Name: Road Consultancy services for ADB TA-8027 (REG: South Asia Road Safety Programs (Phase-I: Kingdom of Bhutan & Nepal)
Name of the Client: Asian Development Bank
Description of Work: Road Consultancy services for ADB TA-8027 (REG: South Asia Road Safety Programs (Phase-I: Kingdom of Bhutan & Nepal)
Scope of work: Road safety in the Asia and Pacific region is recognized as an alarming economic, health, poverty and social development problem. Specifically, it is estimated that ADB‟s developing member countries (DMCs) suffer over 645,000 deaths and 30 million injuries annually due to road accidents, at a cost to the society of around $96 billion per year (more than all development assistance provided). Road deaths are concentrated among vulnerable road users: people from poorer households account for 50% of deaths in Western Asia and the Pacific, and 75% of deaths in South Asia, while 7 out of 10 poor families suffer decreased income after a death or disability.
In Bhutan, around 650 people have been killed on roads over the last decade and the number is growing. The average annual level of fatalities over 2008–2010 was around 56% higher than during 2001–2003 The fatality rate (annual fatalities per 10,000 vehicles) reached about 15 in 2010, which is higher than in most other South Asian countries, and around 7–10 times higher than in Europe and North America. It is predicted that if urgent countermeasures are not taken, the current annual number of deaths will double by 2020 and increase by almost 5 times by 2030.
Specific outputs of the R-CDTA include: i) Road safety diagnosis completed, (ii) Corridors selected and road safety programs on selected corridors prepared, (iii) Road safety management capacity strengthened, (iv) Regional multi-sectoral road safety collaborative mechanism established, (v) Road safety policies and business procedures to incorporate road safety into the lifecycle of roads developed and operationalized, (vi) Sustainable funding arrangements for road safety identified, (vii) South Asia road safety programs (Phase 1) prepared, and (viii) Draft DMFs (blueprints) for subsequent road safety investment projects prepared. Road safety improvement programs will target improvement of road safety for all road users, with an emphasis on vulnerable road user groups.
