in the Planning Section of
is
1
the DOR. A Glance at Pavement Management System
The HMIS manager is Dr. Nabin
Kazi Pradhan.
2
On Going Activities
You can reach us by phone or by
fax at number 221.771 or you can
visit us in our office on the first floor
3
Organization Chart of RMRP(HMIS Suplements)
of Babar Mahal.
Mail can be send to: 4
DOR-HMIS
Links of National Highways(HMIS Suplements)
POBox 2623
Kathmandu.
5
 2 HMIS News
The cyclic Approach is the preferable approach to planned
Pavement maintenance for Nepal at the present time. In applying this
approach, the principle to be adopted is that maintenance actions
implemented a few months early are still economic while those
Management applied "half-a-day" late are ineffective and
therefore a poor use of funds. However, regardless of the approach

System adopted, it is essential that regular feed back is obtained on the

efficacy of the maintenance actions so that any necessary
adjustment of the actions can be made.
Sound pavement management involves response management in
dealing with emergencies and management for control to make best
use of available resources. The fundamental difference between The Cyclic Approach to the organisation of routine maintenance
response and control is that management for control involves involves the establishment of control sections, definition of activities,
planning and the use of reliable information. Given the absence of allocation and optimisation of Resources and prioritisation of the
reliable information on the road network in the past, it is probably Control Sections.
true to say that DoR has previously adopted a mainly responsive
approach to management of the road network. This has resulted in The Network Level, Operation Level and Project Level are
a lower level of service to the road user and reduced output essentially the three interdependent management levels in DoR at
efficiency from the human and financial resources available to the which pavement management should be applied. Effective
Department. pavement management starts at Network Level. At this level,
pavement management is the responsibility of the DoR Planning
When a road has been constructed, there are essentially three Branch and the emphasis is placed on medium-term planning and
broad strategies open to the Department for managing the global management of the Strategic network. The first job of the
pavement: Planning Branch is to allocate priorities to the roads in the Network.
I. The application of planned maintenance comprising These should be based on strategic importance and traffic levels
interdependent routine, recurrent and periodic maintenance and should ideally be related to a National development plan
activities. By deferring the need for the more costly activities of prepared by the NPC and a Transport Investment Plan which is the
rehabilitation and reconstruction and by keeping vehicle responsibility of MOWT. If the best use is to be made of the
operating costs to a minimum, planned maintenance can be available resources, the level of pavemnt treeatment should not be
considered the optimal strategy in purely economic terms. uniform across the Network but must be related to the level of
However, this strategy can only be applied effectively to roads service required. The setting of road priorities therrefore provides the
in a maintainable condition. basis for establishing a medium-term Road Investment Plan. This
II. The provision of minimal ad-hoc routine an recurrent plan will take the form of 3 year and 5 year rolling programmes of
maintenance activities followed by rehabilitation of the construction and rehabilitation, together with a global resealing
pavement when it reaches a poor condition. As the annualised programme for bitumen roads.
cost of rehabilitation is 3 -4 times the cost of the foregone
maintenance, this is clearly not a cost effective strategy. Pavement management at Operations Level is the responsibility of
III. The provision of minimal routine and recurrent maintenance the DoR Maintenance Branch and is principally concerned with the
activities only until such time as the road becomes totally detailed planning and implementation of maintenance activities in
unserviceable and full pavement reconstruction is necessary. the field. The maintenance Branch staff in DoR Headquarters have
As the cost of reconstruction is three times the cost of an overall co-ordination and supervisory role while Regions and
rehabilitation, this strategy is extremely costly for all roads with Divisions are responsible for the day- to-day planning, organisation
the exception of those with minimal traffic. Applying this and implementation of maintenance activities in their areas. The
strategy effectively amounts to a policy of disinvestment in the regions should prepare annual programmes for regravelling
road network. unsurfaced roads and, as soon as a local capacity for resealing work
has been developed, the Regions should also take-over
As mentioned earlier the strategy of the planned maintenance will, responsibility for the preparation of cyclic resealing programmes on
in most cases, produce the optimum result. However, given the bitumen roads from the Planning Branch. In general, these
present limits on DoR capacity and maintenance funding, it is clear programmes will be based on the road priorities established by the
that the Department can not implement planned maintenance on the planning branch. The role of the Divisions is to ensure that an
whole of the Strategic Network. While the aim of DoR should be to appropriate level of service is provided by the network to the road
move from the present application of Strategy(II) to Strategy (I), this user and to achieve this, division staff need an intimate knowledge
must be a gradual process. A start must therefore be made on of the roads in their division and the traffic on these roads. with this
establishing road priorities for planned maintenance for which a information and the agreed road priorities, it is the job of the divisions
global rather than a project approach to pavement management and to undertake the detailed management and implementation of
the road network is essential. backlog, ad-hoc and planned maintenance activities. The resulting
working programmes should be in keeping with the capacity of the
There are two basic approaches that can be taken when applying a Division and make the best use of the resources available to the
pavement management strategy comprising planned maintenance: division.
