Challenge

After 14 years of civil war, much of Liberia’s road asset was either destroyed or badly degraded for lack of maintenance, slowing the Republic’s social and economic recovery.

The highway linking Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, with the neighbouring Republic of Guinea is the central route used by mining companies and for transporting goods in and out of the country. To manage the necessary pavement and surfacing reconstruction, the work was divided into two Lots. Lot 1, which is the focus of this profile, included reconstructing 180km of road, replacing two major bridges and installing 390 important culverts.

The client with the World Bank’s support developed a 10-year Output Performance-based Road Contract (OPRC) to provide a flexible framework for outsourcing this work.

Solution

WSP Opus teamed up with Arup Nigeria and South Africa to monitor and supervise the OPRC which was awarded to China Chongqing International Construction Corporation.

WSP Opus’ particular focus involves checking the Contractor’s management plans, designs, auditing the compliance management system and results, and reviewing the Contractor’s post-construction and verification testing records.

WSP Opus also reviews and verifies the Contractor’s periodic progress payments, reviews the annual work programme and prepares monthly reports for the Client detailing construction work progress.  Helping the Client and Contractor resolve corridor management issues including Right of Way clearances and implementing relocation and re-settlement policy requirements are also included in WSP Opus’ responsibilities.

Value

WSP Opus’ rigorous supervision has resulted in a significant improvement in the road asset quality and expected life, thus increasing its estimated value to the Client by USD25M.

WSP Opus’ help with negotiating with the IUU about delays stemming from corridor management issues resulted in the Contractor being allowed additional time to complete this work without imposing financial penalties. This saved about USD3M.

The Force Majeure works suspension following the 2014 Ebola epidemic could also have resulted in financial penalties. However, WSP Opus negotiated a time extension reducing the Contractor’s initial penalty for delaying its work programme from USD20M to USD10M.

WSP Opus is adding further value by training and upskilling three IIU engineers throughout the OPRC and its subsequent maintenance phase.