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Effective operation and maintenance are essential to preserving municipal assets and ensuring the sustainability of public services. Recognizing this, the Municipal Development Program (MDP) included the implementation of an Operation and Maintenance (O&M) System as one of its key institutional capacity-building initiatives.
As one of the municipalities participating in the first phase of the Municipal Development Program, Gaza Municipality adopted the system to strengthen the planning and management of its infrastructure assets. Beyond improving administrative procedures, the system enabled the municipality to optimize maintenance planning, prioritize investments, and make more efficient use of its limited financial resources.
Through the support of the Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF), Gaza Municipality received technical assistance to establish a comprehensive database for roads and public buildings, update infrastructure information, manage maintenance activities, and prepare evidence-based maintenance plans.
The system enables municipal engineers to assess the condition of roads and public buildings, prioritize maintenance needs according to available budgets, and develop annual maintenance plans based on objective technical data rather than individual judgment.
For a municipality the size of Gaza—the largest city in Palestine and home to hundreds of thousands of residents—this represented a significant technological advancement. Previously, updating road condition data required extensive manual effort and relied heavily on staff experience, making the process both time-consuming and less efficient.
Recognizing these challenges, the Engineering Department's Technical Division worked to maximize the system's capabilities by introducing several innovative enhancements.
The municipality integrated the database with the Global Positioning System (GPS), allowing every road segment to be accurately mapped. In addition, a mobile application was developed for field engineers, enabling them to record road conditions on-site and upload updates instantly. Through an Application Programming Interface (API), the collected data is automatically synchronized with the Operation and Maintenance System, significantly accelerating data processing and improving the calculation of the Pavement Condition Index (PCI).
According to Eng. Alaa Al-Batarki, the implementation of the system has transformed road asset management within Gaza Municipality.
"The success of the system lies not only in the technology itself, but also in the municipality's commitment to maximizing its potential. Today, data is exchanged automatically and efficiently, enabling us to identify maintenance priorities more accurately, allocate resources more effectively, and continuously update road conditions based on maintenance activities carried out every day."
Today, Gaza Municipality has become a leading example in infrastructure asset management. Its experience demonstrates how digital transformation can strengthen municipal performance, improve planning and resource management, and support more sustainable public service delivery.
The successful implementation of the Operation and Maintenance System has also become a model for other municipalities seeking to modernize their maintenance practices, preserve public assets, and improve the quality and sustainability of municipal services.