Document of
The World Bank
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Report No: ICR00005353
IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT
Loan Number 8337-CN
ON THE LOAN
IN THE AMOUNT OF US$150 MILLION
TO THE
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
FOR THE
Guiyang Rural Roads Project
August 23, 2021
(This ICRR replaces the version published in the Board Operations System on June 26, 2021.
The M&E rating in the datasheet has been updated to match the rating in the main ICR text.)
Transport Global Practice
East Asia And Pacific Region
CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS
(Exchange Rate Effective on May 27, 2021)
Currency Unit = Renminbi (RMB)
RMB 1.00 = US$0.1531
US$1.00 = RMB 6.3764
FISCAL YEAR
January 1 - December 31
Regional Vice President: Victoria Kwakwa
Country Director: Martin Raiser
Regional Director: Ranjit J. Lamech
Practice Manager: Binyam Reja
Task Team Leader(s): Jung Eun Oh
ICR Main Contributor: Chuntai Zhang
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
CPF Country Partnership Framework
CPS Country Partnership Strategy
DRC Development and Reform Commission
EIA Environment impact assessment
EIRR Economic internal rate of return
EMP Environmental management plan
FM Financial management
FYP Five-Year Plan
GDP Gross domestic product
GMG Guiyang Municipal Government
GMTB Guiyang Municipal Transport Bureau
GPMO Guiyang Project Management Office
IA Implementing Agency
IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
ICB International Competitive Bidding
M&E Monitoring and evaluation
MOF Ministry of Finance
NCB National competitive bidding
ENPV Economic net present value
PDO Project Development Objective
PLG Project Leading Group
PIU Project implementation unit
PP Procurement plan
PRC People’s Republic of China
RAP Resettlement action plan
RMB Renminbi
RPF Resettlement policy framework
TA Technical assistance
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DATA SHEET ................................................................................................................................ I
I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES .........................................................1
A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL ........................................................................................................ 1
II. OUTCOME ...........................................................................................................................5
A. RELEVANCE OF PDOs ............................................................................................................. 5
B. ACHIEVEMENT OF PDOs (EFFICACY) ...................................................................................... 5
C. EFFICIENCY ............................................................................................................................ 7
D. JUSTIFICATION OF OVERALL OUTCOME RATING................................................................... 7
III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME ....................................8
A. KEY FACTORS DURING PREPARATION ................................................................................... 8
B. KEY FACTORS DURING IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................ 9
IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME ...12
A. QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) ......................................................... 12
B. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE.................................................. 13
C. BANK PERFORMANCE .......................................................................................................... 14
D. RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME ..................................................................................... 15
V. LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................16
ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS ..............................................................17
ANNEX 2. BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION...........................23
ANNEX 3. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT ...............................................................................25
ANNEX 4. ECONOMIC REEVALUATION .....................................................................................26
ANNEX 5. ENVIRONMENT SAFEGUARDS ..................................................................................29
ANNEX 6. SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS................................................................................................30
ANNEX 7. BORROWER, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS ....32
ANNEX 8. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS ......................................................................................33
The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
DATA SHEET
BASIC INFORMATION
Product Information
Project ID Project Name
P129401 Guiyang Rural Roads Project
Country Financing Instrument
China Investment Project Financing
Original EA Category Revised EA Category
Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B)
Organizations
Borrower Implementing Agency
People's Republic of China Guiyang Municipal Government Project Leading Group
Project Development Objective (PDO)
Original PDO
The development objective of the Project is to provide improved transport accessibility in selected areas of Guiyang
in a sustainable manner.
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
FINANCING
Original Amount (US$) Revised Amount (US$) Actual Disbursed (US$)
World Bank Financing
150,000,000 142,369,820 142,369,820
IBRD-83370
Total 150,000,000 142,369,820 142,369,820
Non-World Bank Financing
0 0 0
Borrower/Recipient 100,000,000 80,520,000 80,520,000
Total 100,000,000 80,520,000 80,520,000
Total Project Cost 250,000,000 222,889,820 222,889,820
KEY DATES
Approval Effectiveness MTR Review Original Closing Actual Closing
06-Mar-2014 19-Aug-2014 17-Apr-2017 30-Jun-2019 31-Dec-2020
RESTRUCTURING AND/OR ADDITIONAL FINANCING
Date(s) Amount Disbursed (US$M) Key Revisions
04-Jun-2019 71.12
14-Jun-2019 71.12 Change in Results Framework
Change in Components and Cost
Change in Loan Closing Date(s)
Reallocation between Disbursement Categories
Change in Implementation Schedule
KEY RATINGS
Outcome Bank Performance M&E Quality
Moderately Satisfactory Satisfactory Substantial
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
RATINGS OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN ISRs
Actual
No. Date ISR Archived DO Rating IP Rating Disbursements
(US$M)
01 21-Jun-2014 Satisfactory Satisfactory 0
02 06-Dec-2014 Satisfactory Satisfactory 0
03 03-May-2015 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 2.00
04 29-Nov-2015 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 19.44
05 01-Jun-2016 Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 19.44
Moderately
06 03-Dec-2016 Unsatisfactory 21.08
Unsatisfactory
07 29-May-2017 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 26.56
08 15-Jun-2017 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 28.86
09 01-Dec-2017 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 40.18
Moderately
10 11-Jun-2018 Moderately Unsatisfactory 40.18
Unsatisfactory
Moderately
11 13-Dec-2018 Moderately Unsatisfactory 61.30
Unsatisfactory
Moderately
12 02-May-2019 Moderately Unsatisfactory 71.12
Unsatisfactory
13 20-Jun-2019 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 71.12
14 27-Nov-2019 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 78.44
15 01-Jun-2020 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 82.87
16 19-Dec-2020 Satisfactory Satisfactory 104.60
SECTORS AND THEMES
Sectors
Major Sector/Sector (%)
Public Administration 1
Sub-National Government 1
iii
The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
Transportation 99
Rural and Inter-Urban Roads 99
Themes
Major Theme/ Theme (Level 2)/ Theme (Level 3) (%)
Urban and Rural Development 100
Rural Development 100
Rural Infrastructure and service delivery 100
ADM STAFF
Role At Approval At ICR
Regional Vice President: Axel van Trotsenburg Victoria Kwakwa
Country Director: Klaus Rohland Martin Raiser
Director: John A. Roome Ranjit J. Lamech
Practice Manager: Mark R. Lundell Binyam Reja
Task Team Leader(s): Holly Krambeck Jung Eun Oh
ICR Contributing Author: Chuntai Zhang
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES
A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL
Context at Appraisal
1. At appraisal, the economy in the People’s Republic of China (China) had grown at a remarkable pace of an
average rate of over 8 percent per year in the past 20 years. This economic growth was not spread evenly
throughout the country, however, with growing wealth disparities between the coastal and inland regions, and
between the urban and rural areas. The government of China (the government) was addressing this issue by giving
priority to economic development in the lagging western and central regions, including through financial supports
to transport infrastructure development in the rural areas. During the period of 11th Five-Year-Plan (2006-2010),
the government invested approximately RMB 954 billion (US$157 billion equivalent) in construction and
improvement of about 1.87 million kilometers (km) rural roads.
2. Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou Province, comprises 6 districts, 3 counties and 1 county-level city. The
municipal boundaries span more than 8,034 square km and encompass hilly and mountainous terrain, with
elevations ranging from 500 to 1,760 meters above sea level. In 2010, Guiyang had a total population of 4.32
million, of which 1.38 million (about 32 percent) lived in rural areas. About one fourth of the rural population in
Guiyang was assessed “poor”, with annual income below the national poverty line. Guiyang Municipal
Government (GMG) was taking steps to alleviate poverty and reduce the urban-rural disparity, including
improvement of the rural road network. At the end of 2011, the total length of rural roads in Guiyang was about
7,875 km, which included 1,624 km county roads, 1,494 km township roads, 4,715 km village roads, and 42 km
special-purpose roads. The rural road network in Guiyang was generally underdeveloped, which caused much
inconvenience and high travel costs for villagers, particularly in the mountainous areas. Under the Guiyang Rural
Roads Development 12th Five-Year-Plan (2011–2015), 1 GMG aimed to (i) provide all the county, township and
administrative village roads with asphalt or cement concrete pavement; (ii) improve capacity for disaster
mitigation and traffic safety by rehabilitating bridges and providing safety and safeguard facilities; and (iii)
optimize rural roads network and its comprehensive service standard by upgrading or rehabilitating a number of
county and township roads. Guiyang Municipal Transport Bureau (GMTB) was responsible for planning,
implementation, and maintenance of the rural roads network in Guiyang.
3. The proposed Guiyang Rural Roads Project (the project) aimed to contribute to the improvement of the
rural roads network in Guiyang,2 which was in line with the Strategic Theme One and Theme Two of the World
Bank’s Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) FY2013–2016 for China: “Supporting Greener Growth” and “Promoting
More Inclusive Development” respectively. The project targeted to address Theme One through optimizing energy
use by reducing transport costs for rural road users; and it would address Theme Two through improving the rural
roads network to increase the accessibility of education, healthcare and markets for the rural population of
Guiyang. Therefore, the project was to contribute to poverty alleviation and socio-economic development of the
suburban areas of Guiyang, as well as shared prosperity. The project was the second transport project financed
by the World Bank in Guiyang.3
1 Guiyang Municipality Government, 2010, Guiyang Rural Roads Development 12th Five-Year-Plan (2010–2015), Guiyang
Municipal Transport Bureau.
2 The World Bank. January 31, 2014. Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Loan in the Amount of US$150 Million to the
People’s Republic of China for a Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401) . EASCS
3 The first World Bank financed transport project in Guiyang was Guiyang Transport Project – P093963. IDRB Loan 48810-CHA,
$100 million, approved on August 1, 2008.
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Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
Theory of Change (Results Chain)
Long-term
Activities Outputs Outcome/PDO
Outcome
(i) Upgraded county road
from Class IV to Class II; Number of beneficiaries Provide the local rural
Upgrading/improving and (ii) Improved benefited from improved people with more
county and township roads unclassified county and all-weather roads efficient transport
township roads to Class IV access to education,
healthcare, work
A1, A2, A3ounty Percent travel time saving opportunity and
and township on rehabilitated roads outside markets.
