We are thrilled to announce that FRED Engineering has been officially awarded a significant new consultancy contract by the World Bank: “Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management for Sustainable Roads in Bolivia”.
This marks a proud milestone for our organization, as it represents our second major project in Bolivia, directly building upon our previous efforts to enhance road safety management and engineering across the country’s transport network. It allows us to seamlessly align our expanding local infrastructure expertise with vital regional safety initiatives.
The Challenge: Climate and Topography in Bolivia
Bolivia’s socio-economic development depends heavily on its road infrastructure. However, the nation faces compounding challenges, including its landlocked position, erratic geography, and extreme vulnerability to climate change. Ranking 10th out of 178 countries on German Watch’s global climate risk index, Bolivia has experienced an increase in average temperature of 1.1°C since the 1970s, precipitating erratic weather patterns characterized by shorter but significantly more intense rainfall.
These intense hydro-meteorological shifts create severe geohazards. Between 1980 and 2020, landslides accounted for over 44% of catastrophic transport events in mountainous areas, while extensive flooding plagued low-lying sectors. For instance, the seasonal floods of 2013-2014 alone damaged approximately 3,000 km of national roads, creating US$67 million in infrastructure losses.
Our Mission: Driving Sustainable, Climate-Resilient Infrastructure
Mobilized by resources from the Japan-World Bank Disaster Risk Management Program through the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), FRED Engineering will deploy a highly specialized multidisciplinary team of international and local experts over the next 12 months (48 weeks).
The primary objective of this assignment is to bolster the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and climate resilience capabilities of Bolivian national transport authorities—such as the Bolivian Road Agency (ABC) and departmental entities (SEDCAMs). Our technical advisory framework will span across five primary tasks:
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Task 0 & 1: Foundation and Global Best Practices – Conducting extensive literature reviews and identifying state-of-the-art climate resilience and hydrological modeling practices tailored specifically to Bolivia’s unique topography.
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Task 2: Road Asset Management Systems (RAMS) Analysis – Evaluating and upgrading existing tracking databases, including ABC’s real-time “Transitabilidad” system, to better incorporate geohazard risk into the infrastructure lifecycle.
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Task 3: Engineering Design Advisory & Inclusivity Frameworks – Enhancing standard design templates and terms of reference to ensure infrastructure withstands extreme weather. Crucially, we will integrate an inclusive framework to evaluate how infrastructure disruptions uniquely affect vulnerable populations, including women, children, and elderly road users.
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Task 4: Comprehensive Capacity Building – Facilitating six in-person training sessions and two collaborative workshops in Spanish to transition our Technical Notes into lasting institutional knowledge for local road agencies.
Synergy and Future Impact
This strategic assignment runs parallel to and will be closely integrated with ongoing World Bank infrastructure investments, including the Road Sector Climate Resilience Project (RSCRP) approved in June 2024. FRED Engineering will ensure that all data and policy insights directly align with established road safety management metrics, generating cohesive and robust frameworks for Bolivia’s sustainable development.
We are deeply honored to continue our partnership with the World Bank, the Government of Bolivia, and the Japan-World Bank DRM program to pave the way for safer, more resilient journeys across the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
