The Asian Development Bank (ADB) released a series of Build Back Better Sector Guides, Volumes 1-6, to provide practical resources for its clients, partners, and staff to enhance climate and disaster resilience of communities, infrastructure, and systems through effective post-disaster assistance.
Volume 1 provides an Overview of the principles and measures relevant to any post-disaster recovery and reconstruction project and can apply to all sectors.
Volume 2, which is the topic of this article, focuses on the transport sector, specifically surface transport such as roads, railways, and bridges—providing an overview of good practices, solutions, and lessons learned for building back better in the sector.
Volume 3 guides BBB in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sectors.
Volume 4 is on Irrigated agriculture, and Volumes 5 and 6 focus on social infrastructure and the power sector, respectively.
ADB’s volume 2 report on Building Back Better in the transport sector in response to disasters also touches on the broader aspects of economic recovery, poverty reduction, green recovery, and sustainable development.
Disaster impacts in Asia and the Pacific
The Asia Pacific region, specifically the developing country members of the ADB, has a higher rate of fatalities from geophysical and extreme weather disasters than any other region.
These disasters are also causing severe and widespread impacts on transport systems, with transport damage and loss accounting for a large share of overall infrastructure sector recovery needs.
The report provides many examples of disasters and their actual costs in Asia and the Pacific. It shows the severity of disasters’ impacts on infrastructure and their widespread effects on the region’s economic and social development. The report highlights the need to improve recovery efforts that incorporate long-term resilience.
This includes Cyclone Pam in 2015, which caused 86 million in infrastructure damage; 55% of this damage was from the transport sector. Fifty-seven million are needed for infrastructure recovery, with transportation accounting for more than half of the total, 63%.
Nepal’s earthquake in 2015 cost 652 million in infrastructure damage; the transport sector accounts for 33% of the cost. Infrastructure recovery from this earthquake is 743 million, of which 38% (282 million) comprises the cost of transportation infrastructure recovery.
Physical damage to transportation can result in cascading problems. It can hinder recovery efforts, limit community access to basic needs and livelihoods, and interrupt supply chains. Hence, building and designing a transportation system based on climate and disaster risk assessment is critical to facilitating and speeding up response and recovery efforts and allowing economic activity to continue.
Also, the reconstruction of transport infrastructure can provide critical employment supporting economic recovery.
ADB’s role in supporting resilient post-disaster recovery and reconstruction in Asia-Pacific
These series of guides on how to build back better aimed at specific sectors are based on principles, measures, and lessons learned from the international BBB literature, a review of over 40 ADB Emergency Assistance Loans (EALs) processed between 2004 and 2021, and consultations with a wide range of ADB staff.
This sector guide, Volume 2, is intended to be read together with Volume 1: Overview, the introductory guide.
After a disaster, ABD can mobilize rapid post-disaster technical support by preparing the post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA), a tailored methodology for analyzing damage, loss, and needs prioritization. The PDNA gathers information on the physical impacts of a disaster, economic and human loss, damages, and the cost of early and long-term recovery, making the PDNA an essential tool for implementing BBB.
Once the recovery and reconstruction requirements have been assessed, ADB can mobilize finance through emergency assistance loans (EALs). ADB’s 2021 Emergency Assistance Loan Policy enables the rapid approval of loans (within 12 weeks) to assist in rebuilding critical assets and restoring economic and governance activity following disasters.
Between 2004 and 2023, developing member countries of the ADB accounted for 55% of global disaster fatalities and 74% of the people affected. During these 20 years, the ADB has provided more than $9.1 billion in financing for emergency assistance loan (EAL) projects related to disasters caused by natural hazards, conflicts, health emergencies, and others. The support from the ADB also aims to ensure a resilient post-disaster recovery and strengthen long-term disaster risk reduction.
Building back better examples
The report includes several examples of transportation projects classified under:
- network planning, integration, and redundancy
- green transport networks
- intelligence transport networks
- resilient structures
- resilient materials selection
- enhanced drainage
- slope stabilization and erosion control, and
- transport sector capacity development.
These projects showcase reasonable practice solutions, considerations, and lessons learned for building back better in the transport sector in various Asia Pacific countries.
Three case examples from the report
Nepal’s Emergency Flood Damage Rehabilitation Project is an example of network planning, integration, and redundancy.
It was instrumental in constructing a permanent bridge over the Koshi River at Chatara, deemed strategically essential to ensure the passageway of the East-West Highway year-round. Construction included an alternative route to safely move people and goods between Nepal’s eastern and western parts in case of future flooding.
Pakistan’s Flood Emergency Reconstruction and Resilience Project is an example of a green transport network design.
Following the 2014 flooding and landslides in Pakistan’s northern regions, roads, and bridges were rehabilitated and rebuilt using nature-based solutions and bioengineering as a slope stabilization technique to reduce the risk of future landslides. Planting road corridors provided a vital post-disaster income opportunity for community members, including women.
ADB’s Uzbekistan: Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Corridor 2 Karakalpakstan Road Project is an example of an intelligence transport network project that incorporates intelligent transport systems (ITS) to provide transport authorities and drivers with real-time information on road conditions (including climate hazards).
An intelligent transport system (ITS) collects and shares real-time data on user traffic, environmental conditions, asset conditions, and network performance to predict future traffic demand and risks. It advises commuters and travelers on avoiding hazards and helps infrastructure asset managers and owners perform adaptive management, operation, and maintenance.
Read the report, ADB’s “Build Back Better Sector Guide Volume 2: Transport”, to learn more about Asian and Pacific case studies.
Source:
Build Back Better Sector Guide Volume 2: Transport. (2024 October). ADB. Retrieved from https://www.adb.org/publications/build-back-better-transport
Build Back Better Sector Guides. (2024, October 22). Relief Web. Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/report/world/build-back-better-sector-guides
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