Improving Transport Project Appraisals
In the Islamic Countries
6
Despite the lack of a specific legal provision, project appraisal is often mainstreamed in the
procedures for development of new transport projects in OIC member countries. Apart from the
legal requirement, project appraisal is often a standard step in the development of new
transport projects. Project appraisal will in almost all cases also be carried out for major
transport projects. For smaller-sized transport projects, appraisal may not be carried out. In
most cases, no clear thresholds are provided for which projects appraisal is needed.
Whereas the need to carry out project appraisal is often in place, as illustrated above, a
description of how to carry out project implementation is mostly lacking. Legislation, such as
procurement or PPP law does not provide detailed information on how appraisal should be
carried out, when and with which role it is to play in the decision-making process. Consequently,
projects are being appraised in different ways, with potential high variability among different
public agencies and bodies in charge of planning project and funding.
Governance
In transport project appraisal in OIC member countries, a combination of public and private
sector representatives are involved. In all cases reviewed, the public sector managed the
appraisal process and, in most cases, contracted private consultants for providing supporting
inputs, such as demand studies and feasibility studies.
In the appraisal process, the public sector, depending on the government structure of a country,
is mostly represented by a number of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Transport, the
Ministry of Works (often responsible for roads), the Ministry of Finance and often the Ministry
of Planning. For the larger projects, these entities may be represented in a dedicated Steering
Committee, with decision-making authority, often supported by a Technical Committee, advising
the Steering Committee (see for example the Jordan case). For smaller projects, a more ad-hoc
structure may be followed. In most of the cases, horizontal or sub-sectoral (for different modes)
expertise is mobilised by many different public agencies, in some cases with a relatively high
degree of independence, in planning, funding and implementing specific types of projects. For
example, in KSA the Public Transport Authority regulates the public transportation system
including developing standards and guidelines, but it has no responsibility in implementation.
At the same time, the General Administration for Traffic, under the Ministry of Interior, is
responsible for the operation and control of traffic in Saudi cities. The same applies to Iran,
where a number of organisations affiliated to the Ministry of Road and Urban Development, each
having an internal planning department, are in charge of transport project appraisal.
Appraisal reports are never made available to the general public, but only shared with a number
of stakeholders in the framework of consultation processes.
In some OIC member countries, such as Jordan and Nigeria, a broad range of stakeholders is
involved, often mobilised early in the process to identify project needs. This includes private
sector representatives, often in the form of associations or representative organisations, civil
society organisations and NGOs. In Iran, the stakeholders consultation is rather limited, for
example in the case of Ports and Maritime Organisation the consultation takes place during the