The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Government of Nepal established a Compact to fund the Electricity Transmission Project (ETP) and the Road Maintenance Project (RMP). Under the RMP, this project provided Technical Assistance (TA) to the Department of Roads (DoR) and Roads Board Nepal (RBN) to improve road maintenance planning, assessment, and implementation across the Strategic Road Network (SRN). The primary objective was to maintain road quality, avoid early pavement deterioration, and reduce vehicle operating costs through evidence-based maintenance strategies and improved data collection.

The project outputs focused on delivering an independently calibrated HDM-4 pavement deterioration model, establishing improved road data collection techniques, and developing a comprehensive Pavement Preservation and Rehabilitation Manual. Furthermore, the project focused on integrating new, climate-resilient pavement technologies, specifically Full Depth Reclamation (FDR), Superpave mix design, and asphalt milling into Nepal’s institutional framework. Crucially, these technical outputs were designed to feed directly into and modernize DoR's Road Asset Management System (RAMS) and Highway Management Information System (HMIS). By integrating advanced data collection, automated traffic analytics, and HDM-4 modeling outputs into the RAMS framework, the project enabled the formulation of data-driven, multi-year maintenance plans driven by life-cycle cost analysis and economic justification.

• Mobilized the project team and submitted the Inception Report, detailing the three-level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), updated methodology, and comprehensive Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) procedures.
• Conducted a situational awareness assessment of the SRN, evaluating current pavement management practices, data collection methods, and hardware/software needs to modernize the Highway Management Information System (HMIS).
• Developed a Stakeholder Engagement Plan aligned with IFC Performance Standards, mapping relevant stakeholders across DoR, RBN, the Institute of Engineering (IoE), and the private sector to ensure institutional ownership.
• Amended the DoR Pavement Distress Identification Manual to align with HDM-4 protocols, incorporating diagnostic testing methods, threshold limits, and standardized data collection procedures for identifying root causes of pavement deterioration.
• Performed a Level III calibration of the HDM-4 pavement deterioration models for roughness, rutting, and cracking, utilizing local traffic loading data, subgrade properties, and climate-resilient parameters specific to Nepal.
• Delivered technical workshops and produced a Technology Adoption Roadmap to facilitate public and private sector adoption of new pavement technologies, including FDR with cement stabilization, Superpave asphalt, and pavement milling.
• Authored the comprehensive Pavement Preservation and Rehabilitation Manual, integrating life-cycle cost analysis, environmental and social safeguards, occupational health and safety (OHS) protocols, and performance-based specifications.
• Integrated pavement distress aspects, deterioration models, budget scenarios, and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods directly into DoR’s Road Asset Management System (RAMS), linking GIS-based visualization tools with HDM-4 outputs for real-time decision dashboards.
• Designed and executed a competency-based training curriculum for approximately 200 participants from public agencies, private contractors, and academia using blended learning formats, and created a digital learning repository for sustained institutional use.
• Conducted an economic analysis of alternative funding sources for pavement preservation and developed high-level decision dashboards to visualize SRN asset values and funding scenarios for policymakers.
• Provided technical assistance to DoR and RBN to operationalize an improved Pavement Management System (PMS), producing a 5-year investment prioritization plan based on mechanistic-empirical testing and HDM-4 outputs.
• Supported the project's Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework by reviewing project logic diagrams, setting indicator baselines, tracking training attendance disaggregated by gender, and developing rubrics for external evaluation.
• Executed Option Period tasks, including a scientifically designed Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) survey targeting diverse road users to justify additional road maintenance levies and recommend sustainable funding mechanisms.
• Delivered monthly progress presentations, special reports, and the Final Technical Assistance Report synthesizing all HDM-4 calibration files, updated fatigue curves, and investment simulations to ensure a complete knowledge transfer to local road agencies.