A DKK 1.4 billion project to build and renovate roads in Pakistan over the next three years will help develop agriculture in the country's Sind province.
The project, which is being implemented for the Works and Services Department involves building about 100 rural access roads of 5-15 kilometres each and rehabilitating 164 kilometres of provincial highways.As well as helping to alleviate poverty by improving access, the road project is also intended to provide better opportunities for communities to transport locally produced crops by truck rather than by animal-drawn carts.
"One of the challenges facing us is that the road network has a number of medium-sized bridges that are in need of repair, but none of the original design drawings or calculations exist any longer, nor any documentation of repair work carried out since their construction. Essentially, we have to start from scratch in planning repairs and rehabilitation," says COWI project manager Peter S. Christensen.COWI is the leading partner in a consortium with Finnroad from Finland, Louis Berger Group from the USA and five Pakistani partners, who will manage the almost 100 separate contracts that make up the project. The project is one of COWI's longest road projects ever.The vast majority of the work will take place in Pakistan, where COWI has stationed three of its staff. The project is being financed largely by a loan from Asian Development Bank.By Christina Tækker, cht@cowi.com Published: 27.10.2006