Search

Displaying 1 - 15 of 250

Lesson
Delayed implementation of an associated project can seriously affect the success potential of another. This project was critically dependent on the progress of tranche 1 of the Town Electrification Investment Program (TEIP). Specifically, it was to connect 4,500 rural households to the grid being extended under the TEIP tranche 1 project. The grid itself was to be maintained by the hydropower plants being constructed under the tranche 1 project. However, as tranche 1 incurred extensive delays so did this project which took 9 years to be completed versus the planned 3 years.

Project Number: 41504-024
Project Name: Improved Energy Access for Rural Communities
Report Date:
Lesson
Drawing from similar past project experiences, as part of due diligence, will help minimize or avoid cost underestimations. The connection costs under this project were underestimated by 250%, resulting in the project installing only 43% of its planned 4,500 household connections. More thorough due diligence should have been carried out during project preparation, with cost estimates validated by experiences under similar past projects.

Project Number: 41504-024
Project Name: Improved Energy Access for Rural Communities
Report Date:
Lesson
Corporatized public enterprises operating on a cost-recovery basis need government funding support for infrastructure improvements. Provision of government counterpart funding should have been a condition for grant effectiveness. Instead, the executing agency, the Papua New Guinea Power Limited (PPL), partially made funds available for civil works. PPL, as a corporatized enterprise, is mandated to operate on a cost-recovery basis and did not have sufficient funding allocation.

Project Number: 41504-024
Project Name: Improved Energy Access for Rural Communities
Report Date:
Lesson
Alternatives to grid connection should have been considered to electrify more rural poor communities. Inclusion of alternatives that are beneficial to low-usage rural customers, including solar home systems and mini grids, could have expanded project coverage and enhanced its impact.

Project Number: 41504-024
Project Name: Improved Energy Access for Rural Communities
Report Date:
Lesson
It is important to reassess Indicators at midterm. In addition to project review, a reassessment of the performance Indicators at midterm should have led to adjustments in the project design, including targets and implementation timeframes. These would have bolstered the project’s potential for success.

Project Number: 41504-024
Project Name: Improved Energy Access for Rural Communities
Report Date:
Lesson
Equity issues need to be carefully considered and addressed in beneficiary selection and targeting. The potential for political influence in the selection of communities that would benefit from grid connection was identified as a risk. To mitigate this risk, independent consultants were engaged to develop the beneficiary selection criteria, which would eventually stipulate that (i) customers were to be within 250 meters of the transmission line, (ii) construction of the property had to be sound, and (iii) households must have the financial means to pay for the electricity provided.

Project Number: 41504-024
Project Name: Improved Energy Access for Rural Communities
Report Date:
Lesson
Project preparatory and startup activities should be synchronized to avoid wastage of time and resources. The implementation of subprojects in multiple geographic locations and the need to manage the storage of equipment delivered years before installation added to the challenges in managing this project. Furthermore, consultant recruitment was not aligned to implementation progress.

Project Number: 41504-024
Project Name: Improved Energy Access for Rural Communities
Report Date:
Lesson
Properly defining technical parameters ensures successful project implementation. The required equipment for end terminals, estimated to cost $0.5 million, was omitted from the pertinent package; thus the $29.1 million investment was idle. The target annual power generation of 60 gigawatt-hours was an overestimate as it required securing agreements for purchasing 40% of the output of the private sector’s biomass power projects and an optimistic utilization factor of 70% of the run-of-river HPPs.

Project Number: 41504-023
Project Name: Town Electrification Investment Program - Tranche 1
Report Date:
Lesson
More effective utilization of consultants helps improve project implementation. As the international consultants are selected based on the experience and expertise in engineering and project management, they are required to remain in close proximity to the project site and assist in the development and monitoring of project and subproject programs. They have the capacity for assuming a stronger advisory role for a project to be successful.

Project Number: 41504-023
Project Name: Town Electrification Investment Program - Tranche 1
Report Date:
Lesson
Well-formulated baseline data and indicators at appraisal permit more effective monitoring of project performance and achievements. Such benchmark data will help in facilitating the results assessment and improve the PCR’s clarity with respect to the project’s achieved outputs.

Project Number: 43200-024
Project Name: Bridge Replacement for Improved Rural Access Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Greater consideration of the capacity of the executing agency with respect to their investment planning, coordination, and implementation functions, as well as post-investment operation and maintenance activities, is crucial for a sector lending. Under the project, these factors were not adequately assessed in the sector analysis. This absence of sector analysis likely contributed to the low quality of project implementation and pertinent government agencies’ performance.

Project Number: 43200-024
Project Name: Bridge Replacement for Improved Rural Access Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The collection of data on project socioeconomic benefits allows better assessment of a project’s development results. Projects that establish project performance management systems are likely to assess the economic viability and development impacts of road projects more accurately.

Project Number: 40173-043
Project Name: Highlands Region Road Improvement Investment Program - Project 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Better estimation of generated traffic—based on “with-the-project” and “without-the-project” traffic forecasts—helps avoid the overestimation of vehicle operating cost savings. This is also a better approach in cost– benefit analysis and minimizes the overestimation of a project’s economic viability indicator (i.e., EIRR)

Project Number: 40173-043
Project Name: Highlands Region Road Improvement Investment Program - Project 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Weak entrepreneurial skills, lack of financial literacy, and lack of viable projects affect the bankability of potential microfinance clients. Business development skills training primarily aimed at capacity development, skills transfer, financial literacy, and business advice help in enhancing the bankability of clients as well performance and viability of their businesses.

Project Number: 44304-013
Project Name: Microfinance Expansion Project
Report Date:
Lesson
An adequate assessment of institutional implementation capacity during project preparation enables identification of suitable expertise and skills set needed to facilitate project implementation. In country context where there is weak implementation capacity, complex designs with multiple components require experienced experts to enable better quality of project implementation. For example, in selecting the consultant-specialists, rigorous vetting and screening process helps in ensuring that the selected consultant is the most qualified expert for the required technical expertise.

Project Number: 44304-013
Project Name: Microfinance Expansion Project
Report Date: