Improving Transport Project Appraisals
In the Islamic Countries
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standardizing the analysis. And even if guidelines are available, the question remains whether
the guidelines specify all important parameters or only some of them. For example, the discount
rate was found to be defined in only 33% of the cases. A knowledge centre or other similar
platform that provides centralised state-of-the-art knowledge and expertise in transport project
appraisals can assist in breaking this barrier.
3. Capacity issues
From the responses to the questionnaire, it has been found that it is a struggle to have enough
capacity to prepare project appraisals for all transport projects. In order to have high quality
project appraisal reports, it is crucial to have qualified staff that is either able to perform the
appraisal or to review the appraisal when contracted externally. The respondents also raised
the issue of lack of expert personnel to perform demand analysis. The majority of the
respondents also indicated that no training programmes are available to build capacity for
transport project appraisals. The training of public officials in the preparation of project
appraisals at all levels of government is thus an element that can be improved upon by OIC
Member States.
4. No ex-post evaluation
To compare the forecasted with the actual state of the world, an evaluation should be carried
out at the end of the project life or after many years of operation. The goal of an ex-post
evaluation is to check the accuracy of the forecast and to analyse the reasons for any deviations
between ex-ante and ex-post results. Half of the respondents pointed out that ex-post evaluation
of projects is not carried out at all.
The importance of ex-post evaluation lies in the fact that it can constitute a significant learning
mechanism. Retrospective analysis may feed into ex-ante appraisal of future projects, for
instance by limiting optimism bias thanks to an improved collection of project benchmarks and
through an assessment of the conditions under which projects actually delivered expected long-
term effects. Therefore, clear rules on ex-post evaluation may contribute to an increased
effectiveness of project appraisals.