I. The Cyclic Approach - in which pavement actions are
undertaken at fixed intervals on any particular stretch of road. For the time being, reconstruction and rehabilitation of sections of
This approach comprises a relatively straight forward the strategic Network should be carried out by DoR as projects.
management exercise with predictable workload and funding
but often produces a less than optimal (but still economic) As previously noted, management for control is an essential feature
result. It is therefore suited to roads where the principle agents of pavement management and requires reliable data on which
of pavement deterioration are climate and the environment objective decisions can be made and implemented. In the case of
rather than traffic. pavement management for the Strstegic Network in Nepal we need
II. The Intervention Approach - where pavement actions are to have data covering five elements:
taken, as far as possible, in direct response to present levels of • the inventories of the roads comprising the network;
pavement deterioration. The application of an intervention • the pavement deterioration proces and a means of defining
approach is a difficult management exercise and produce s a and measuring in the field;
variable annual workload and, consequently, variable resource • traffic levels and composition on the roads comprising the
and funding needs. Moreover, for effective planning using this network;
approach, a comprehensive database of pavement • the relative costs of reconstruction, rehabilitation and planned
performance overtime is essential in order to determine the maintenance activities on the network(Road Agency costs);
historical trends. • the costs to road users of using ther network(vehicle operating
costs).
 3 HMIS News
The DoR has installed in the planning Branch, and is continuing to 2. Operational Audit of Maintenance practices(not yet started under
develop, a Highway Management Informations System (HMIS) IDA fund)
which is now capable of providing Network Level data/information for 3. Field Implementation Advisors(FIA) for periodic maintenance
each of the five data elements. The development of operational level practices (IDA) running under periodic maintenance.
database is under way. 4. Priority investment plan(PIP), presently running under MEU.
5. Road Maintenance Information System: identify, procure & instal
Hence by implementing pavement management system DoR hopes software pakages to be co-ordinated by Maintenance &
to keep National Strategic Road Network in maintainable condition Rehabilitation co-ordination Unit(MRCU).
and at the same time reduce the overall transportation cost. Sub-projects based on funding Agents
(A) Sub Project 1 : Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Project,
RMRP - AN INTRODUCTION (Cont''d from page 1) Credit No. 2578 NEP financed by the World
Bank (IDA)
& routine maintenance of strategic road network from present 3% (B) Sub Project 2 : Road Maintenance Project (RMP) financed by
to 15% total road sector budget allocation and road sector budget Overseas Development Administration
shall not increase $70 million in the project period. (ODA/UK)
(C) Sub Project 3 : Partial Institutional Support (RMRP) financed by
2. Improvement of sectoaral planning by introducing 3 yr Rolling Swiss Development Co-operation (SDC)
Plan with updating & reviewing such plan each year and (D) Sub Project 4 : Technical Assistance for Pilot Labour Based
preparation of Priority Investment Plan for 10 years which shall District Road Rehabilitation Project financed by
be the basis for 9th five year plan to be used by Natural Planning UNDP.
Commission (NPC).
Financial Arrangement & Agreement
Institutional Development component include Financial sharing of the project by individual co-partners has been
1. Strengthening of Divisional & DDC's capabilities to maintenance arranged as follows :
works by introduction of Strengthen Maintenance
Division(SMD's) in 14 division at the rate of 3 divisions per year Source Amount in various currencies Equivalent in US$
to cover 30 district during the project period, establishment of IDA 36.6 million SDR 50.5 million US$
District Road Development Unit (DRDU) and a Pilot Lasor Based ODA 9.6 million Sterling Pound 12.4 million US$
Road Rehabilitation & Maintenance project (PLRP). SDC 4.3 million Swiss Francs 2.8 million US$
2. Trainings: UNDP 1.0 million US$ 1.0 million US$
⇒ to meet immediate need of the projects HMGN 14.4 million US$ 14.4 million US$
• for DoR & DDC staffs Total : 81.1 million US$
• local contractors training in cyclic maintenance, contract bidding Development Credit Agreement between HMGN and the World Bank
procedure, operation of periodic maintenance (ODA,SDC), and for RMRP, Credit No. 2578 NEP was signed on 1st June, 1994 and
limited training for contractors on road rehabilitation works, credit became effective since 30th Sept., 1994. Letter of Exchange for
⇒ To meet long term need RMP funded by ODA was made on 13 Dec., 1993. Like wise, an
• on the job training , study visit etc.(SDC, ODA, support to DoR) agreement between HMGN and SDC was signed on 15 Aug., 1994.