Rehabilitated roads, with Therefore, the Project
Rehabilitation of county improved safety and
and township roads will contribute to
drainage features Percent travel time savings poverty alleviation
on upgraded roads and socio-economic
development of the
A1, A2, A3ounty
(i) Developed rural road suburban areas of
and township
maintenance pilot design; Length of roads served by Guiyang, as well as
Implementation of Rural (ii) Implemented rural road shared prosperity
the maintenance pilot
road maintenance pilot maintenance pilot; and (iii) activity
Improved Guiyang Rural
A1, A2, A3ounty Roads Management
and township Information System Contribute to the
longer-term
A1ount sustainability of the
A1ount
y and rural road
(i) Rural road network plan
and (ii) Training and study development in
Technical assistance (TA)
tours. Guiyang
Critical Assumptions
A1: The institutional capacity for implementing project is strengthened
A2: The government provides timely and sufficient counterpart funds
A3: The resettlement program and EMDP are properly implemented
Project Development Objectives (PDOs)
4. The development objective of the project was to provide improved transport accessibility in selected areas
of Guiyang, in a sustainable manner. This objective would be achieved through upgrading and rehabilitation of
the rural roads selected from the Guiyang Rural Roads Development 12th Five-Year-Plan, as well as
implementation of maintenance pilot activities.
Key Expected Outcomes and Outcome Indicators
5. The achievements of the PDO would be measured by: (i) number of beneficiaries benefited by the improved
all-weather roads; (ii) percent travel time saving on the rehabilitated roads; (iii) percent travel time saving on the
upgraded roads; and (iv) length of roads served by the maintenance pilot activity. These key indicators are
supplemented by relevant intermediate indicators, presented in Annex 1.
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
Components
6. At appraisal, the project was comprised of four components as summarized below.
Component A: Upgrading/improving county and township roads (Cost: US$147 million; IBRD: US$74
million). It would provide all-season roads to villagers and increase transport capacity in key corridors.
Physical outputs included: (i) upgrading one county road from Class IV to Class II; and (ii) improving
unclassified county and township roads to Class IV.
Component B: Rehabilitation of county and township roads (Cost: US$78 million; IBRD: US$51 million), it
would support the rehabilitation of deteriorated county and township roads. The physical outputs included
rehabilitated roads with improved safety and drainage features.
Component C: Rural road maintenance pilot (Cost: US$12 million; IBRD: US$12 million). It would enable
GMTB to test and verify methods that could improve cost efficiency and efficacy of the rural road
maintenance program in Guiyang. This component comprised of (i) development of the rural road
maintenance pilot design; (ii) implementation of the rural road maintenance pilot; and (iii) improvement of
the Guiyang Rural Roads Management Information System (GRRMIS).
Component D: Technical assistance (TA) (Cost: US$1 million; IBRD: US$1 million). It would support the
implementation of two technical assistance programs that would contribute to longer term sustainability of
the rural road program, comprising (i) rural road network planning, and (ii) training and study tours.
Project Restructuring
7. On May 20, 2019, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) submitted a formal request to the World Bank requesting
a restructuring of the project to accommodate several changes of the project as well as an extension of the loan
closing date. The government and executing agency also provided assurances that the project could be fully
implemented within the new closing date. Upon the request, a project restructuring was made by the World Bank
on June 14, 2019.4 The project restructuring involved the following key modifications:
• Extension of the loan closing date by 18-months, or until December 31, 2020;
• Reallocation of the loan proceeds among the project components and disbursement categories;
• Increase the Bank financing to 100 percent for Disbursement Category 1(a), 1(b) and 1(c); and
• Changes to the results framework.
8. Accordingly, the Loan Agreement was amended on June 14, 2019. 5
Revised PDOs and Outcome Targets
9. The PDO remained unchanged during the project implementation.
Revised PDO Indicators
10. During the mid-term review mission in 2017, it was found that the PDO Indicator 1 (number of beneficiaries
benefited by the improved all-weather roads) was misstated due to translation error in the Project Appraisal
Document’s results indicator methodology section. The figures only considered those beneficiaries that benefit
4 World Bank. May 2019. Restructuring Paper on A Proposed Project Restructuring of Guiyang Rural Roads Project. East Asia
and Pacific.
5 World Bank. June 14, 2019. Amendment to Loan Agreement – People’s Republic of China: Guiyang Rural Roads Project (Loan
Number 8337-CN). Beijing.
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Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
from the upgraded roads and didn’t consider the beneficiaries of the rehabilitated roads. As a result, the end
target for people with access to an all-season road was revised from 126,874 to 778,027.
11. The target of the PDO Indicator 4 (length of roads served by the maintenance pilot activity) increased from
125 km to 240 km. A maintenance center, originally planned for construction, was no longer supported under the
project. Instead, it was agreed that the maintenance pilot would monitor the condition of more roads, and thus
the Intermediate Results Indicator 2 was replaced with “the percent of feedback from independent monitors”,
accordingly. This was defined as the percentage of responses to requests for routine maintenance improvements
from independent monitors using grid monitoring system that were addressed within ten business days.
Revised Components
12. The project components remained unchanged but had the following major scope revisions.
13. At appraisal, 22 road sections were selected with total 250 km to be implemented under Batch I. For the
following batches, total 34 road sections were selected after commencement of the project with total 333.4 km.
During implementation, (i) some original roads were removed from the project scope due to implementation
delays and contract disputes (two roads with 15.1 km), and (ii) some original planned roads were no longer within
the jurisdiction of Guiyang Municipality after a new Gui’an District was established as a new development zone in
Guizhou Province (two roads with 25.9 km). Upon completion, total 520.0 km of rural roads were upgraded or
rehabilitated under the project,6 comprising 121.8 km upgraded and 398.2 km rehabilitated. In addition, about
27.3 km of branch roads were improved upon requests from the local governments and people, which connect
the project roads to nearby business/social centers or villages. Such branch roads serve as feeders to the project
roads, which also extend the project benefits to a wider range.
14. Under Component B, about 67.5 km of the project roads were reconstructed rather than rehabilitated as
planned. During project implementation, heavy vehicles were permitted to use several project roads to transport
equipment and materials for the nearby highway and railway constructions, which caused substantial damage to
some project roads. As a result, those project roads had to be reconstructed, which included the works on the
sub-base structure. This necessitated additional design work and increased implementation costs.
15. Under Component C, a design on the rural road maintenance pilot was carried out, based on which the
subcomponent (C.3) (the GRRMIS enhancement) was dropped. Instead, a Rural Road Monitoring and
Management System (RRMMS) was developed (a computer-based rural road information and maintenance
decision support system), which uses independent monitors to gather data on road conditions. Meanwhile, it
became clear at that time (2018) that the maintenance pilot could not be fully implemented due to time
constraints with only one year remaining until original loan closing. Hence, the loan allocation for the road
maintenance pilot was reduced from US$12.0 million to US$0.9 million at the project restructuring.
16. Under Component D, the technical assistance on rural road network planning was dropped because a key
activity under this component (the sharing of the rural road network GIS map with third parties) was restricted by
the local regulations.
Rationale for Changes and Their Implication on the Original Theory of Change
17. The original theory of change remained, but some scope and timing were changed due to:
6 At appraisal, it was planned that about total 570 km of the rural roads will be ungraded/rehabilitated under the project,
which would be selected and implemented by 5 Batches on a rolling basis.
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Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
18. Given the persistent delays in physical works (para. 42–44) and the shortage in counterpart funds (para. 48),
the ratings for the Progress towards achievement of the PDO and Overall Implementation Progress (IP) were
downgraded to Moderately Unsatisfactory in June 2018. During the Bank’s mission in October 2018, a time-bound
plan of action was agreed, which was accordingly implemented. With the available counterpart funds and
resolving the issues with the contractors (para. 43 and 64), the civil works on related roads recommenced in
December 2018. As such, the PDO and IP ratings were upgraded to Moderately Satisfactory in April 2019.
II. OUTCOME
A. RELEVANCE OF PDOs
Assessment of Relevance of PDOs and Rating
19. The project’s PDO was directly linked with and also continued to the themes stated in the World Bank
Group’s China Country Partnership Framework (CPF) 2020-2025, 7 which focus on the engagements of (i) advancing
market and fiscal reforms, (ii) promoting greener growth, and (iii) sharing the benefits of growth. The engagement
iii (sharing the benefits of growth) can been achieved by increasing access to quality health and social services;
and improving the quality of early learning and skills development programs. The project’s PDO was to provide
improved transport accessibility in selected areas of Guiyang, in a sustainable manner. Upon completion, total
520.0 km of the rural roads in Guiyang were upgraded/rehabilitated and effective capacity building programs were
carried out. As results, the connectivity and accessibility of rural population were substantially improved, and the
capacity for rural road development was significantly strengthened. Such achievements are fully aligned with the
Bank’s CPF.
20. The relevance of the PDO is rated as High.
B. ACHIEVEMENT OF PDOs (EFFICACY)
Assessment of Achievement of Each Objective/Outcome
PDO 1: Number of beneficiaries by improved all-weather roads.
21. Upon completion, a total of 520.0 km rural roads was either upgraded, improved, rehabilitated, or
reconstructed with much better road conditions and safety facilities. About 27.3 km of the branch/feeder roads
were added to extend the project benefits to the communities. The project roads are in 8 out of 10
districts/counties in Guiyang. According to the annual surveys by the GPMO, a total of 817,027 people benefited
from the project roads, including transporters and residents nearby the project roads. The actual number of the
beneficiaries exceeded the anticipated target (778,027 at restructuring). The improvement of the road condition
reduced travel time and vehicle operating costs and has significantly improved accessibility for the population,
who can now travel farther distances to markets, access job opportunities in larger towns and cities, and receive
more frequent social and health services. Additionally, the project enhanced institutional capacity for rural road
development and maintenance in Guiyang, towards increased sustainability of the investment under the project.
