Michel Démarre, Chair of CICA Working Group on Well-Prepared Projects, also chairs PIARC Taskforce 1.3 on Well-Prepared Projects in LMICs (Low and Middle-Income Countries). PIARC is the World Road Association (www.piarc.org).

TF 1.3 joined PIARC Technical Committee on Asset Management for an International Seminar on the Performance-based Asset Management of Land Transport Infrastructure and Services for Sustainable Development, which took place in Dakar (Senegal) from 7 to 9 March 2023. The seminar was jointly organized by the Directorate of Roads in Senegal, the Association of Alumni of “Ecole Polytechnique de Thiès” and PIARC.

This was a great opportunity to discuss the main issues faced by LMICs in preparing their road projects. In addition to capacity building of their road administrations, LMICs experience difficulties in financing increasingly complex preliminary studies, which have to consider climate change impacts and the need for increased resilience of their road networks. In this endeavour, they should get help from Development Banks, that have committed to align their investments to the Paris Agreement as of 2023.