EXPERIENCE OF THE
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS ON
JAPANESE OFFICIALDEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE(ODA)Projects initiated by MoPW:- Under the category of Grant Aid forGeneral Projects, and in particular,
economic infrastructures such as
construction of roads, bridges and supplyof construction machinery.
- Within this context, the following two
projects were successfully implemented
under the ODA financing:1. Project for the supply of construction
machinery for road improvement.
Objective: to reinforce the Road Department ofMoPW to accelerate the rehabilitation of roads.
Implementation schedule:- 1995… the GOE submitted application,- 1996… application accepted by the GOJ,
- January 1997… the GOJ entrusted JICA toconduct Basic Design Study (BDS),- July 1997… the BDS was presented to theCabinet of the GOJ,

.... continued- August 1997… BDS endorsed by bothgovernments through exchange of notes,- August 1997… contract agreement fordetailed design, tender assistance andsupervision signed,- December 1997… conducted tenderingand signed contract with suppliers,- March 1998 – March 1999…equipment
delivered to Eritrea.

…. continued
The number of equipment pieces deliveredis 62 in total plus relevant spare parts.
The total project cost was about
USD 9.6 million.

2. Project for the reconstruction andrepair of major bridges• Objective: to replace three old bridges bybuilding modern bridges; and to repair twoothers. All five bridges are located on theAsmara – Massawa Road.

• Implementation Schedule:- 2002… the GOE submitted application;- 2003… application accepted by the GOJ;
- March 2003… the GOJ entrusted JICA toconduct BDS by selecting a consultant;…. continued- July 2004… the BDS was presented to theCabinet of the GOJ;
- August 2004… BDS was endorsed by bothgovernments through exchange of notes;- August 2004… contract agreement for detailed
design, tender assistance and supervision
signed;- February 2005… conducted tendering andsigned contract agreements with contractors;

…. continued- April 2005 – January 2007 … all works
were completed.
New bridges were built at Ghindae (40m),Gahtelai (30m), and Hamasat (35m).
The Dogali Bridge and the Emculu
Bridge were repaired.
The total project cost is about
USD 6.3 million.

Conclusion:• The two projects were successful in termsof meeting their objectives.
• The construction machinery was deployedin building Mendefera – Barentu Road andother national roads.
• Most of the machinery units have been in
operation for almost ten years despite theshortage of spare parts.

…. conclusion• The bridges proved to be of good quality.
The inadequacy posed by the old bridges
with respect to structural and geometricdimensions has been solved.
• The life span of each project was 5 - 6years. The appraisal and study period only
was 3 - 4 years, which is very long.
• On the other hand, the implementation
phase was fast and with no delays.

…. conclusion• The MoPW wishes to continue working
with JICA’s cooperation. However, with thefollowing concerns:a) Infrastructure projects are very expensive
and may not be good candidates for ODA
financing. The information we have is:
projects, whose costs are less than USD
10 million are more preferred for ODA
financing.

…. conclusionb) The life span of the projects usually extends
beyond 5 years. The MoPW prepares three-year
and five-year development plan and desires thatany foreign financed projects be incorporated in
the development plan.
The MoPW future cooperation with JICA will begreatly facilitated if the above mentioned
concerns are taken into account.