Page 1 PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) APPRAISAL STAGE Report No.: AB1232 Project Name Road Safety Project Region EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC Sector Roads and highways (70%);Health (20%);General education sector (10%) Project ID P085080 Borrower(s) Ministry of Transport Implementing Agency National Traffic Safety Committee Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vietnam Environment Category [ ] A [X] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined) Safeguard Classification [ ] S 1 [X] S 2 [ ] S 3 [ ] S F [ ] TBD (to be determined) Date PID Prepared November 19, 2004 Date of Appraisal Authorization December 8, 2004 Date of Board Approval March 17, 2005 1. Country and Sector Background The government of Vietnam’s development objectives, as well as concrete actions to achieve them, are presented in the country’s Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS), which is based on its medium-term (2001–2010) development strategy. The CPRGS has three pillars: (i) high growth through transition to a market economy; (ii) an equitable, socially inclusive, and sustainable pattern of growth; and (iii) the adoption of modern public administration, legal, and governance systems. Vietnam has had one of the fastest growing economies in the world in recent years, and poverty has declined rapidly. Despite these gains, an estimated 29 percent of the population lived below the poverty line in 2002. Furthermore, a large proportion of the population lives just above the poverty line and is vulnerable to falling into poverty with even minor changes in economic circumstances. Economic growth is being accompanied by rapid traffic growth. Since 1990, the number of automobiles has increased 2½ times and the number of motorcycles has increased 8½ times. Over ninety percent of the roughly 11-12 million motorized vehicles in Vietnam are motorcycles. Yet, in comparison to other Asian countries, motorization levels in Vietnam are still low, indicating that vehicle ownership will continue to increase with economic growth for many more years. Road fatalities increased 39 percent in 2000/2001 and 22 percent in 2001/2002. Vietnam had a reported fatality rate of over 12 per 10,000 vehicles and an accident rate of 21 per 10,000 Page 2 vehicles in 2003. In comparison, these rates are below those observed in Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines (around 19-25 fatalities per 10,000 vehicles), but higher than Thailand (around 3-4 fatalities per 10,000 vehicles). Comparable rates in OECD countries are in the range of 2-3 fatalities per 10,000 vehicles. As in most developing countries, under-reporting of accidents and fatalities in Vietnam is significant. The Vietnam Multi-Center Injury Survey of 27,000 households estimated that there were 900,000 road traffic accidents involving injury in 2001, in comparison to reported accidents of 25,000. Similarly, the number of road related fatalities are estimated to be subject to under- reporting of around 30%. Fatalities are particularly common among young motorcycle users. Reported fatalities from road accidents in the first two months of 2004 were 51 percent higher than in the same period of 2003. The deteriorating road safety environment in Vietnam reflects regional trends. Road deaths are projected to grow by 80 percent in the East Asia and Pacific region in the next two decades in the absence of new policies and greater road safety investment. 1 Vietnam is not expected to go against this trend in the short or medium term without significant investment and policy reform. Government Strategy Vietnam’s 2002–201 2 National Policy on Accident and Injury Prevention notes that injuries related to road accidents are not just a transport sector issue, but a leading factor in a wider national injury crisis. The government—at the highest levels and across sectors—therefore gives a high priority to improving road safety. The Government strategy is spelled out in the National Program for Traffic Safety (NPTS), which covers the period 2001–2005. The NPTS calls for policy and physical interventions funded by government budgets, driver training and licensing fees, insurance, and official development assistance. Its activities include (i) education and publicity campaigns; (ii) road safety audits; (iii) identification and treatment of blackspots (road sites where serious accidents frequently occur); (iv) development of a traffic accident reporting and analysis (database); (v) improvement in the driver training and licensing system; (vi) creation of first-aid stations; and (vii) modernization of the motor vehicle registration and inspection system. The National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) is responsible for coordinating delivery of NPTS activities and reporting on progress. It has a small secretariat (Executive Office) in the Ministry of Transport (MOT). Eleven ministries are represented on the NTSC at the deputy-minister or vice-minister level. The chairman is the minister of Transport. National government funding for NTSC and road safety activities