• Mechanic & operator training (ODA) And technical assistance agreement between HMGN and UNDP also
• to meet DDC need by established of labor based training school at has already been signed.
Butwal (IDA).
3. Establishment of proposed units in DoR i.e. Monitoring System
• Road Sector Skill Development Unit (RSSDU) to manage road Besides, IDA monitoring mission special DEE (Disaggregated
sector training for the project (SDC) Effectiveness Evaluation) technique of computer programmed
• Geo-environment Unit to establish sound road side support monitoring system is introduced for monitoring progress of RMRP
practice & build Bio-engineering capability estiblishment of Units with the assistance of IDA
as off shoot of the projects.
• Bridge Unit to establish system for making & maintaining bridge Organisation of RMRP
on strategic road network, Though the project is well conceived but the Project Chief, required
manpower & organisation were not visualised in advance except
• Traffic Engineering & safety Unit (TESU)to make traffic study &
provision of one Project Co-ordinator each for Rehabilitation and
safety regulation
Periodic Maintenance programme. Keeping in view of institutional
• Monitoring & Evaluation Unit to enchance monitoring &
development most of the required manpower have been met through the
evaluation capability in DoR projects.
existing manpower & units. Organisation chart is being prepared &
4. Specialist advisors' input like the ODA Advisors on Cyclic
approved on September 1994(ref. chart in supplement) with DG as the
Maintenance, Bridge management, & Bio-engineering, Plant
RMRP Project Chief. DDG of the Foreign Co-operation Branch has
management, Road Safety and SDC Advisor on training, SMD
been designated as the project programmer for operating special
Technical Advisor and IDA Specialist for Karnali Bridge
account and co-ordination with donors.
Maintenance.
Conclusions
Maintenance and Rehabilitation Programme include
Though the project is very ambitious, it is very important project to
1. Backlog periodic Maintenance of 661 km road and bridges(IDA)
achieve the DoR objectives and to build institutional development
in Central, Western, Mid-Western & Far-Western region ,and 350
capability of DoR. With the start of the project some routine
km cyclic resealing training contracts(14 packages, ODA)
development towards direction of institutional development and
2. Rehabilitation and overlays programme of 437 km strategic road
creation of working environment by involving all DoR staff has been
network(IDA);
observed. The only thing needed is to make it sustainable
3. Routine Maintenance programme by contract to be extended to 14
divisions in the project period(HMG, SDC technical input)
4. Pilot Labour based District Road Rehabilitation and Maintenance
of 140 km district road in four selected districts to be executed by
Ministry of Local Development(MLD) using labor base
technology. Letter to the Editor
Miscellaneous programme include consultency Services like This newsletter is being produced for the benefit and interest of
1. Road construction and maintenance Material Study running DoR staff, as well as informing you of news and development
under Quality Control Unit relating to Highway Management Information System. It is also
 4 HMIS News
a way for you to express your views or aspect about the proper standards, technical manuals, testing procedures etc. Design
management of the relevant data. Branch of DOR is responsible for the execution of this study.
d)Mechanic Training
In order to strengthen the training capabilities of mechanic
Write to us about anything you wish related with HMIS. Try to
training center of DOR, consultancy services from expatriate
keep your letters short (less than 300 words) and to the point. consultants (SMEC) has already been procured for four years
In every issue of HMIS news we will publish the most period. Under this programme, the consultants will design and
interesting and relevant letters we receive at editor’s conduct various training programmes and recommend future
discretion. direction of mechanics and operators training center. This
programme is being executed by the Mechanical Branch,
Address your letters to : DOR.
e) Environment Assessment
The HMIS manager
A short term expatriate consultancy services will be procured
Planning Branch, Department of Roads for the development of an initial Environmental Evaluation and
Babarmahal, KATHMANDU detailed guidelines for environmental impact management of
G.P.O. Box 2623 roads and bridges. Planning Branch is responsible for this
activity.
RMRP : IDA Component BIO-ENGINEERING COMPONENT..... (Cont'd from page 1)
The present paper will provide a brief description of Sub project 1 Bio-engineering is the use of vegetation as an integral part of
( RMRP, Credit No. 2578 NEP). slope stabilisation in combination with other civil engineering
1. Rehabilitation Component structures. It does not replace any other works, although it can
Under this component approximately 300 Km. of National help reduce maintenance costs significantly. It can also be used
highway and 130 Km. of strategic Feeder Roads will be as a form of environmental mitigation, but should not be used to
rehabilitated. Rehabilitation works will be procured in two rehabilitate careless engineering. Nor should it be confused with
phases through ICB and LCB contracts. Foreign Cooperation landscaping.