PDO 2: Percent travel time saving on upgraded/improved roads.
22. Before the project, the project roads were narrow or footpaths, seriously deteriorated and in poor
conditions, and frequently disrupted during raining season, especially in the mountainous areas. Upon completion,
11 road sections with a total of 121.7 km were upgraded and improved to at least Class IV with asphalt concrete
7
The World Bank. November 11, 2019. Country Partnership Framework for the People’s Republic of China for the Period of
FY2020-FY2025. Report No. 117875-CN.
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Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
pavement and drainage system.8 One road with 15.4 km was upgraded to Class II. The completed project roads
now provide all-weather access to population and vehicles travel at 30-50 km/hour, compared to 10-30 km/hour
on the original roads. The travel time on the project roads was thus reduced by at least by 50 percent, exceeding
the target (by 40 percent).
PDO 3: Percent travel time savings on rehabilitated roads.
23. Before the project, the project roads were in very poor conditions (some of them had no rehabilitation for
about 10 years) frequently impassable during raining seasons. Upon completion, 41 road sections with total 398.2
km were rehabilitated/reconstructed with new pavement and strengthened road drainage and safety facilities.
On the rehabilitated roads, the vehicles now may travel at 30-50 km/hour, compared to 20-30 km/hour on the
original roads. The rehabilitated roads provide all-weather access to local population. The travel time on the
project roads reduced by at least 35 percent, exceeding the target (30 percent).
PDO 4: Length of roads served by the maintenance pilot activity .
24. A study on road maintenance pilot was carried out, which led to developing a RRMMS (para. 15). Under the
pilot operation of the RRMMS, 259 km of the rural roads in Xifeng County was monitored.9 Currently, it is planned
that the RRMMS will be applied to all rural roads of 1,484 km in Xifeng County, exceeding the anticipated target
multi-folds (125 km at appraisal, 240 km at restructuring). The application of the RRMMS will provide an efficient
tool for the local transport authorities to monitor the road condition, take timely actions, and increase the
sustainability of the road network.
25. Through the improvement of travel time and road conditions, the project is estimated to have generated
total economic benefits of RMB 4,416.7 million from VOC savings and RMB 3,672.7 million from travel time
savings, over the 25-year period (2016-2040). Such benefits have and will contribute to socioeconomic
development, poverty reduction, and living condition improvement in the project areas.
26. Besides achieving the PDO targets, the project also strengthened the overall institutional capacity for rural
road development and maintenance in Guiyang through TAs and training programs. During implementation, the
Bank’s task team provided hands-on advice as well as formal trainings to the GPMO staff, focusing on safeguards
compliance, financial management and procurement, and contract management. As part of the project
(Component D), domestic trainings and study tours were conducted, focusing on road project management and
rural road development. Two oversea study tours were conducted, including one to Vietnam in 2017 on quality
contract and community-based maintenance schemes, and one to the United Kingdom in 2019 on road
construction and maintenance. Total 157 person-times of training programs were delivered for the government
staff, which exceeded the target of 124 person-times. All of these trainings, study tours, and technical support
have collectively improved the institutional capacity and increased the sustainability of the rural road
development in Guiyang.
Justification of Overall Efficacy Rating
27. All PDO achievements for the direct results indicators exceeded or achieved their targets anticipated at
appraisal or at restructuring. The targets for the intermediate results indicators were also substantially achieved
(see Annex 1). Sustainability of the project outcomes has been enhanced through the project. Hence, the overall
PDO of providing improved transport accessibility in selected areas was achieved in a sustainable manner. The
overall efficacy of the project is rated Substantial.
8 Class IV for this project represents a two-lane road with 20 km/hour designed speed and 6.5 meter width of top subgrade.
9 About 90% of the feedback from the independent monitors were addressed in 2020.
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Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
C. EFFICIENCY
Assessment of Efficiency and Rating
28. To assess the project efficiency, economic reevaluation of the project was carried out by the Bank’s ICR task
team. The actual project costs were used as the basis. A traffic analysis was carried out by comparing the actual
traffic counts on the project roads with what was forecast at appraisal. The traffic forecast for future years was
revised accordingly. The economic reevaluation assumed that the vehicles on the project roads could drive at
faster speeds with lower vehicle operating costs (VOC). Economic benefits were recalculated by comparing the
“with-project” and “without-project” cases. Consequently, the economic internal rate of return (EIRR) was
recalculated at 17.3 percent for the project. By comparing with that at appraisal (22.6 percent), the recalculated
EIRR is lower due to higher unit capital cost and longer implementation period. However, the EIRR is substantially
higher than the World Bank recommended discount rate of 12 percent at appraisal. Therefore, the project is still
considered economic viable.
29. The EIRR was subject to sensitivity analysis to test different scenarios of the costs and benefits. The
sensitivity analysis results showed that the project continued to be economically viable under all tested scenarios.
If a 20 percent maintenance cost increase were to be combined with a 20 percent benefit reduction, the most
pessimistic scenario, the EIRR would be 12.9 percent. The sensitivity analysis also showed that the EIRR was more
sensitive to the changes in the benefits. Therefore, the governments should keep the roads in good condition to
ensure continued efficient utilization of the project roads at the intended vehicle speed. The details of the
economic reevaluation are in Annex 4.
30. While the project implementation was delayed by 18 months, first due to project management during the
early phase of implementation and later due in part to the COVID-related restrictions and part to unfavorable
weather conditions, the intended scope of the road rehabilitation and upgrading was implemented by the
extended closing date. The road maintenance pilot was partially implemented through restructuring but expected
to yield the intended results through scale-up; and some institutional strengthening programs had to be dropped
due to travel restrictions during the pandemic.
Justification of Overall Efficiency Rating
31. The overall efficiency of the project is rated Modest. Notwithstanding the economic viability of the project
roads based on the ex-post analysis, project implementation encountered substantial delays in physical works first
due to shortage in counterpart funds and later to COVID-related constraints. The June-2019 restructuring down-
scaled the project scope and extended the closing date by 18 months. The project planned to upgrade or
rehabilitate total 5 batches of roads, and due to the delays and counterpart part funding shortage, it was scaled
down to 3 batches. EIRR by project completion at 17.3 percent was lower than that at Appraisal stage at 22.6
percent.
D. JUSTIFICATION OF OVERALL OUTCOME RATING
32. The overall project outcome is rated as Moderately Satisfactory, based on the project ratings of High
relevance of the PDO with the Bank’s CPF and government’s development priorities, Substantial efficacy to
promote the local socioeconomic development and increase in sustainability of the road development, and
Modest efficiency of the project implementation and economic viability.
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Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
Gender
33. At appraisal, a social assessment was carried out with special attention to the views and needs of women,
so as to address gender concerns in project planning and implementation. The social assessment included a
specific chapter for analyzing impacts on women. The relevant records were appropriately documented and
shared with the design consultant. In addition, it was planned that the community-based road maintenance pilot
would have a focus on integrating women into all aspects of the maintenance team. During implementation, the
Bank’s task team and the PMO paid adequate attention to the gender issues that the measures proposed in the
social assessment were incorporated in the engineering design and bidding documents, and no differentiate wages
were paid between men and women, particularly for the work of equal value. Upon project completion, the
improved roads have facilitated and promoted accessibility of both genders.
Mobilizing Private Sector Financing
N/A
Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity
34. At appraisal, about one fourth of the rural population in Guiyang was assessed “poor”. It was assessed that
the Batch I project roads would impact 340,664 people, of whom 84,014 were ethnic minorities and 39,644 lived
below the poverty line. During implementation, dedicated measures were executed to ensure the ethnic
minorities benefiting from the project as much as possible, like priority provision for job opportunities to ethnic
people and poor people. However, the development impacts of the project, especially to the poor, were not part
of monitoring program under the project.
Other Unintended Outcomes and Impacts
N/A
III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME
A. KEY FACTORS DURING PREPARATION
Adequacy of Project Preparation
35. At appraisal, the project adopted a simple design with clear objectives and scope. The Result Framework
was designed with key monitoring indicators and targets, which were adjusted at project restructuring. The project
roads were identified in line with the government’s plan and priority. The road design and safeguard assessment
involved adequate consultations with the well selected stakeholders and beneficiaries. The project risks were
properly identified, and related measures were incorporated in the project design and formulation. The project
was prepared to ensure readiness for implementation. Following are the factors specially considered during
project preparation.
Lesson Learnt from Previous Road Project in Guiyang
36. The first World Bank financed road project in Guiyang (Guiyang Transport Project - P093963) was completed
in 2013. Lessons from the previous project identified key challenges to project implementation, including (a) mixed
institutional arrangements with unclear responsibilities, (b) shortage in counterpart funding, (c) lack of tools in
rural road maintenance planning, (d) implementation challenges when a project has both urban and rural
components, and (e) too many contract packages. The project was designed to avoid these challenges to the
extent possible, through exclusive focus on rural roads, straightforward design, clear implementation
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Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
arrangement, counterpart funding assurance mechanism, and the project scope that includes both civil works and
capacity-building to build sustainability.
Project Implementation Batches
37. The project was designed to be implemented according to the Guiyang Rural Road Development 12th Five-
Year-Plan. At appraisal, the project was planned to be implemented in five batches, with 22 rural road sections (a
total of 250 km) identified under Batch I. The following batches would be selected and designed on a rolling basis.
The project roads for the following batches were selected from the roads included in the 12th Five-Year Plan, based
on a set of pre-determined criteria, including traffic volume, size of affected population, availability of counterpart
funds, severity of damage, and degree of resettlement or land acquisition required.
Counterpart Funding Arrangements
38. At appraisal, it was arranged that GMG would take overall responsibility of the loan management and
repayment, and the county and district governments would be responsible for providing counterpart funding for
land acquisition and resettlement (LAR) and part of the civil works. The financial assessment at appraisal revealed
that the county and district governments had weak fiscal capacity to provide required counterpart funds. To avoid
and mitigate the financial risk, the Bank’s project team adjusted the project size and increased the share of project
costs covered by the loan. Meanwhile, the GPMO established a counterpart funding assurance mechanism, which
required the participating local governments to submit a fund guarantee letter to GMG together with their annual
project proposals and deposit their funding share upfront in a designated project account prior to project
commencement (see more in para. 49).
