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When Labor WorksA labor-based approach for rural infrastructure projects in Cambodia is building more roads: thousands of jobs and institutional confidenceBy Pisit Tusanasorn and
Bjorn Johannessen
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An Asian Development Bank (ADB)-financed project has charted a new course for building and maintaining rural infrastructure in Cambodia.
On the surface, the project provided roads, markets, and civil works. But a closer examination reveals a unique approach to building this infrastructure: labor was used instead of machines, and many small local contractors were hired rather than a single large foreign contractor.
The $30 million Rural Infrastructure Improvement project, implemented by the Cambodian Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), has clearly demonstrated that labor-based construction methods can be effectively applied in large-scale investment programs for improving Cambodia’s rural road networks.
The project’s success has resulted in key design concepts of labor-based work, small-scale contracting, and decentralized implementation arrangements being replicated in other Cambodian rural development projects financed by ADB and other organizations.
When the 4-year project started in 1998, MRD was a fledgling institution with limited capacity—this was its first experience implementing a major rural infrastructure project. But thanks to the labor-based, decentralized approach, all the project’s outputs—including 600 kilometers (km) of rural roads, 988 culverts, and 98 small bridges—were completed ontime and within budget. Despite the heavy floods that Cambodia has experienced during the past 2 years, the works have stood up well, attesting to their quality.
The project employed 9,500 workers at its peak and logged 3,223,807 workdays. In total, 206 small contractors were involved, and 657 civil works contracts were awarded.
On the job: Training in Prey Veng Province
From the start, the Cambodian Government and ADB were committed to the idea that the project should generate employment and income to help reduce poverty in rural areas. Small local contractors were engaged to do the work, which was to be carried out using manual labor.
Because the project covered six southeastern provinces, it was decided to decentralize implementation to provincial authorities. But the capacity in MRD's provincial offices was also limited, so technical, managerial, and administrative capacities has to be established in each province. For the technical component, engineers, technicians, and supervisors were recruited and trained in civil works planning, execution, and supervision.
The decision to decentralize full implementation authority to the provinces meant that MRD in effect created six independent work agencies, and thereby managed to quickly establish an impressive implementation capacity that was further strengthened by involving the locally based private construction industry.
Administrative and financial support staff members were trained for provincial rural infrastructure works agencies, and a complete set of administrative, financial, planning, and management procedures was developed.
The project used contracting firms already operating in each of the project provinces. Local builders were engaged on simple culvert works, building contractors for bridge works, and smaller contractors for routine road maintenance. Construction firms with experience in carrying out civil works were trained and engaged in road construction using labor-based technology.
Future maintenance was a major concern during project formulation, as road maintenance had previously been largely ignored in Cambodia. The project developed a full maintenance management system at an early stage, which was installed as soon as the first roads were completed.
Now it is considered the best road maintenance program in Cambodia, with small local contractors carrying out regular maintenance to keep roads open through terrain that is subject to annual flooding.
Stakeholders were consulted to determine the requirements for constructing 16 markets, and also how to establish a viable operating system and maintenance for them. All were completed within the project time frame.
The project also included a considerable budget allocation for classrooms, irrigation, and water supply improvements. Priorities were identified through a participatory process involving provincial authorities and consumers.
Since 1992, aid organizations have directly executed most rural infrastructure works in Cambodia, with limited involvement of the central and local government agencies. But that’s no longer the case.
MRD clearly demonstrated that the Government is capable of delivering rural infrastructure on time and within budget, which has been acknowledged by ADB and the World Bank. The success of the approach is quite clear: MRD is now managing four other similar infrastructure programs.
Learn more about ADB’s projects and programs in Cambodia
Visit our Cambodia Resident Mission site
ASIST AP is a regional program of the International Labour Organization providing advice and support on policies and programs to maximize the employment and local resource use potential of investments in infrastructure.
For more information, contact the Ministry of Rural Development, Corner of Street 166 and Russian Federation Blvd., Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Fax: 855 23 428 049
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