Branch DOR is responsible for this component.
Following Roads are included in the component : The GEU is building on the practical success of a number of
Highway construction and rehabilitation projects. In particular, previous
Thankot - Naubise 16 Km. operations on the Lamosangu-Jiri and Dharan-Dhankuta roads
Marsyangdi - Khairenitar 44 Km have shown the value and importance of bio-engineering as a
Butwal - Tansen 41 Km low cost measure for slope stabilisation. GEU will extract from
Naubise - Hetauda 107Km the accumulated experience, a series of information
Mugling - Narayanghat 36 Km requirements such as guidelines (construction and
Tansen - Syangja 60 Km maintenance), standard rate analysis norms, technical
304 Km specifications and forms of contract.
Feeder Road Aims of the RMP Bio-Engineering Component
Tansen - Ridi - Tamghas 68 Km The RMP Bio-Engineering Component is working within the
Nepalgunj - Bagauda 50 Km Department of Roads structure to support certain activities. The
Birgunj - Kalaiya 15 Km main activities are as follows.
133 Km 1 Improvement of DOR’s skills in bio-engineering.
2. Periodic Maintenance Component 2 Expansion of the capabilities of Nepalese consultants and
This component consists of approximately 350 Km of national contractors to apply bio-engineering in construction,
highways and 311 Km of Feeder roads, spread over in four rehabilitation and maintenance.
development regions as follows : 3 Support to DOR works programmes through Regions and
Development Region Highways Feeder Road Divisions.
Central 117 Km 188 Km 4 Improvement of the planning and management of roads in
Western 36 Km 66 Km interaction with other land uses.
5 Guidance on the application of bio-engineering techniques.
Mid Western 91 Km 57 Km
6 Determination of the long term management requirements for
Far Western 106 Km roadside vegetation.
Total 350 Km 310 Km M DOR implementation of bio-engineering works
aintenance Branch, DOR is responsible for this component. The RMP Bio-Engineering Component is assisting DOR in the
3. Equipment Procurement establishment of new bio-engineering works, starting with a
A fleet of equipment required for maintenance and number of critical roads under DOR’s maintenance remit. The
rehabilitation program of this project will be procured under specific roads covered, starting in FY 1994/95 were:
this heading. Mechanical Branch of DOR is responsible for this • Charali-Ilam (Ilam Division);
activity. • Pokhara-Baglung (Pokhara Division);
4. Institutional Development Component • Syauli-Silgadhi (Bhatkanda Division).
a) Field Implementation Advisor (FIA) Starting in FY 1995/96 are:
In order to strengthen the existing capabilities of DOR's
• Arniko Highway and Lamosangu-Jiri road (Charikot
regional offices, divisions as well as maintenance branch in
Division);
periodic maintenance activities, DOR has procured a
• Bhaktapur-Nagarkot (Sallaghari Division);
consultancy services of Field Implementation Advisor, for four
years period. This activity is being executed by the • Kathmandu-Trisuli (Ranipauwa Division);
Maintenance Branch. • Nagdhunga-Naubise-Mugling-Narayanghat
b) Priority Investment Plan (PIP) (Bharatpur Division);
The main objective of PIP is to prepare 10 years Road Master • Mugling-Marsyangdi (Damauli Division);
Plan for investment for new construction, upgrading and • Dauney Hills, Nawalparasi (Butwal Division);
maintenance which shall form a basic for 9th five year plan of • Kohalpur-Surkhet (Birendranagar Division).
HMGN. Planning Br. is the executive agency of PIP. As well as producing a practical output of stabilised slopes, these
c) Road Construction and Maintenance Material Study roads are being used to identify and demonstrate the way in
The objective of this study is to review current practice and which DOR will carry out bio-engineering in the future. RMP is
standards related to construction and maintenance materials also assisting several project bio-engineering units to transfer
and to propose and prepare materials inventory, material their skills and operations effectively to the Department.
 5 HMIS News
Another of the major aims is the multiplication of skills within both
DOR and the private sector. A number of course components
are being devised by specialist training advisers, and then a
series of trainings will be held to achieve this. In the meantime,
the GEU acts as a central information, training and advice cell
within DOR, so that any Division or Project has access to these
techniques.

1. The agreement is going to be signed with NEPECON for

conducting the Road condition survey .
2. PIP project has presented Inception Report on Jan. 19th,1996
3. A Workshop was conducted by RSSDU to find out ways for
improvement of working Environment
4. TESU is reviewing the traffic signs and signals
5. Progress review of FY 1994/95 and the 1st trimester of
1995/96 has been done

ONGOING ACTIVITIES