Road Maintenance and Sustainability
39. At appraisal, it was identified that the overall capacity for rural road maintenance in Guiyang needed to
improve to increase the sustainability of the project roads as well as the whole rural road network. For this
purpose, the project included robust TA programs, including supporting the design of rural road maintenance pilot,
long-term planning of rural road development, and improvement of the existing GIS-based GRRMIS.
B. KEY FACTORS DURING IMPLEMENTATION
Organizational Arrangement and Restructuring
40. Arranged at appraisal, the existing Guiyang Project Management Office (GPMO) for the previous World Bank
financed transport project continued for the day-to-day management of the project on behalf of GMG. To
strengthen the project management capacity, the GPMO leadership instituted formalized procedures for check-in
meetings and communications between departments and agencies, and the GPMO was joined by two new deputy
directors, one from the Municipal Finance Bureau and one from the Municipal Development and Reform
Commission (DRC). The formalized procedures resulted in a marked improvement in the accuracy and timeliness
of project reporting, construction quality monitoring and supervision. These improvements demonstrated genuine
effort on the part of the counterpart to learn from past experiences and make improvements to ensure better
implementation progress and quality moving forward.
41. In August 2018, GMG restructured the GPMO (i) to be in compliance with local governance policies and
requirements, which called for the separation of construction and management activities; and (ii) to provide
current GPMO staff with permanent positions, which was expected to reduce staff turnovers. Through this
institutional restructuring, the GPMO remained under the Guiyang Municipal Transport Commission (GMTC,
formerly called GMRB) and in charge of overall management of the project activities. Responsibility for
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construction activities was transferred to the Project Construction Office (part of the original GPMO). Staff under
both offices remained unchanged.
Implementation Schedule
42. At the time of approval, the project was scheduled to be implemented in five years from 2014 to 2018. After
the loan effectiveness, the Bank’s task team carried out a Project Launch Mission to Guiyang in October 20-21,
2014, to (a) receive updates on any project design, schedule, or institutional changes that might have occurred
since appraisal; (b) provide training on fiduciary and safeguards aspects of the project; (c) reconfirm role of the
Bank’s task team during implementation, project reporting requirements, and regular supervision schedules.
43. The Bank’s mission in March 2015 found that (a) project implementation was delayed due to disruptions
caused by construction activities of an expressway and a high-speed rail adjacent to the project roads; (b) contract
had to be adjusted due to design changes ; and (c) counterpart funds were not readily available for some counties
and districts despite the efforts made under the counterpart funding assurance mechanism. These issues affected
11 out of the 20 Batch I road sections,10 or 127 km out of 232 km. The schedule was adjusted accordingly and the
PMO put in place measures to expedite the progress. By the end of 2015, 13 out of 20 road sections under Batch
I were completed, whilst implementation of the remaining 7 road sections were substantially delayed, with three
of them completed in October 2016 and the rest four as late as in December 2017. Additionally, preparation for
Batches II and III fell behind the revised schedule due to delays in design activities. During that time, the mission
assessed that the project progress was about two years behind the original schedule and thus, it was likely that
only three of the five planned batches could be realistically completed within the original implementation period.
The project scope was adjusted accordingly were made. Implementation of Batch II civil works, commenced in
March 2017, and Batch III, commenced in March 2018, was delayed as some non-performing contracts had to be
terminated and the project areas were affected by unusually long rains.11 Given such delays, it was agreed that
Batch III would be the final procurement batch for the project. Project was then restructured in June 2019 to
extend the loan closing date by 18-months. Due to time constraints, the physical works of road maintenance pilot
was not implemented.
44. In early 2020, the project implementation was disrupted again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering
the local travel restrictions in China, the Bank’s task team carried out a virtual implementation support mission in
April 2020 on an exceptional basis, using available video and audio communication tools. The mission was told
that the GPMO was working towards meeting the extended loan closing date and did not plan on requesting the
Bank for more extension of the loan closing date. Guizhou Province remained a low risk area throughout the
pandemic and civil works and other activities resumed during summer of 2020. During the World Bank mission in
November 2020 (the last implementation supervision mission), it was observed that most of the project roads
were completed. The GPMO and the contractor expedited the progress in the final months of the project
implementation, and by the loan closing at the end of 2020, all project roads in Batches II and III were fully
completed.
Project Cost and Financing
45. At appraisal, the project cost was estimated at $250.0 million including contingency ($25.5 million) and
financial charges ($12.41 million). This was to be financed by the World Bank loan of $150.0 million and
counterpart funds of $100.0 million, taking respectively 60 percent and 40 percent of the total project cost.
10 2 road sections under Batch I were removed from the project scope.
11 In January to October 2019, the rain full in the project increased by 33.7% than normal.
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46. There were several factors that caused changes in the project cost. On the one hand, the cost estimates for
Batch I roads were adjusted upward during the early stage of implementation, considering deterioration in road
conditions since FSR preparation, engineering enhancement due to insufficient detailed survey work during
preparation, and price escalations in materials and labors. These amounted to a 20 percent increase in cost
estimates from US$31.4 million (or RMB 1.18 million per km) to US$37.9 million (RMB 1.42 million per km).
Subsequently, however, the actual values of the civil works contracts were about average 20 percent lower than
the adjusted cost estimations, due to the competitive bidding, but greater than the FSR estimates. On the other
hand, the project costs came down as some project roads were removed from the project scope (para. 12–16),
and the pilot of road maintenance was not implemented.
47. Upon completion, the actual project cost was US$222.89 million, which was about 10.8 percent lower than
what was estimated at appraisal. On the one hand, the costs of road rehabilitation/reconstruction (Component B)
increased by $29.42 and project preparation and management (Component D) increased by $10.95 million. On
the other hand, the costs of road upgrading/improvement (Component A) decreased by $24.24 million, road
maintenance pilot (Component C) by $11.30 million, and the financial charge of the loan by $6.56 million. The
actual project financing was revised to be $142.37 million from the World Bank loan and $80.52 million from the
government counterpart funds, 63.9 and 36.1 percent of the total actual project cost, respectively. The details of
the project cost comparison and project financing are in Annex 3.
Counterpart Funds Availability
48. During appraisal, it was arranged that the participating county/district governments would provide the
counterpart funds for the land acquisition and resettlement, part of the civil works costs, and 5 percent funding
share to support the engineering design and bidding document preparation. Notwithstanding the counterpart
funding assurance mechanism set out and agreed upon during project preparation, the project still experienced
shortage in the counterpart funds. The Bank’s mission in October 2015 found that the required counterpart funds
were not available in a timely manner in some project counties and districts, 12 , causing delays in project
implementation. Upon discussion and efforts made by the governments, the fund shortfall in Kaiyang District was
met, and Wudang and Qingzhen submitted guarantee letters. To prevent similar issues from reoccurring, for Batch
II, Wudang District Government provided a guarantee letter for its funding share, committed RMB50 million as an
advance, and committed to allocate full counterpart funding in the 2016 budget. For Batch III, it was agreed that
the counterpart fund contributions should be allocated prior to commencement of the design work for the
proposed road sections in related counties/districts. Given the significant land acquisition required for Batch III
(about 1,385 mu), there were concerns on securing sufficient counterpart funding in time. The project counties
were required to contribute land acquisition and resettlement funds by January 31, 2018; otherwise their roads
would not be accepted by the World Bank for inclusion in Batch III. To alleviate counterpart funding pressure, the
loan closing date was extended and the loan disbursement percentage for the civil works under Batch II and Batch
III was increased to 100 percent.
Institutional Strengthening Programs and Technical Assistance
49. To improve the long-term sustainability of rural roads development in Guiyang, the project was designed to
include institutional strengthening programs and TAs. During implementation, the Bank’s task team provided
advice on the design and implementation of the institutional strengthening programs.
50. The road maintenance pilot in the original scope aimed to test and verify methods that could improve cost
efficiency and efficacy of the rural road maintenance program. It was originally proposed as a retroactively
12 Kaiyang County (RMB 11.8 million), Wudang District (RMB 10.3 million), and Qingzhen City (RMB 9.0 million).
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financed activity, but the GPMO decided to focus on project roads preparation and postponed the pilot program
by about 1.5 year. A consultant team was recruited to design the pilot program. Upon completion, the design
consultants completed and submitted a study report in 2018, which was composed of the main report and several
sub-reports.13 The design recommended establishing a RRMMS, instead of improving the existing GRRMIS. Due to
time constraints, the originally planned physical works of the road maintenance pilot was not implemented under
the project. Considering the local regulations of restricting provision of the rural road network GIS map to third
parties, the TA on the rural road network planning was dropped from the original project scope.
IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME
A. QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E)
M&E Design
51. At appraisal, the project included a concise Result Framework that was developed following the theory of
change. The PDO indicators and intermediate result indicators with annual targets of each indicator adequately
measured the achievements of the project. The Loan Agreement required that GMG monitor and evaluate the
progress of the project, and through the GPMO, prepare bi-annual project progress reports, unaudited financial
reports, and environmental and social monitoring reports. The design of the M&E system was overall sound, with
the indicators that are measurable, attainable, time-bound, and relevant to the project activities and objective.
Nevertheless, there was room for a better design: some of the target values were not established during
preparation (number of people impacted), and methodology for measurement was not very clear for some
indicators (road length impacted by maintenance pilot activity).
M&E Implementation
52. During implementation, the GPMO, on behalf of GMG, was responsible to carry out the project monitoring.
The GPMO monitored the PDO result indicators annually. At project restructuring, the result indicators were
revised to reflect actual needs. The project implementation data were collected every quarter, which were
processed and incorporated in the semi-annual project progress reports. During implementation, the GPMO
prepared and submitted to the Bank all reports required in the project legal documents, including semi-annual
project progress reports, semi-annual interim unaudited financial reports, annual financial audit reports, and
social and environmental monitoring reports.
