Transport Economist

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Job Description

Project Overview

Millennium Challenge Account-Zambia II (MCA-Z II), with funding from the MCC, is procuring consulting services for selected sections of the T5 road and the R185a/D274 loop road in Zambia. The assignment covers feasibility study, outline design, environmental and social impact assessment and management planning, works procurement support, review of Design-Build contractor documents, and optional construction monitoring and post-construction services under the FIDIC Yellow Book. The Base Period comprises Phases I and II, with Phases III and IV included as options; Phases V and VI cover optional construction monitoring and the defects notification period.

Position Overview

The Transport Economist will lead the economic assessment and prioritization of alternative road-investment options. The role will develop and update cost-benefit analyses, traffic-related economic inputs, performance matrices, sensitivity analyses, and recommendations that support selection of technically feasible and economically viable investments.

*Professional engagement is contingent on project award and client approval.

Responsibilities

• Develop and update cost-benefit analyses for uniform road sections, the T5 road, the loop road, and the overall project, as required.

• Assess monetizable lifecycle costs and benefits, including investment and maintenance costs, vehicle operating costs, time savings, road safety, salvage value, construction disruption, project management, resettlement, and environmental and social mitigation costs.

• Use HDM-4 to forecast infrastructure performance and estimate vehicle operating costs and time savings for with-project and without-project cases.

• Convert financial values to economic values using accepted conversion factors and calculate NPV, economic IRR, and benefit-cost ratio using required discount rates.

• Develop sensitivity analyses for traffic growth, generated and diverted traffic, costs, and other material variables.

• Assess economic benefits of climate-resilient bridges and culverts, including infrastructure-replacement and avoided traffic-disruption benefits.

• Compile quantitative and qualitative non-monetizable impacts and combine them with economic results in a performance matrix.

• Work with traffic, engineering, cost, road-safety, environmental, social, resettlement, and monitoring and evaluation specialists to ensure consistent assumptions and datasets.

• Prepare clear economic-appraisal documentation, model files, tables, and recommendations for the Feasibility Study, Outline Design, and Client decision-making.

Skills & Abilities

• Transport economics, cost-benefit analysis, investment appraisal, and sensitivity analysis.

• Advanced use of HDM-4 and spreadsheet-based economic models.

• Traffic-demand, vehicle-operating-cost, travel-time, road-safety, maintenance, and climate-resilience economics.

• Ability to integrate monetized and non-monetized impacts into defensible investment recommendations.

• Strong quantitative analysis, model documentation, technical writing, and presentation skills.

• Ability to collaborate with multidisciplinary technical and environmental/social teams.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate degree in transport economics or another relevant discipline.

• 10 years of experience on infrastructure-investment projects funded by MCC or similar international organizations.

• Responsibility for the economic appraisal of three inter-urban road-upgrading projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Fluency in English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience applying MCC Economic Appraisal Guidelines and preparing donor-reviewable economic models and templates.

• Experience using HDM-4 for paved and unpaved road investment alternatives in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Experience valuing road-safety, climate-resilience, gender-disaggregated, non-motorized-transport, and wider social or environmental impacts.

• Recent road-sector experience in Zambia or the wider Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

Amount of Travel Required

20% - 40%
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Additional Pay Range Information

CDM Smith is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. This pay range is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels for the geographic location assigned to the position. In addition to geographic location, a candidate’s salary is determined by several other factors including, but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, relevant work experience, skills, required certifications, and education/training.
Additional Compensation

All bonuses at CDM Smith are discretionary and may or may not apply to this position.
Visa Sponsorship Available

No - We are not open to sponsoring for this position
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