carried out by line ministries comes from traffic fine receipts. The majority (60 percent) of these funds goes directly to the Road and Rail Traffic Police Administration (RRTPA), while other road safety activities and NTSC receive 35 percent. The remainder is used for general budget support. Local funding for traffic safety activities also comes from fines, with the bulk allocated to traffic police, traffic 1 Traffic Fatalities and Economic Growth , Elizabeth Kopits and Maureen Cropper, January 2003 2 National Policy on Accident and Injury Prevention 2002 – 2010, Ministry of Health and National Steering Committee on Accident and Injury Prevention, Hanoi 2002 Page 3 inspection, and local police departments (52 percent). The remainder is used to fund vehicle inspection centers, local traffic safety departments, and local government road safety activities. The overall level of funding for road safety in 2003 was around US$45 million, split equally between local and national expenditures. The NTSC executive office itself has recently received increased allocations as road safety has become a pressing political and social issue. Sector Issues In 2003, the World Bank conducted a transport safety strategy review (TSSR) to assess government programs and approaches to road safety, set out short-, medium-, and long-term strategies to address deteriorating road safety in Vietnam, and guide World Bank investments for the next 15 years. In June 2003, the World Bank and the government discussed the findings of the TSSR and the main issues in the sector. Capacity and accountability. The most pressing need in road safety is to strengthen the capacity, resources, and skills of the agencies responsible for delivering the Government’s program, including NTSC. The current legal framework focuses NTSC’s role on coordination, leaving responsibility for implementation with central government agencies, other relevant organizations, and provincial and municipal People’s Committees. This limits accountability for overall outcomes—and coordination difficult. Furthermore, funding streams are uncertain, and monitoring and assessment of interventions is not carried out. Donors, private businesses, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also develop projects, but these are not incorporated into a cohesive program. Knowledge and awareness of road safety . Because motorization in Vietnam has increased so rapidly, the public sector response has emphasized basic traffic management functions such as driver licensing and vehicle inspection and registration. International experience, however, suggests that such programs, although important for general standards setting and administration, have only a marginal impact on accident and fatality rates in the short term. To curb rapidly rising accident and fatality rates, targeted, cost-effective measures that have an immediate impact, such as speed-limit and drunk-driving enforcement, separation of traffic, and motorcycle helmet law enforcement, must be identified and implemented and monitored under a comprehensive program of action. Furthermore, public awareness of road safety must change. For example, alcohol appears to be a bigger traffic safety problem than is acknowledged, but there is virtually no public or political support for countermeasures, or a sufficient legal basis to deter drunk drivers. Furthermore, laws requiring motorcycle helmets and imposing speed limits are seen as ineffective or in conflict with personal freedom. And finally, in the face of poor traffic behavior, traffic police also lack knowledge and incentives for developing more effective policing strategies, have limited resources, and see their job largely as the apprehension of offenders rather than the deterrence of unsafe behavior. Framework for long-term action. Despite its breadth, the NPTS lacks a method for setting priorities or an effective framework for monitoring and evaluation. Experience from other countries has shown that improving road safety requires a consistent 20- or 30-year effort. The NPTS is a 5-year strategy and therefore should be seen as the first phase of a longer-term Page 4 strategy. Business planning processes and financial management and performance monitoring systems must be put in place to support such a long-term strategy, and the first phase of such a strategy should lead to consensus among stakeholders and public sector agencies on how to proceed with a long-term action plan based on demonstrably successful interventions. A financing plan for implementing the strategy should also be specified. 