53. The social safeguards were monitored and evaluated according to the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) and
Indigenous Peoples Development Plan (IPDP) developed at appraisal. Internal monitoring was carried out by the
GPMO and the monitoring results were incorporated in the semi-annual project progress reports. In the
meantime, external monitoring was conducted by an independent consulting entity engaged under the project.
External social monitoring reports were submitted to the Bank on time during implementation.
54. According to the Environment Management Plan (EMP), a complete institutional framework was
established to monitor the environmental impacts of the project and resolve any environmental problem
occurred. The civil works contracts included provisions related to environmental protection and soil/water
conservation. The supervision engineers and local environmental protection agency checked the work sites on a
daily basis. The GPMO staff visited the project site regularly and supervised the EMP implementation. An external
environmental monitoring consultant was hired by the GPMO to conduct regular site monitoring on the
environmental performance of the contractors and prepare independent monitoring reports on a semi-annual
13 GPMO. July 2018. Study Report on Pilot Rural Road Maintenance in Guiyang. Guizhou University.
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basis. The Bank’s task team inspected the environmental compliance through site visits and reviewing monitoring
reports.
M&E Utilization
55. The monitoring reports were well used by GMG and the Bank’s task team to understand the project progress
and any issues occurred, to provide support and guidance, and to take actions as needed, e.g. adjust loan allocation
and disbursement percentage, extend project and loan closing date, etc. The Bank’s task team reviewed the
external monitoring and evaluation reports to ensure compliance with the Bank’s social and environment
safeguard compliance policies and to maintain satisfactory monitoring. The Bank’s task team deemed these
reports to be of satisfactory quality and requested the local government staff to fully utilize them in improving
their work concerning resettlement and environment management accordingly. At project completion, all M&E
reports were reviewed and utilized in the ICR preparation.
Justification of Overall Rating of Quality of M&E
56. The project monitoring system was well designed and implemented. The monitoring results were well used
by GMG and the Bank’s task team to supervise and guide the project implementation, as well as to prepare the
ICR report. The quality of the M&E system is rated Substantial.
B. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE
Environment Safeguards
57. The project was assigned Category B due to its moderate environmental and social impacts. Environmental
assessment was carried out according to the requirement of the World Bank OP4.01 and with guidance from the
Bank’s task team. Due to rolling selection process employed in the project, an Environmental Code of Practices
(ECOPs) was prepared for the overall project as the EA’s instrument.
58. During implementation, an environmental management system was set up in the GPMO, contractors and
supervision consultants with designated staff arrangement. Measurements specified in the ECOP were
incorporated into the civil works bidding documents and construction contracts for implementation. External
environmental monitoring consultant was engaged by the GPMO to supervise the environmental performance of
contractors throughout the implementation process. In general, the overall environmental performance of the
project was satisfactory. The details of the environmental safeguard compliance are in Annex 5.
Social Safeguards
59. The World Bank OP 4.10 and OP 4.12 were applied to the project. The project adopted a framework
approach during the preparation, prepared qualified Ethnic Minority Development Plans (EMDPs) and RAPs for
the subsequent project batches following the framework. The external monitoring reports concluded that the
project legally completed the land acquisition and resettlement, and substantially achieved the objectives as set
out in the RAPs. Ethnic minorities in the project area benefitted from improved roads. The social performance and
resettlement implementation were deemed satisfactory.
60. During the implementation, a management and monitoring mechanism was established, including trainings
for the GPMO, project implementation agencies and other government departments involved in the LAR activities.
The project established efficient institutional management during RAP/EMDP management, implementation, and
monitoring. The grievance redress mechanisms were established as planned and operated effectively and public
engagement was implemented throughout the project implementation. As of the end of December 2020, all the
LAR activities were completed with no remaining issues. According to the social assessment and the EMDP, the
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dedicated measures implemented under the project are benefiting the ethnic minorities. The details of the social
safeguard compliance are provided in Annex 6.
Financial Management
61. The financial management assessment at appraisal concluded that the project met the World Bank financial
management requirements. During project implementation, the Bank’s financial management supervision
confirmed that the project financial management system provided, with reasonable assurance, accurate
information that the loan proceeds were used for intended purposes. The project accounting and financial report
preparation and submission were in line with the regulations issued by the Ministry of Finance, which were
consistent with the requirements specified in the Loan and Project Agreements. The key weaknesses—shortfall of
counterpart funds and time-consuming review for contract variation—were resolved through improvement of the
fund management and adequate communication to enhance clients’ awareness of the Bank’s requirements. The
project financial audit reports were prepared by the auditor with unqualified audit opinions. It concluded that the
withdrawals from the loan account and the funds flow arrangement were appropriate.
Procurement and Contract Management
62. The procurement of the project was carried out in accordance with the World Bank’s “ Guidelines:
Procurement under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits”. At appraisal, the procurement capacity of the implementation
agency was assessed, and a procurement plan was prepared. The GPMO was responsible for the procurement
cycle management and contract management.
63. The initial procurement plan, covering Batch I works contracts of rehabilitating 22 road sections to be
implemented in the initial 18 months, was prepared and agreed during preparation. The bidding for the Batch I (9
contracts) started in October 2014 and completed with contracts signing in February–March 2015. The
implementation of most contracts was satisfactorily completed by December 2016, and while a few were delayed
until December 2017, no major contract management issues were reported. However, some contractors
registered complaints regarding changes in BOQ items quantities, work omissions and compensation events
during field visits. The Bank’s task team provided timely support and guidance to GPMO on contract management,
and GPMO responded to the complaints in an adequate and timely manner. All issues were settled amicably.
64. The procurement plan was subsequently updated to include Batch II contracts for upgrading one Class II
road and Batch III contracts for rehabilitating 33 roads. The bidding for Batch II (5 contracts) started in October
2016 and completed with contracts signing in February 2017. The procurement for Batch III (11 contracts) was
conducted a year later. While most of the contracts were implemented according to the agreed schedules and
within budget, a few contracts were seriously delayed and experienced disputes around contract variations.
Keeping close communications and consultations with the Bank’s task team, the GPMO took actions to terminate
the contracts with non-performing contractors and rebid the 4 contracts for all remaining works. The rebidding
processes were satisfactorily implemented, and the remaining works were completed by the end of December
2020.
C. BANK PERFORMANCE
Quality at Entry
65. The project was the second World Bank financed road project in Guiyang. The Bank’s task team worked
closely with the counterparts for a well-designed project that was fully aligned with China’s 12th FYP and the local
government’s priorities, as well as the Bank Group’s CPS for FY2013-2016. Experiences and lessons of preparing
and implementing the previous project were appropriately assessed and incorporated in the project design and
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Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
formulation. During project preparation, the Bank’s appraisal was thoroughly conducted and ensured that
appropriate economic and financial analysis was carried out. During preparation, the Bank’s task team provided
substantial trainings to related government staff on fiduciary arrangement, procurement procedures,
environmental and social safeguards, and technical topics. Meanwhile, the project risks were correctly identified,
and appropriate mitigation measures were incorporated in the project design and formulation. The project was
ready for implementation, as subsequently demonstrated.
Quality of Supervision
66. Throughout the project implementation, the Bank’s task team maintained close supervision and monitoring
of the implementation progress and identified issues through the following three mechanisms: (1) conducting
supervision missions biannually and many smaller-scale visits to the project sites; (2) reviewing the biannual
project progress reports, annual audit financial reports, and safeguards external monitoring reports; and (3)
monitoring the PDO result indicators provided annually. To enhance the project implementation capacity, the
Bank’s task team provided substantial trainings and technical supports to the GPMO staff and related government
officers. During the project supervision missions, the Bank’s team members inspected the engineering sites and
provided significant constructive advice. The Bank approved a project restructuring in 2019, which was based on
proactive supervision and close consultation with the clients. The midterm reviews were conducted as planned.
When the travel restrictions due to COVID-19 was temporarily relaxed, the Bank’s task team carried out the final
implementation supervision mission to Guiyang in November 2020, to ensure timely and successful completion of
the project.
Justification of Overall Rating of Bank Performance
67. During project preparation and implementation, the Bank maintained a strong task team and carried out
adequate supervision activities to ensure high quality of the project design and implementation. The Bank’s task
team closely supervised the implementation progress, proactively identified and helped to resolve problems, and
ensured the compliance of the Bank’s policies. The Bank task team verified and approved the project restructuring
in a timely manner upon requests from the government. The support of the Bank’s task team was well recognized
by the Borrower. The overall Bank’s performance is rated Satisfactory.
D. RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME
Budget for Rural Roads Maintenance
68. Local governments in Guiyang routinely experience shortage of funds. Most funds for rural road
development are used for road construction and rehabilitation, leaving maintenance of rural roads largely
underfunded. During implementation of this project, the counterpart funds were not readily available for some
counties/districts. For the sustainability of the project roads, the municipal and county/district governments
should allocate adequate budget under their rural road development funds and provide sufficient funds for the
rural road maintenance to keep the project roads in good condition.
Long-term Sustainability and Capacity Building
69. The rural road development needs capacity building and better tools. The project implementation and
capacity building programs under the project have improved the GMTC ’s capacity in rural road construction and
maintenance. A RRMMS was developed to assist the GMTC to monitor the road condition and support decision
making in road maintenance planning. However, the pilot for testing road maintenance method and materials was
not implemented (subcomponent C.2). To improve long-term sustainability, the overall institutional capacity of
rural road construction and maintenance in Guiyang needs to be enhanced, the planning and decision support
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Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
tools need to be well used and improved, and advanced road asset management concept and methodology need
to be introduced to Guiyang.
V. LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
70. Adaptive design and implementation scheme are an effective and efficient solution for rural roads projects.
The project employed an adaptive approach, which allowed the project to be implemented in 5 batches with only
the first batch of 22 rural road sections identified at appraisal stage. The subsequent batches were identified
during implementation based on a set of pre-defined criteria. This shortened project preparation time and
improved the readiness for implementation. Such an approach, on the one hand, allowed for the adaptability of
the project to the dynamic social and economic development environment and changing priorities of Guiyang. On
the other hand, by identifying subsequent batches from the larger pool of investment needs as defined in the 12th
Five-Year Plan and using clearly defined selection criteria, the project design ensured that the intended
development objectives are achieved.
71. The counterpart funding assurance mechanism, combined with the adaptive implementation scheme, can
be an effective tool to avoid funding shortage and resultant implementation delays. This mechanism employed
under the project required that the participating local governments to submit a fund guarantee letter to GMG
together with their annual project proposals and deposit their funding share upfront in a designated project
account prior to project commencement. After weak enforcement at the beginning of implementation, which led
to delays in some civil works contracts, the mechanism was later fully enforced and proven effective. Some
counties were not able to be part of the project due to their inability to commit counterpart funding; in other
words, availability of counterpart funding functioned as a criterion for identifying subsequent batches.
Nevertheless, the underlying fiscal issues in rural counties are systemic, the project had to be restructured to
reduce the share of counterpart funding.
72. Timely restructuring of the project can ensure full achievement of the project outputs and outcomes. The
project implementation was substantially delayed and only three of the five batches were implemented. To
address these implementation challenges, the project was restructured to extend loan closing date, reallocate the
loan proceeds, and increase disbursement percentage. The restructuring took place in June 2019, in the same
month of the original loan closing date, when the government request was received. An earlier restructuring would
have allowed for more proactive actions and better facilitation of project implementation.
.
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ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS
A. RESULTS INDICATORS
A.1 PDO Indicators
Objective/Outcome: Improved transport accessiblity in selected areas of Guiyang, in a sustainable manner.
Formally Revised Actual Achieved at
Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target
Target Completion
Number of People with Number 0.00 126874.00 778,027.00 817,027.00
Access to an All-Season Road
09-Sep-2013 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 18-May-2020
Comments (achievements against targets):
Formally Revised Actual Achieved at
Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target
Target Completion
Travel time savings on Percentage 0.00 40.00 71.00
upgraded / improved roads
09-Sep-2013 31-Dec-2020 18-May-2020
Comments (achievements against targets):
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Formally Revised Actual Achieved at
Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target
Target Completion
Travel time savings on Percentage 0.00 30.00 34.60
rehabilitated roads
09-Sep-2013 31-Dec-2020 18-May-2020
Comments (achievements against targets):
Formally Revised Actual Achieved at
Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target
Target Completion
Road length impacted by Kilometers 0.00 125.00 240.00 259.20
maintenance pilot activity
09-Sep-2013 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 18-May-2020
Comments (achievements against targets):
A.2 Intermediate Results Indicators
Component: Upgrading/Improving/Rehabilitating County and Township Roads
Formally Revised Actual Achieved at
Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target
Target Completion
Roads rehablitated Kilometers 0.00 659.00 520.00 547.70
19-Aug-2014 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 18-May-2020
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Comments (achievements against targets):
Component: Rural Road Maintenance Pilot
Formally Revised Actual Achieved at
Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target
Target Completion
Percent of feedback from Percentage 0.00 80.00 90.00
independent monitors that is
addressed. 19-Aug-2014 31-Dec-2020 18-May-2020
Comments (achievements against targets):
Component: Technical Assistance
Formally Revised Actual Achieved at
Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target
Target Completion
Number of trainees who Number 0.00 125.00 157.00
attended training and study
tours 19-Aug-2014 31-Dec-2020 18-May-2020
Comments (achievements against targets):
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B. KEY OUTPUTS BY COMPONENT
Objective/Outcome 1
1. Number of beneficiaries benefited from improved all-weather roads
Upon completion, total 520.0 km rural roads were upgraded/rehabilitated with much better road conditions
and safety facilities. Meanwhile about 30 km of the branch/feeder roads were added to extend the project
benefits to a wider range. According to the survey, total 817,027 people are benefited by the project roads,
which achieved/exceeded the anticipated target (778,027 people at restructuring).
2. Percent travel time saving on upgraded/improved roads
Before the project, the project roads were narrow or in foot-paths, seriously deteriorated and in poor
conditions. Upon completion, 11 road sections with total 121.8 km were upgraded/improved. On the
completed project roads, the vehicles now may travel at average speeds of 30-50 km/hour, in comparing
with 10-30 km/hour on the original roads. The traveling time on the project roads reduced by at least
Outcome Indicators average 60%, which achieved the targets anticipated at appraisal (40%).
3. Percent travel time savings on rehabilitated roads
Before the project, the project roads were in very poor conditions (some of them had no rehabilitation for
about 10 years) with frequent terminations during raining seasons. Upon completion, 41 road sections with
total 398.2 km were rehabilitated/reconstructed. On the rehabilitated roads, the vehicles now may travel
at average speeds of 30-50 km/hour, in comparing with 20-30 km/hour on the original roads. The traveling
time on the project roads reduced by at least 35%, which exceeded the target anticipated at appraisal (30%).
4. Length of roads served by the maintenance pilot activity
A study on pilot of road maintenance was carried, which led to a RRMMS was developed. Under the pilot
operation of the RRMMS, 259 km of the rural roads in Xifeng County was monitored. Currently, it is planned
that all rural roads with 1,484 km in Xifeng County will be monitored and the data collected will be
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
incorporated in the RRMMS. The length of roads impacted by the maintenance pilot program is much more
than the anticipated target (125 at appraisal, 240 km at restructuring).
1. Roads rehabilitated, Rural
Total 52 sections of the rural roads with total 520.0 km were upgraded/rehabilitated under the project,
including 11 road sections with total 121.8 km were upgraded/improved, and 41 road sections with total
398.2 km were rehabilitated/ reconstructed.
2. Percent of feedback from independent monitors that is addressed (NEW - as per June 2019
restructuring)
Because the rural road maintenance pilot was not able to implement, an alternative indicator to measure
the sustainability was needed. For this purpose, the Intermediate Results Indicator 2 was replaced by “the
Intermediate Results Indicators percent of feedback from independent monitors”. This was defined as the percentage of responses to
requests for routine maintenance improvements from independent monitors using grid monitoring system
that were addressed within ten business days. In 2020, about 90% of the requests from the independent
monitors were responded in Xifeng County, which exceed the target of 80%.
3. Number of trainees who attended training and study tours
Total 157 person-times of the government staff attended the training programs and study tours under the
project, including the trainings organized by the World Bank, domestic trainings and study tour organized
by the GPMO, and two oversea study tours to Vietnam in 2017 and to United Kingdom in 2019. All of these
trainings, study tours, and technical supports have well improved the institutional capacity of rural road
development in Guiyang. The number of trainees exceeded the target of 124 person-times.
Component A: Upgrading/improving county and township roads
Key Outputs by Component
Upon completion, 11 road sections with total 121.7 km were upgraded/improved to at least Class IV with
(linked to the achievement of the
adjusted alignment (shorter distance), asphalt concrete pavements, and substantial safety and drainage
Objective/Outcome 1)
facilities. Among which, one road of 15.4 km was upgraded to a Class II road.
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
Component B: Rehabilitation of county and township roads
Upon completion, 43 road sections with total 398.2 km were rehabilitated/reconstructed with new
pavement and strengthened road furniture. In addition, about 30 km of branch/feeder roads were
improved upon requests from the local government and people, which connect the project roads to nearby
business/social centers and villages. Such branch roads serve as feeders to the project roads and also extend
the project benefits to a wider range.
Component C: Rural road maintenance pilot
A study on the rural road maintenance pilot design was carried out. As suggested by the study, the
subcomponent of the GRRMIS enhancement was dropped. Instead, a Rural Road Monitoring and
Management System (RRMMS) was developed (a computer-based rural road information and maintenance
decision support system), which also uses independent monitors to gather data on road conditions and
communicate it to the authorities. However, the pilot program to test and verify methods of rural road
maintenance, that could improve cost efficiency and efficacy of the rural road maintenance program in
Guiyang, was not implemented due to time constraints.
Component D: Technical assistance (TA)
The technical assistance on rural road network planning was dropped off, since that a key activity under this
subcomponent (the sharing of the rural road network GIS map with third parties) was restricted by local
regulations. Domestic trainings and study tours were conducted, focusing on road project management and
rural road development. Two oversea study tours were conducted, including one to Vietnam in 2017 on
quality contract and community-based maintenance schemes, and one to United Kingdom in 2019 on road
construction and maintenance. All of these trainings and study tours have well improved the institutional
capacity in Guiyang.
