Principal Transport Engineer at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/18/102
Location: Uganda
Grade: PL4
Position N°: 50001231

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization is central to the Bank’s mission of developing the private sector, improving infrastructure and accelerating industrialization.
• The complex main functions are to:
  • Strengthen the enabling environment for private sector [and financial sector] development conducive to inclusive growth and sustainable development,
  • Support the development of reliable and sustainable infrastructure, including cities and urban development, and
  • Place renewed emphasis on industrial and trade performance in support of structural transformation across Africa.
• The Complex leverages knowledge, co-financing, and partnerships to attract private capital and work with governments on delivering the Bank’s development agenda.

The Hiring Department

• The Infrastructure and Urban Development Department (PICU) provides assistance to the Bank Regional Member Countries (RMCs) in the form of loans and grants to finance transport projects and programs; and non-lending knowledge products to formulate and implement transport sector policies and strategies, sector reforms to ensure best practices are mainstreamed in policy, planning, programming, institutional governance, and maintenance and operation.
• The Infrastructure and Urban Development is to foster advancement of infrastructure and cities in Africa by detailed development of appropriate interventions which the Bank might finance on a regional, national or a continent-wide basis.

The Position

• The Principal Transport Engineer is responsible for the Bank's vision for Transport infrastructure and Services, and its future prospective areas of intervention in the sector.
• S/he will contribute to efforts in knowledge management to ensure best practices and lessons learned related to transport development, and institutional/governance approaches are mainstreamed in project design.

The position of Principal Transport Engineer has the following work objectives:

• Act as the Bank's Expert on Transport infrastructure and Services.
• Prepare and implement transport projects in the RMCs
• Strengthen and maintain the Bank's understanding of the Transport sector and its role in the development of the continent
• Mobilize resources for targeted activities in the Bank’s work.
• Advise on future investments in the sector by the Bank and its regional member countries.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Regional Operations Manager (RDGE) and the Manager of the Transport and Logistics Division PICU.1, the incumbent will be required to:

Support the development of policies and strategies for the transport sector within the Bank and in RMCs in consultation with relevant government agencies, development partners, and other stakeholders:

• Advise RMCs on issues pertaining to policy and institutional reforms in the transport sector, especially in the areas of Planning and Programming, transport network development, asset management/maintenance, and Private Sector Participation.
• Participate and contribute to country and regional programming activities (CSP and RISP) and ensure that key sector issues and proposed solutions are adequately reflected in the resultant country/regional programming documents.
• Conduct analytical and sector work to inform and underpin the downstream intervention of the Bank in project and program design in the transport sector.

Provide leadership in the development of a pipeline and lending program for transport projects and programs:

• Lead a multi-disciplinary team of experts as Task Manager in the identification, preparation, and appraisal of complex projects and large scale projects/studies;
• Identify suitable projects for inclusion in the Bank Group lending program in the transport sector and be responsible for the formulation of the project concept note identifying key development issues, project/program objectives, risks assessments, budget and timetables for management decisions;
• Advise member countries on the preparation, organization and execution of feasibility studies and assist in drafting Terms of Reference; review the progress reports of studies; select the components to comprise the eventual project; review and supervise the work of consultants engaged by the Borrowers to the assigned projects/studies;
• Lead the preparation and appraisal of transport projects and programs involving broad planning of resources and techno-judgment of alternative ways of shaping projects towards optimal contribution to development objectives; prepare and process the appraisal report involving detailed assessments of technical aspects, economic and financial feasibility, environmental and social safeguards, fiduciary issues, institutional arrangements, etc.

Provide leadership in monitoring implementation progress of on-going transport projects, programs and technical assistance funded by the Bank:

• Supervise projects; play a key role in following up the progress of projects; supervise and monitor procurement activities for goods, works and services in accordance with Bank’s rules; review the submissions from the Borrowers, including tender lists, bidding documents, bid evaluation reports, award recommendation and contracts documents; study and analyze data submitted by borrower; verify and approve contracts for disbursement of funds;
• Lead or participate in project midterm review missions, sector portfolio review missions and country portfolio review missions and prepare the related reports;
• Lead project completion report mission and collect adequate data for the preparation of the Bank’s project completion-report; advise the Bank Group on lessons derived from the project which will guide future intervention in the sector and the specific countries;
• Manage fiduciary responsibilities including procurement, and ensuring compliance with the Bank guidelines and the provisions of loan/grant agreements.

Participate in sector dialogue and donor coordination activities:

• Advise the regional member countries on Bank’s financing requirements; act as a key person to liaise with government officials and spokesman of the Bank in the transport sector; negotiate sensitive and delicate policy and sector reforms issues with borrowers and other parties
• Coordinate with other development partners and RMCs for consistency of approach, exchange of experiences, and continuous improvement of practices and integration of transport sector policy commitments to the management of projects.
• Collaborate with other development partners in the transport sector for consistency and harmonization of approach, exchange of experience, partnership and co-financing where appropriate.

Serve as technical authority in Transport integrating a broad spectrum of issues:

• Develop and maintain a knowledge base in the transport sector, keeping abreast of the latest developments and issues related to policy and planning, institutional development, design and construction, financing, operation and maintenance, and regulation;
• Contribute to activities for advocacy, dissemination and knowledge building around transport sector issues.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Hold at least a Master's degree (or its equivalent) in Civil or Transportation Engineering or related fields
• Seven (7) years’ experience in the transport sector with proven ability to work on policy, institutional and financing aspects of transport projects, road and other transport infrastructure construction and maintenance, contract management and procurement, planning and programming of capital and maintenance works, knowledge of private sector participation, and the connection to economic development and poverty reduction.
• Be able to apply advanced technical knowledge, skills and expertise in the transport sector to advise and support Project/Country teams and RMCs in policy and institutional development and implementation
• Be able to apply technical skills in a team leadership role to resolve and manage complex issues in relation to transport project/program design and implementation from a broad developmental goal of poverty reduction
• Competence in decision-making, team working and self-motivation.
• Excellent spoken and written English; a working knowledge of French will be advantageous.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); Knowledge of SAP.