SMALL FARMER MARKET ACCESS LOAN

The project will be implemented by the National Fund for Feeder Road Construction, known as Caminos Vecinales (CV), and will comprise two elements: road construction and maintenance, and institutional strengthening of CV. These activities will be linked to the ongoing Pico y Pala Feeder and Access Road program initiated by the GOC in 1972. A total of 890 km of farm-to-market roads will be built. Roads will be selected for their high internal rate of return and on the basis of potential for increasing agricultural productivity (thus changing the emphasis of the GOC"s Pico y Pala program from employment-generation to agricultural production). Construction work will complement activities now in progress under the GOC"s Integated Rural Development Plan. During construction periods road maintenance activities will be the responsibility of CV. Local studies will be undertaken in order to ascertain what specific measures will be required to maintain the roads in the area. These investigations will also be used to engender community participation. Once roads are in use, CV will subcontract maintenance responsibilties to Department Highway Offices, private contractors, National Highway Offices, and community groups. Institutional improvements will involve the following: A Subproject Selection and Evaluation office will be set within CV to carry out selection and socioeconomic studies of proposed roads and to develop an evaluation mechanism to review the impact of completed roads. To strengthen CV"s design and construction capabilities, CV staff will receive in-country training and make observational exchange visits in other Latin American countries involved in similar activities. Training will be in the areas of road design, maintenance, and construction, environmental effects, and budgetary and cost accounting procedures. Finally, two engineer/economists will assit CV"s evaluation office in evaluating current labor/capital ratios and current road design practices.