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
ANNEX 2. BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION
A. TASK TEAM MEMBERS
Name Role
Preparation
Holly Krambeck Task Team Leader(s)
Jingrong He Procurement Specialist(s)
Fang Zhang Financial Management Specialist
Peishen Wang Team Member
Jun Zeng Social Specialist
Ning Yang Environmental Specialist
Xiaoke Zhai Team Member
Supervision/ICR
Jung Eun Oh, Yuhui Jiao Task Team Leaders
Hongkun Yang Procurement Specialist
Fang Zhang Financial Management Specialist
Limei Sun Team Member
James A. Reichert Team Member
Jingrong He Procurement Specialist
Yan Zhang Procurement Team
Yiren Feng Environmental Specialist
Ning Yang Team Member
Azeb Afework Team Member
Yuan Shao Team Member
Kai Shang Social Specialist
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
B. STAFF TIME AND COST
Staff Time and Cost
Stage of Project Cycle
No. of staff weeks US$ (including travel and consultant costs)
Preparation
FY12 2.600 20,546.52
FY13 18.150 132,272.66
FY14 12.061 140,966.14
FY15 0 0.00
FY16 0 2,281.07
Total 32.81 296,066.39
Supervision/ICR
FY15 12.100 64,565.40
FY16 17.945 78,567.90
FY17 9.675 64,176.37
FY18 10.290 115,336.06
FY19 13.475 116,133.44
FY20 10.550 91,358.69
Total 74.04 530,137.86
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
ANNEX 3. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT
Project Costs and Financing at Appraisal and Actual
(US$ million)
Approved at Appraisal Actual Percentage
Cost Items
Total IBRD Loan Counterpart Total IBRD Loan Counterpart of Approval
I. Base Costs
a. Upgrading/improving county and township roads 92.66 74.05 18.61 68.42 58.07 10.34 73.8%
(1) Upgrading county road to Class II 43.72 30.00 13.72 29.76 22.59 7.17 68.1%
(2) Improving county/township roads to Class IV 48.94 44.05 4.89 38.66 35.48 3.17 79.0%
b. Rehabilitation of county/township roads 56.57 50.91 5.66 85.98 77.59 8.39 152.0%
c. Rural road maintenance 12.00 12.00 0.70 0.30 0.41 5.9%
(1) Development of the rural road maintenance pilot design 0.40 0.40 0.41 0.41 101.7%
(2) Implementation of the rural road maintenance pilot 11.40 11.40 0.0%
(3) Development of the rural road maintenance MIS (Phase II) 0.20 0.20 0.30 0.30 149.0%
d. Capacity building programs 1.00 1.00 0.55 0.55 54.9%
(1) TA on Rural Road Development Planning 0.50 0.50 0.0%
(2) Training and Study Tour 0.50 0.50 0.55 0.55 109.9%
e. Land acquisition and resettlement 36.70 36.70 37.84 37.84 103.1%
f. Construction supervision and implementation monitoring 3.39 3.39 2.78 2.78 82.0%
(1) Construction supervision 2.98 2.98 2.63 2.63 88.2%
(2) External social safeguard monitoring 0.24 0.24 0.06 0.06 25.7%
(3) External environmental monitoring 0.16 0.16 0.09 0.09 53.9%
g. Project preparation and management 9.80 9.80 20.75 20.75 211.7%
(1) Project design and preparation 7.46 7.46 9.38 9.38 125.7%
(2) Project implementation management 2.34 2.34 11.38 11.38 485.5%
Subtotal (I) 212.13 137.96 74.17 217.03 136.51 80.52 102.3%
II. Contingencies
a. Physical contingency 19.09 19.09 0.0%
b. Price contingency 6.36 6.36 0.0%
Subtotal (II) 25.46 25.46 0.0%
III. Financial Charges
a. Front-end fee 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.38 100.0%
b. Interest during construction 12.04 12.04 5.49 5.49 45.5%
Subtotal (III) 12.42 12.04 0.38 5.86 5.86 47.2%
Total (I+II+III) 250.00 150.00 100.00 222.89 142.37 80.52 89.2%
Financing Percentage 60.0% 40.0% 63.9% 36.1%
Source: The World Bank financial information system; the project management office
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
ANNEX 4. ECONOMIC REEVALUATION
The Project
1. The Guiyang Rural Roads Project (the project) was designed to improve the rural roads networks in Guiyang.
Before the project, the project roads were in very bad condition and had not been rehabilitated for about 10 years.
Implemented in three batches, total 520.0 km of rural roads were upgraded/rehabilitated upon completion. The road
upgrading included (i) constructing new roads from footpaths to at least Class IV roads, or (ii) upgrading existing roads
to Class IV or II roads. The road rehabilitation included (i) resurfacing the road pavement, (ii) strengthen drainage and
safety facilities, and/or (iii) reconstructing the roads. In addition, about 30 km of branch/feeder roads were improved,
providing better connection between the project roads and nearby business/social centers and villages. Such branch
roads serve as feeders to the project roads and extend the project benefits to a wider range. The
upgrading/rehabilitation of the project roads have improved the connectivity and mobility in the project areas.
2. After initial delays in implementation, the project was restructured in June 2019, with the closing date extended
by 18 months. While the project implementation was delayed again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all activities of
the restructured project were completed by the end of 2020, the revised closing date. In Batch I, 20 road sections in
total 201.6 km were completed during 2015 (13 sections), 2016 (3 sections), and 2017 (4 sections). In Batch II, one
road section of 15.4 km was reconstructed and upgraded to a Class II road in 2020. In Batch III, 31 road sections in
total 303.0 km were completed during 2018 (1 section), 2019 (17 sections), and 2020 (13 sections).
Traffic Analysis and Forecast
3. Actual traffic counts on the project roads during 2016–2020 were provided by the GMTB. The weighted average
daily traffic on the project roads were 1,119 vehicles in 2016, 1,241 vehicles in 2017, 1,333 vehicles in 2018, 1,435
vehicles in 2019, and 1,490 vehicles in 2020 with the annual increase rates of 11.0% in 2017, 7.4% in 2018, 7.7% in
2019, and 3.8% in 2020. While the actual traffic volumes were at similar levels to the forecast made during appraisal,
growth rates were higher than expected. Based on the observed traffic, the traffic forecast for future years was revised
to average annual increase rates of 6.5% in 2021–2015, 4.9% in 2026–2030, and 3.8% in 2031 and onward.
Project costs
4. Upon completion, the overall project cost was about 10.8% lower than that at appraisal. However, the actual
unit cost per km, in terms RMB, was about 6.6% higher than what estimated at appraisal. The economic analysis was
based on the actual annual investment costs of the project, the actual maintenance costs provided by the GMTB.
Routine maintenance costs range at RMB 7,000–15,000 per km per year; periodical maintenance was assumed to take
place every 5 years at the costs of RMB 0.5–1.0 million per km. The capital costs and maintenance costs were
converted into economic costs by using the conversion factor (0.908) adopted from the project appraisal document.
Economic benefits
5. The main economic benefits come from (i) savings in vehicle operation cost (VOC) due to better road condition,
and (ii) savings in passenger travel time due to faster traveling speed on the project roads. The VOC savings were
calculated using the unit VOC at appraisal: RMB 0.15 per vehicle-kilometer for motorcycles, 0.30 for car/vans, 1.21 for
buses, and 1.76 for trucks. Average passenger vehicle speeds are 40–50 km per hour with the project, compared to
20–30 km per hour without project. The passenger time cost was derived from the rural net income per capita of
Guiyang Municipality in 2019. Other factors, such as average vehicle loads, share of work-related trips, time costs by
different road users, and travel speeds for different types of passenger vehicles, were considered in the analysis. Of
the total benefits, about 62.7 percent come from the VOC savings in 2021. The share of benefits that come from
passenger time cost saving increased from 37.3 percent in 2021 to 45.4 percent in 2030 and 49.7 percent in 2040.
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
EIRR recalculation
6. Based on the assumptions and parameters above, the EIRR was recalculated for a 26-year period (2015–2040),
including 6 years for project implementation and 25 years for operation (with some overlaps of construction and
operation periods). No capital cost was considered as the residual value of the project roads. The EIRR was
recalculated at 17.3% for the project roads. By comparing with that at appraisal (22.6%), the recalculated EIRR is lower
due to mainly higher unit capital cost per km and longer implementation period. However, the EIRR is higher than the
World Bank recommended discount rate of 12% at appraisal. Therefore, the project is still considered economic viable.
The cash flows of the EIRR recalculation is in Table 4.1.
Table 4.1: Economic Reevaluation of the Rural Roads
(RMB million)
Costs Benefits Net
year ENPV
Capital Maintain Total VOC Time Cost Total Benefit
2015 148.95 148.95 -148.95 -262.50
2016 64.54 1.27 65.81 22.90 13.65 36.54 -29.27 -46.05
2017 139.68 1.68 141.35 30.28 18.05 48.33 -93.02 -130.69
2018 380.43 2.71 383.14 48.99 29.20 78.19 -304.95 -382.53
2019 165.15 2.76 167.91 49.95 29.77 79.72 -88.19 -98.77
2020 429.44 4.74 434.18 85.64 51.04 136.68 -297.49 -297.49
2021 14.16 7.08 21.25 128.00 76.29 204.30 183.05 163.44
2022 23.61 7.29 30.90 135.08 84.30 219.38 188.48 150.26
2023 47.21 7.51 54.72 142.58 93.18 235.76 181.03 128.86
2024 47.21 7.74 54.95 150.52 103.02 253.54 198.59 126.21
2025 47.21 7.97 55.18 158.95 113.92 272.87 217.69 123.52
2026 47.21 8.21 55.42 166.54 122.92 289.46 234.04 118.57
2027 47.21 8.46 55.67 174.50 132.64 307.14 251.47 113.75
2028 47.21 8.71 55.92 182.85 143.12 325.97 270.05 109.07
2029 47.21 8.97 56.18 191.60 154.45 346.04 289.86 104.53
2030 47.21 9.24 56.45 200.78 166.67 367.45 311.00 100.13
2031 47.21 9.52 56.73 209.25 176.82 386.08 329.35 94.68
2032 47.21 9.80 57.01 218.11 187.59 405.70 348.68 89.50
2033 47.21 10.10 57.31 227.36 199.01 426.37 369.06 84.58
2034 47.21 10.40 57.61 237.02 211.13 448.16 390.54 79.91
2035 47.21 10.71 57.92 247.12 223.99 471.11 413.18 75.49
2036 47.21 11.03 58.24 257.66 237.63 495.30 437.05 71.29
2037 47.21 11.36 58.58 268.68 252.10 520.79 462.21 67.32
2038 47.21 11.71 58.92 280.20 267.46 547.66 488.74 63.56
2039 47.21 12.06 59.27 292.23 283.75 575.98 516.71 59.99
2040 47.21 12.42 59.63 304.81 301.03 605.83 546.20 56.62
Economic Net Present Value (ENPV): 763.24
Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR): 17.3%
Discount Rate: 12%
EIRR = economic internal rate of return, ENPV = economic net present value, VOC = vehicle operation cost
Source: the World Bank ICR task team
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
7. A sensitivity analysis shows that the project continues to be economically viable under all tested scenarios.
Under the most pessimistic scenario, with maintenance cost 20 percent higher and benefits 20 percent lower, the
EIRR would be still be at 12.9 percent. The sensitivity analysis also showed that the EIRR is more sensitive to changes
in benefits. Therefore, the governments should keep the roads in good condition for attracting and facilitating the
fast-increasing traffic. The results of sensitivity test are in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2: Sensitivity Test of the EIRR for the Project
Tests ENPV@12%
EIRR (%)
Case O&M Cost Benefits (CNY million)
Base Case 17.3% 763.24
+10% 17.1% 724.86
+20% 16.8% 686.47
+100% 14.8% 379.39
+10% 19.2% 1,043.14
+20% 20.9% 1,323.05
-10% 15.5% 483.34
-20% 13.5% 203.44
+10% -10% 15.2% 444.96
+20% -20% 12.9% 126.67
EIRR = economic internal rate of return, ENPV = economic net present value,
O&M = operation and maintenance
Source: the World Bank ICR team
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
ANNEX 5. ENVIRONMENT SAFEGUARDS
1. The project included improvement and rehabilitation of rural roads in Guiyang which would result in benefits
in terms of providing improved access and road conditions to local communities. As the civil works were largely
conducted within the existing right-of-way, the project didn’t involve significant amount of civil works, land
acquisition and resettlement. The main environmental risks were those impacts related to construction stage, e.g.
