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Roads and Transportation Infrastructure

Improving Roads to Reduce Transport Costs in Moldova featured image

Improving Roads to Reduce Transport Costs in Moldova

Read this Evaluation Brief to learn the results of a project from MCC’s Moldova Compact that aimed to rehabilitate a 93 kilometer portion of the national M2 Road, including associated structures such as bridges, drainage systems, and culverts.

  • 4,813
    kilometers of roads that have been contracted for design work
  • 4,281
    kilometers that have been contracted for road works
  • 3,862
    kilometers of roads completed

As of Sep 10, 2024

Safe and reliable roads and other transport investments help reduce barriers to growth and create opportunities for people and communities. Investments in transportation systems advance market-based economic and social opportunities, including employment, high-return producer goods markets, low-cost consumer goods and retail markets, and improved access to public services like healthcare and schools.

Well-maintained transportation infrastructure like roads, airports, bridges, and ports also facilitates local, regional, and international trade, which enables long-term economic growth and encourages private sector investment. With the high cost of transport investments, MCC’s cost-benefit analysis, data-driven decision-making, and partnership with stakeholders is critical to ensure the sustainability of its work in this important sector.

MCC works closely with its partner countries to identify the most binding constraints to economic growth and poverty reduction to determine where to invest. Many partner countries have prioritized transportation infrastructure, and since its founding in 2004, MCC has invested over $3 billion in transportation projects. MCC is one of the leading donors in the transportation sector and is often the lead funder of road programs in our partner countries.

MCC’s transportation investments to-date include 4,773 kilometers of roads that have been contracted for design work, 4,275 kilometers that have been contracted for road works, and over 3,500 kilometers of road works that have been completed in 16 countries worldwide. Over the last decade, MCC has also:

  • Invested in institutional strengthening for road planning and maintenance across five compacts;
  • Reduced the time and cost of travel along road segments in Armenia, El Salvador, Georgia and Honduras as verified by independent evaluations; and,
  • Helped governments implement policy and institutional reforms so they can effectively manage and sustain resources.

Active Programs

Côte d’Ivoire

MCC and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire developed a compact to diversify the country’s economy to boost economic growth. The Abidjan Transport Project within the compact is designed to increase the competitiveness of Abidjan, the country’s economic hub, by improving the mobility of goods and people. The project is expected to include infrastructure investments to improve traffic flow and reduce traffic congestion in central corridors of the city that connects the Port of Abidjan to the north, west, and east. These investments are complemented by policy and institutional reform, including road maintenance and oversight and transport management and planning activities. The project is expected to benefit approximately 8.8 million people over 20 years.

Nepal

Nepal faces extensive economic development challenges, including high transportation costs to move both goods and people. Decades of political transition and the devastating earthquakes of 2015 further compounded Nepal’s development challenges. MCC’s Nepal Compact will address the high cost of transportation, one of the country’s constraints to economic growth, through an investment in road maintenance. The objective of the compact’s Road Maintenance Project is to maintain road quality across the strategic road network. The project will focus on improving Nepal’s road maintenance management and includes an incentive-matching fund to maintain up to 300 kilometers of roads while increasing the Government of Nepal’s budget for road maintenance.