Civil Engineering January-February 2022 | Vol 30 No 1

Civil Engineering January/February 2022 27 Taivani Consult, JG Afrika’s Ghanaian joint venture partner that is undertaking the geotechnical investigations and site surveys for this project, including hydrology and hydraulic design of the roadway drainage. The firms are joined by Attachy Construction, a Ghanaian contractor, to complete the Construction Entity that was ap- pointed to design, construct and maintain the road network on behalf of the Ghanaian Ministry of Roads and Highways. Notably, this is the first time that the Ghanaian Ministry of Roads and Highways is using the OPBRC model. The ministry decided to experiment with it based on the success of the system in addressing the limitations of traditional road construction contracts in other West African countries, including Liberia. The OPBRC is for the design, rehabilitation, improvement, maintenance and complementary interventions for selected feeder roads and farm tracks in the Upper West Region of Ghana. This project comprises three lots which, together, total more than 670 km. JG Afrika, Taivani Consult and Attachy Construction were awarded Lot 3, consisting of a 225 km network of feeder roads within the Nandom, Lawra and Lambussie Districts. “The initial rehabilitation of and upgrades to the roads in- cludes the installation of streetlights, as well as the construction of sidewalks, bus bays and stopping lanes within selected urban areas. A total of 3.3 km of roads in built-up areas will also be widened and upgraded from gravel surface to paved standards using concrete paving blocks. Moreover, existing culverts and new culverts will be constructed as part of this aspect of the work scope,” says Jangali. “Meanwhile, the maintenance component of the OPBRC includes complementary interventions, such as minor rehabilita- tions and the provision of mechanised boreholes with storage facilities at selected community-based health planning and ser- vice compounds. Periodic maintenance works consist of specific re-graveling activities and emergency works have been included in the network performance component of OPBRC.” Located within the Western Sudan Savanna Zone, the network of feeder roads mainly services agricultural opera- tions. These include, among others, the production of food crops, such as millet, sorghum, maize, cowpea, groundnut, rice and yam. The network traverses a level terrain with an average elevation of 300 m above mean sea level (MSL). With elevations ranging between 180 m and 350 m above MSL, the terrain generally slopes gently towards the Volta River. The lowest areas lie along the Volta Lake. OPBRC MODEL UNPACKED The construction entity is responsible for maintaining the road for three years after the two-year construction phase. In this way, the OPBRC also expands the role of the private sector to the man- agement and conservation of road assets. This is opposed to the traditional role of a contractor which is to only execute the works. Under the conventional contract model, the contractor is incentivised to undertake the maximum amount of works to in- crease its turnover and profits. The contractor is not responsible for the quality of the design of the road for the user – even if it has spent a large sum of money and executed the work according to the contract. This has led to instances where roads have not lasted because of deficiencies in the original design and inad- equate maintenance. During the bidding process, the construction entity proposed a fixed lump-sum price to raise the road to a certain service level and to maintain this standard for a relatively long period. Under the OPBRC, the construction entity does not get paid directly for inputs or physical works. Instead, it is remuner- ated for achieving the specified service level indicators of the OPBRC. This includes rehabilitating the road to pre-defined standards; maintaining certain service levels on the network; and performing specific improvements to the infrastructure. It will receive a monthly lump-sum that covers all the physical and non-physical maintenance that it provides, while unforeseen emergency works will be remunerated separately. The rehabilitation and improvement work, which has been explicitly specified by the Ministry of Roads and Highways in the This is the first time that the Ghanaian Ministry of Roads and Highways is using the OPBRC model “The initial rehabilitation of and upgrades to the roads includes the installation of streetlights, as well as the construction of sidewalks, bus bays and stopping lanes within selected urban areas. A total of 3.3 km of roads in built-up areas will also be widened and upgraded from gravel surface to paved standards using concrete paving blocks. Moreover, existing culverts and new culverts will be constructed as part of this aspect of the work scope”