dust, noise, soil erosion, limited surface vegetation damage along existing roads, wastewater and solid waste, worker
and community safety, traffic disturbance, etc. These impacts would be well-known and could be readily avoided,
minimized, and mitigated through well-known measures and construction management practices. Therefore, the
project was classified as Category B at appraisal stage. Given the common nature of the improvement and
rehabilitation of rural roads, a comprehensive Environmental Code of Practice (ECOP) was prepared at appraisal stage
and approved by the World Bank.
2. During implementation, environmental management system was set up within the GPMO with dedicated staff
responsible for environmental management. The GPMO incorporated the ECOP mitigation measures into the bidding
document for civil works and construction contracts to ensure the implementation. Contractors and supervision
companies were also required to establish environmental management system with dedicated staff. The GPMO
conducted regular supervision to all the construction sites to supervise the project progress, engineering quality and
environmental and social performances.
3. An external environmental monitoring consultant was hired by the GPMO to conduct field environmental
monitoring and environmental completion verification throughout the project implementation process. The
consultant conducted periodic field inspection to all the project roads during construction stage, and identified issues
and provided guidance on corrective actions, and provided external monitoring reports on a semi-annual basis. Based
on the findings of these external reports, the overall environmental performance of the project was generally
satisfactory. Minor issues were occasionally identified on some individual subprojects, mostly related to improper
waste management on-site, lack of cover of bulk material, inadequate safety signage etc. Such findings were
communicated with the GPMO and the contractors in a timely manner, and corrective actions were implemented
immediately to fix these issues.
4. Overall, the environmental management of the project during implementation was satisfactory, and there
were no environmental legacy issues identified up to the project completion.
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
ANNEX 6. SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS
1. Cumulatively, the project acquired 1,757.71 mu of land and demolished 37,313.33 m2 of houses, affecting 3,323
households economically and 148 households physically. The eventual resettlement cost was higher than what was
identified in the RAP, mainly due to project restructuring and design adjustment for slope protection during
construction (see the table below). At project completion, the actual resettlement cost was RMB 161.23 million, 25%
greater than the estimates (RMB 129.31 million) in the RAP prepared in 2016 and 2017.
2. Overall, the resettlement was implemented under strict management and in full consultation with the project
affected people (PAP). The impacted land and properties were surveyed, evaluated, and disclosed, with the
meaningful participation of the PAP. For land acquisition, cash compensation and livelihood restoration measures
were implemented as set out in the RAP and Guizhou provincial regulations on land compensation standards.
Meanwhile, employment training and job employment supports were provided and monitored according to the RAP.
According to the assessment of the external monitoring, the impact of land acquisition to individual households were
very limited, while the improvement of road transportation was significant to the rural residents, especially for
transportation of agricultural products, access to public services (e.g. schools and hospitals). Where house demolition
was involved, options of cash compensation, property swap and replacement houses were made available for people.
As a result, all affected households selected the option of cash compensation in which a third party was involved to
appraise the market value of the houses ensuring the compensation was implemented at replacement cost. In
addition, the households affected by house demolition were also provided with relocation subsidies.
3. There are two major ethnic minority groups in the project area, including the Miao and Buyi ethnic minority
peoples. Dedicated measures were executed to ensure that ethnic minority peoples benefit from the project as much
as possible. For example, several project roads were identified in areas where the minority peoples live; extensive
consultation was required during project design to solicit opinions of the EM people; and provision for job
opportunities to ethnic people and poor people were prioritized.
4. Grievance redress mechanisms were established as planned. There were three types of grievances collected
and addressed, including (i) complaints about the compensation standards and payment process; (ii) requests for
support on livelihood restoration; and (iii) inconvenience of road transportation during the construction period. The
grievances were collected and addressed through the GRM effectively. The public engagement was implemented
throughout the project implementation. Result of related consultation and engagement were disclosed to the public
via websites or onsite disclosure. There were no remaining issues related to the LAR.
5. The project commissioned a professional social institute to conduct external monitoring and evaluation of the
project resettlement. In total of 11 external monitoring reports were submitted to the World Bank through the GPMO.
The monitoring reports consecutively concluded that the project delivered the compensation in full and on time; the
implementation of the RAP improved their living conditions and livelihoods; and they were generally satisfied with
resettlement implementation.
6. The project also generated experiences for managing rural resettlement in Guiyang and beyond. The house
demolition for road construction projects could be minimized in greatest level by comprehensive site survey and
elaborated design, and thus, a significant cost saving was achieved for the local government.
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
RAP Accumulated Changes
Batches Component
2 2
LA (mu) HD (m ) LA (mu) HD (m ) LA (mu) HD (m2)
20 rural road
Batch 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
improvement
1 class 2 road
Batch 2 392.97 11,436 582.71 24,972.93 +189.74 +3,536.93
expansion
16 rural road
0 0 0 0 0 0
improvement
Batch 3
15 rural road
1,316.75 3,600 1,175 12,340.39 -141.75 +8,740.39
expansion
Total 1,709.72 15,036 1,757.71 37,313.33 +47.99 +12,277.33
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
ANNEX 7. BORROWER, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS
1. The Guiyang Rural Road Project was implemented during 2014–2020. Upon completion, total 520.0 km of
rural roads were upgraded/improved/rehabilitated/reconstructed with much better road conditions and safety
facilities. Additionally, about 27.3 km of the branch/feeder roads were added to extend the project benefits to a wider
range. The project roads are located in 8 out 10 districts/counties in Guiyang. According to the annual surveys by the
GPMO, total 817,027 people were benefited by the project roads, including the transporters and the residents living
near the project roads. The improvement of the road condition with reduced travel time and saved vehicle operating
costs has significantly improved accessibility for the population, who can now travel farther distances to markets,
access job opportunities in larger towns/cities, and receive more frequent social and health services. Meanwhile,
some institutional development programs were implemented under the project, which have effectively increased the
sustainability of the rural road development and maintenance in Guiyang. Upon project completion, the Guiyang
Project Management Office (GPMO) prepared and submitted a Borrower’s ICR report to the World Bank (received on
February 9, 2021). The Borrower’s ICR was prepared with no clear comments to the World Bank, but summarized the
following major lessons:
2. Implementation delays. Due to slow land acquisition and resettlement and availability of counterpart funds,
the project implementation experienced initial delays. To catch up on the project progress, the municipal government
strengthened the project management by establishing the required engineering construction directorate, assigning
clear responsibilities for the land acquisition and resettlement activities, and strengthened counterpart fund
management. Such measures ensured timely and quality completion of the project.
3. Counterpart fund availability and management. The project implementation experienced shortage in the
counterpart funds at beginning. To address the counterpart fund issue, it was requested and agreed that the
counterpart fund contributions by the project counties/districts should transfer to the GPMO prior to commencement
of the design work for the proposed road sections in related counties/districts. Then, GPMO disbursed the project
funds to the project counties/districts and contractors according to the progress of the land acquisition and
resettlement and the civil works. Such a mechanism improved overall management of the project funds, the cost
control of the project, and timely completion of the project.
4. Land acquisition and resettlement. The shortage in counterpart funds and slow payments for the land
acquisition and resettlement activities had negative influence on the project progress. Besides applying the
mechanism and measure for the counterpart management, the GPMO also strengthen coordination among related
government agencies at municipal and county levels. It was made clearer that the land acquisition and resettlement
office at county/district level should take the responsibility with the overall coordination by the GPMO. Regular
meetings were conducted among the related parties to resolve any issue occurred. Such strengthened management
and clearer responsibility ensured the progress of the land acquisition and resettlement in later stage of the project
implementation.
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The World Bank
Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401)
ANNEX 8. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
1. The World Bank. November 11, 2019. Country Partnership Framework for the People’s Republic of China for the
Period FY2020–2025. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Finance
Corporation, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.
2. The World Bank. January 31, 2014. Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Loan in the Amount of US$150
Million to the People’s Republic of China for a Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401) . EASCS
3. June 4, 2014. Loan Agreement (Guiyang Rural Road Project) between People’s Republic of China and
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Loan Number 8337-CN.
4. June 4, 2014. Project Agreement (Guiyang Rural Road Project) between International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development and Guizhou Province. Loan Number 8337-CN.
5. The World Bank. December 16, 2020. Preparing an Implementation Completion Report (ICR) for a project
affected by COVID-19.
6. The World Bank. Restructuring Paper on a Proposed Project Restructuring of Guiyang Rural Roads Project,
approved on March 6, 2014 to Guiyang Municipal Government. East Asia and Pacific. Report No. RES34642.
7. The World Bank. Implementation Status & Results Report for Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P129401) in June
2014–May 2020.
8. Mission AMs for Guiyang Rural Roads Project in October 2012–November 2020.
9. The GPMO. Project Progress Reports for Guiyang Rural Roads Project (P124401).
10. Guiyang Municipal Government. February 2021. Project Completion Report: Guiyang Rural Roads Project
(P129401). Guiyang Project Management Office.
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