Skip to main content

Ethics and Financial Integrity in Highway Project Management

Billions of dollars are invested each year in highway construction and maintenance projects across the world. Up to 5% of these funds are estimated to be lost on account of insufficient ethical and financial oversight. Highway Agencies and tendering authorities are particularly at risk. Implementing financial integrity principles stretches public budgets further and is beneficial to the relation with private sector contractors. According to the World Bank, the most common forms of wrongdoing are collusion
June 18, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

Billions of dollars are invested each year in highway construction and maintenance projects across the world. Up to 5% of these funds are estimated to be lost on account of insufficient ethical and financial oversight. Highway Agencies and tendering authorities are particularly at risk. Implementing financial integrity principles stretches public budgets further and is beneficial to the relation with private sector contractors.

According to the 2332 World Bank, the most common forms of wrongdoing are collusion among firms bidding on a project and fraud and corruption in the execution of the resulting contract. Collusion, bribery, kickbacks and overcharging all affect the financial viability of a project. When construction materials are substituted and quality controls bypassed, it is the useful life of the road and the safety of the user which are at stake.
Encouraging ethical project management practices has long been an important topic for the 713 International Road Federation. Taking a further step, 2462 IRF is now offering the first in a series of certified training course dedicated to the issue of fraud & corruption on highway projects
Led by Michael Avery, an international expert in financial integrity on transportation infrastructure projects, the course will describe the extent of fraud and corruption, develop specific risk profiles and detail available internal control instruments. “There is good and bad news”, noted Michael Avery “The bad news is that fraud & corruption exist at all phases of highway development. The good news is that effective tools have now been developed to greatly reduce its impact”. The course will examine practical case studies, apply lessons learned and encourage delegates to develop organisation-level action plans.

Please take a moment to consider the impacts of unethical practices within your industry and sign up for the course by contacting Magid Elabyad at %$Linker: Email 0 0 0 oLinkExternal [email protected] IRF News false mailto:[email protected] true false%>

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The IRF is gearing up for greener road infrastructure
    March 13, 2014
    Prominent new publication reinforces IRF Geneva’s long-standing commitment to making sustainable transport a reality Moving Towards Green Road Infrastructure: Case Studies and Lessons Learned’ is the latest in a series of practical resources developed by IRF Geneva aimed at identifying tangible solutions for encouraging sustainability at every stage of the road infrastructure life cycle. Formally launched last December in the framework of the IRF Geneva Summit ‘Bringing Policy and Practice Together’,
  • High fatality rates around the world
    March 13, 2014
    In 2010, global road traffic injuries resulted in 1.3 million deaths and were the eighth leading cause of death, with 90% of fatal injuries taking place in low- and middle-income countries At the root of this crisis in the developing world are persisting managerial and technical capacity weaknesses. For many fast-motorising countries, fragmented legislation, poorly targeted funding, ineffective institutional leadership, and outdated road engineering practices could all translate into failure to meet road
  • Road accident data management
    July 19, 2012
    IRF Geneva unveils a modern solution for road accident data management. This year's Intertraffic Amsterdam exhibition provided a high-profile backdrop for the launch of RADaR, a pioneering new tablet application developed to facilitate the on-site collection of precise and scientific accident data, primarily by traffic police. Introducing the application to an international audience gathered in the venue’s inaugural Smart Mobility Centre, IRF Geneva's director general, Sibylle Rupprecht, highlighted RADaR's
  • Course for First Responders on How to Provide Trauma Care
    September 15, 2015
    During his recent radio programme “Mann Ki Baat,” Narendra Modi, The Prime Minister of India, expressed concern regarding the road safety situation on Indian roads and the number of lives being lost as a result of traffic accidents. Modi said, “The statistics on road accidents in our country are shocking. There is an accident every minute. And due to road accidents there is a death every four minutes." He further noted that lives can be saved by taking the injured to hospital within the first hour, also kno