HJI Group was contracted to provide consulting services for the Heilongjiang Road Network Development Project. This ADB financed project in the PRC sought to improve the road infrastructure in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang in order to link diverse regions in the province and connect them with the prosperity in larger cities of the country via an efficient, safe, and reliable road network. The Heilongjiang project aimed to upgrade 428 km of the Jixi-Nehe provincial road system. The project seeks to link Jixi city in the east with western counties, thereby further establishing a crucial trunk network that connects with others in northeastern China. Special consideration was paid towards the construction, improvement, and maintenance of 170 km of rural linking road networks that join the primary highway network in Heilongjiang. The improved accessibility of goods and services to and from remote, rural areas will help in reducing rural poverty and is an important goal of the project.

Due to the nature of the Project and its broad, vast spectrum of human variables and affected populations, HJI Group was contracted to provide consultation services concerning benefits and impacts. HJI Group’s specialists created an annual monitoring and evaluation report in accordance with ADB’s procedures and requirements that analyzed social and poverty impacts and benefits of the project, estimated social and economic effect of the road-system, and established county, township and village level indicators of poverty and social development for households in each affected area of the project. Using survey techniques and other data collection tools, HJI Group was successful in providing our client detailed and quality information regarding the project’s benefits and impacts.