The government prioritized the improvement of the road transport system, mainly to facilitate movement of products. Improvement of road access to districts was part of the National Poverty Eradication Program. The strategy of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the road subsector in the Lao PDR proposed that ADB focus on rural development for the medium term by increasing access of rural areas to markets, prioritizing provinces with poor connections to the main network and completing missing links in the road network. This focus was consistent with the National Poverty Eradication Program and the Northern Region Infrastructure Development Strategy that was being prepared under ADB technical assistance at that time.
The areas served by the rural roads proposed for upgrading were among the poorest in the Lao PDR in access to health care, education, and other services. Each road selected was expected to improve access to 1 of the priority 47 poorest districts in the country. Most of the local people in the project area had high levels of disease, malnutrition, and illiteracy. Few of these areas had access to safe water, sanitation, and electricity.
This report validates the completion report’s assessment of the project. IED overall assessment: Successful.