2. Objectives The project development objective is to reduce the rate of serious injury and death associated with road transport. The key performance indicators are: Rate of death and injury on project road corridors reduced; 1. Development and government approval of a national road safety strategy specifying achievable performance targets and a financing plan; 2. Driver behavior and compliance with vehicle and licensing standards on project road corridors improved; and 3. Monitoring and evaluation framework implemented in project corridors and used to prioritize road safety interventions, and national road accident database system (NRADS) established and updated regularly. The project will assist in reaching the CAS objective to support Vietnam’s high-growth strategy addressing the immediate need to reduce the rate of road fatalities and crashes in Vietnam. This will reduce health shocks that push people into poverty or make escape from poverty difficult as well as the health costs and economic inefficiencies resulting from road crashes. It also addresses the administrative, legal, and governance arrangements over the longer term, emphasizing cross-sector capacity building for the transport, health, education, and judicial sectors. The project also aims to support the incorporation of a wider array of World Bank- and other donor-funded road safety initiatives into an integrated safety management framework for the long term. 3. Rationale for Bank Involvement The World Bank partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004 to produce the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, demonstrating both organizations’ recognition of road safety as a major world health issue. The Bank, by virtue of this experience and commitment, and its substantial engagement in the road sector in Vietnam in the past 11 years, is ideally placed to work with the Vietnamese on road safety. The design of the project also takes into consideration the findings of the TSSR and is consistent in size and scope with objectives described in the CAS Progress Report for Vietnam (2004). 4. Description Page 5 The project has three components: Institutional and Capacity Building Program, Road Safety Demonstration and Awareness Program, and Road Safety Monitoring and Evaluation Program. Component A. Institutional and Capacity Building Program (US$5.49 million) The project will provide technical assistance and project implementation support to strengthen the management and technical capacity of the NTSC Executive Office and the newly created project management unit (PMU) and to prepare a national road safety strategy. Component B. Road Safety Demonstration and Awareness Program (US$17.65 million ) This component will assist the government in developing and implementing comprehensive, integrated safety programs, including enhancement of road safety auditing processes and funding of blackspot treatments, for three high-risk road corridors: (i) National Highway 1 between Hanoi and Vinh (281 km); (ii) National Highway 1 between Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho (151 km); and (iii) Highway 51 from Ho Chi Minh City to the coast (80 km). Component B also includes a program of road user education, traffic safety enforcement, and emergency service preparedness along the three demonstration corridors. If project funds remain after works on the three demonstration corridors are completed, successful road safety improvement techniques will be replicated elsewhere in the country. Component C. Road Safety Monitoring and Evaluation Program (US$5.35 million) This component will support the development of a national road accident database system (NRADS), with NTSC making data available to government agencies. The database will be used initially by VRA to enhance the identification and treatment of blackspots and by the Ministry of Police to improve enforcement strategies and priorities. In combination with other data sources, the system will help monitor and evaluate the impact of the NPTS and other government road safety strategies. 5. Financing Source: ($m.) BORROWER/RECIPIENT 2.89 INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION 25.61 Total 28.50 6. Implementation The NTSC will act as executing agency for the project and will be responsible for overall project management and oversight. The chairman of the NTSC will work through the NTSC Executive Office, which is managed by the MOT vice-minister responsible for land transport. The NTSC has established a PMU to implement the project. The PMU will be responsible for procurement, financial management, project monitoring and reporting, and day-to-day supervision of project activities. The PMU director is a member of the steering committee and will report to the NTSC Executive Office. Each agency involved in the project has established and staffed a sub-PMU to implement its part of the project. These sub-PMUs will be represented on the steering committee and will interact Page 6 on day-to-day implementation issues with the NTSC PMU. Sub-PMUs will be responsible for technical decisions and management of their respective sector components with support from local and international experts. A member from each of the sub-PMUs will be assigned to each of the Project Corridor Supervision Teams. 7. Sustainability Sustainability of the project depends primarily on the project’s successful demonstration of cost- effective approaches to improving road safety, and on the government’s commitment to building the accountability and capacity of relevant ministries. The sustainability of physical works will require that road safety audits and blackspot identification and treatment become an integral part of NRADS development and application. Finally, the government’s commitment to developing and monitoring a long-term national safety strategy and to funding road safety initiatives will be needed. 8. Lessons Learned from Past Operations in the Country/Sector Although the Bank has supported road safety components in many transport projects, including highway projects in Vietnam, this is its first stand-alone road safety project. The previous two IDA-supported highway projects in Vietnam were the Highway Rehabilitation Project, completed in December 2001, and the Second Highway Rehabilitation Project, completed in 2003. The proposed project reflects the lessons learned from these projects. The Government’s NPTS is based largely on output from the first project, and experience with treating blackspots under the second is included in the design of coordinated technical assistance for design and construction supervision, as well as the integration of the identification process with the phasing of the NRADS. The project was designed in accordance with the recommendations of the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention: Make road safety a political priority. This stand-alone road safety project reflects the high level of political support in Vietnam for improving road safety. 4. Appoint a lead agency for road safety, give it adequate resources, and make it publicly accountable. The project supports the government’s vision of working through line ministry programs but ensuring accountability and coordination through NTSC. 5. Develop a multi-disciplinary approach to road safety. Project implementation involves the VRA and the ministries of Police, Education, and Health, which also participate in the NTSC . 6. Set appropriate road safety targets and establish a national road safety plan to achieve them. The project will develop, through demonstration on project road corridors, a cost-effective, long-term, performance-based national road safety strategy. Page 7 7. Support the creation of advocacy groups. The project supports the creation of the Consultative Council for the many existing road safety advocacy groups, the private sector, and NGOs to provide advice to NTSC on road safety initiatives. 8. Create budgets for road safety and increase investment in demonstrably effective road safety activities . The government has steadily increased the road safety budget in recent years, and the project demonstrates the government’s commitment to funding effective investments. The demonstration corridors will enable road safety initiatives to demonstrate their effectiveness before they are replicated throughout the country. 9. Safeguard Policies (including public consultation) Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Yes No Environmental Assessment ( OP / BP / GP 4.01) [X] [ ] Natural Habitats ( OP / BP 4.04) [ ] [X] Pest Management ( OP 4.09 ) [ ] [X] Cultural Property ( OPN 11.03 , being revised as OP 4.11) [ ] [X] Involuntary Resettlement ( OP / BP 4.12) [X] [ ] Indigenous Peoples ( OD 4.20 , being revised as OP 4.10) [ ] [X] Forests ( OP / BP 4.36) [ ] [X] Safety of Dams ( OP / BP 4.37) [ ] [X] Projects in Disputed Areas ( OP / BP / GP 7.60) * [ ] [X] Projects on International Waterways ( OP / BP / GP 7.50) [ ] [X] 10. List of Factual Technical Documents (i) Vietnam Road Safety Project (Phase 1), Social Assessment , OPUS International Consultants and Transport Development Strategy Institute, Ministry of Transport, Vietnam, November, 2004. (ii) Vietnam Road Safety Project (Phase 1), Environmental Assessment , OPUS International Consultants and Transport Development Strategy Institute, Ministry of Transport, Vietnam, November, 2004. (iii) Vietnam Road Safety Project (Phase 1), Environmental Management Plan for Engineering Works , OPUS International Consultants and Transport Development Strategy Institute, Ministry of Transport, Vietnam, November, 2004. (iv) Vietnam Road Safety Project (Phase 1), Report on Public Consultation . OPUS International Consultants and Transport Development Strategy Institute, Ministry of Transport, Vietnam, January 30, 2004. (v) Vietnam Road Safety Project (Phase 1), Policy framework for Compensation, Resettlement, and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons . OPUS International Consultants and Transport Development Strategy Institute, Ministry of Transport, Vietnam, January 30, 2004 * By supporting the proposed project, the Bank does not intend to prejudice the final determination of the parties’ claims on the disputed areas Page 8 (vi) Vietnam Road Safety Project (Phase 1), Abbreviated Resettlement Plan – Year 1 . OPUS International Consultants and Transport Development Strategy Institute, Ministry of Transport, Vietnam, January 30, 2004 11. Contact point Contact: Jerry A. Lebo Title: Sr Transport. Spec. Tel: (202) 458-7396 Fax: (202) 522-3573 Email: jlebo@worldbank.org 12. For more information contact: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 458-5454 Fax: (202) 522-1500 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infoshop