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Lesson
Bringing in private sector experience yields efficiency. The eventual full participation of Tianjin Capital Environmental Protection Company (TCEPC) in component A was a good demonstration of private sector participation, particularly in bringing about the required expertise in running a wastewater treatment plant. Aside from the Beicang wastewater treatment plant, TCEPC is also responsible for the operations of three other large-scale wastewater treatment plants in Tianjin.

Project Number: 31190-013
Project Name: Tianjin Wastewater Treatment and Water Resources Protection Project [Loan 1797-PRC]
Report Date:
Lesson
Involving communities in environmental improvements increases their sustainability. The Yuqiao Reservoir subcomponent involved environment improvements to 68 villages. For such community-based subcomponents, community participation and self-management are effective gateways into sustainable implementation and operation. For similar projects, a community participation and self-management booklet should be prepared by villagers under the guidance of the social specialist at the project preparatory or implementation stage.

Project Number: 31190-013
Project Name: Tianjin Wastewater Treatment and Water Resources Protection Project [Loan 1797-PRC]
Report Date:
Lesson
Adequate consultation and better communication with affected people for projects experiencing resettlement issues can reduce implementation delays. Historically, resettlement implemented for the Yuqiao Reservoir occurred in three phases: 1960–1967, 1973, and 1979–1982. It was complex. Delays in the implementation of the resettlement subcomponent of this project could have been mitigated if lessons from the past have been taken into account.

Project Number: 31190-013
Project Name: Tianjin Wastewater Treatment and Water Resources Protection Project [Loan 1797-PRC]
Report Date:
Lesson
A two-pronged approach focusing on developing institutions and training is needed to strengthen agencies. Various trainings were given to the executing and implementing agencies in water supply and wastewater treatment operations. Aside from training, emphasis on developing the institutions, such as review of the overall organization structures and terms of reference of management and staff, would be helpful in further strengthening the EA and IAs.

Project Number: 31190-013
Project Name: Tianjin Wastewater Treatment and Water Resources Protection Project [Loan 1797-PRC]
Report Date:
Lesson
Complementarity of projects and donor coordination would improve operational efficiency. Sewerage construction needs to be fully addressed in the early stage of the project, particularly as it affects the implementation of wastewater treatment operations. Further to this, when the two are implemented by different funding institutions, the need for inter-donor coordination is essential to ensure that project operations and targeted completion are not compromised.

Project Number: 31190-013
Project Name: Tianjin Wastewater Treatment and Water Resources Protection Project [Loan 1797-PRC]
Report Date:
Lesson
Receptiveness for gender development is context specific. During appraisal, one of the benefits identified from the project was to provide employment opportunities to women through the All-China Women’s Federation. At the project’s completion, it was mentioned that women were employed as laborers during construction, and some were given permanent jobs in the IAs. Moreover, there were training opportunities given for skills enhancement. Given the focus on the growing role of women in development, gender equality is inevitably mentioned in ADB projects.

Project Number: 31190-013
Project Name: Tianjin Wastewater Treatment and Water Resources Protection Project [Loan 1797-PRC]
Report Date:
Lesson
Counterpart funding and incentive issues in TA loans. Despite the challenges in project implementation, the project support unit (PSU) and local support unit (LSU) had utilized close to $4 million in counterpart funding, while ADB disbursed only 15% of the TA loan. As a result, the actual split between ADB and the government was 15:85, when the agreement was 70:30. Thus, a key lesson is that there should have been far greater oversight on the utilization of counterpart funds, as the ADB-financed expenditures and activities and overall progress of the TA loan lagged far behind.

Project Number: 38405-013
Project Name: Mega City Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The policy reforms agreed on at appraisal were overshadowed by the broader reform agenda introduced under local government ordinance (LGO) 2001 before project approval. Where major changes occur in the external environment of projects before ADB approval, it is more efficient to revise the project design up front rather than postpone the major adjustments.

Project Number: 27182-013
Project Name: North-West Frontier Province Urban Development Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The project schedule was unrealistic for a complex project that relied heavily on existing capacity and several up-front conditions before the subproject investments. The scheduling of complex sector and policy loan projects has to be improved and streamlined on the basis of actual implementation experience.

Project Number: 27182-013
Project Name: North-West Frontier Province Urban Development Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Problematic shifting of priorities. Continuing problems with government approvals, and constant changes in focus, scope, and direction caused major delays. ADB noted a range of concerns over the continuing delays on the processing of the Project in its previous incarnation, the Karachi Mega City Development Program, after developing the loan proposal to the point of loan negotiations in May 2008.

Project Number: 38405-013
Project Name: Mega City Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The project supported reforms only in the 24 participating tehsil municipal administrations (TMAs). The provincial government was expected to undertake reforms and address capacity gaps in all the other TMAs (52 in all). This arrangement seriously isolated the reform process. Sector loan projects should assess the political will, capacity, and incentives related to policy actions at all levels before building the support and incentives mechanism for reforms.

Project Number: 27182-013
Project Name: North-West Frontier Province Urban Development Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The project design offered flexibility in developing models for community and private sector participation in the delivery of urban services, without providing a clear framework or adequate resources for these activities. Flexibility is important in the design of sector loans, but for this flexibility to be effectively used, additional capacity, a guiding framework, and resources should be included in the sector loan, with supporting technical assistance for project administration to guide the use of the resources.

Project Number: 27182-013
Project Name: North-West Frontier Province Urban Development Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Avoidance of challenging issues. At both government levels (the government of Sindh and City District Government of Karachi or CDGK), there was a systematic avoidance of exposure to and tackling of various governance and institutional issues, as well as reforms required to examine and correct these challenges. Analysis of the few project subcomponents completed illustrates that the government of Sindh and CDGK only implemented easy studies that did not and could not tackle major disputes or issues that might require serious reforms in Karachi.

Project Number: 38405-013
Project Name: Mega City Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The project did not provide market-based salaries. Good staff was therefore hard to retain and turnover was high. This was a major reason for project failure. The overall cost implications of paying professional managers market-based salaries are marginal, especially when the substantial impact of weak capacities on project output and outcomes is considered, as this project demonstrated.

Project Number: 27182-013
Project Name: North-West Frontier Province Urban Development Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Lessons from previous projects. Lessons from two older ADB urban sector loan projects to Karachi in 1986 and 1991, respectively, which were rated unsuccessful and partly successful, include the need for (i) greater attention to sustainability, (ii) enhanced project design based on sound assessments, (iii) careful consideration for institutional shortcomings of executing and implementing agencies, and (iv) greater efforts to address the financial insolvency problems of the Karachi local government bodies.

Project Number: 38405-013
Project Name: Mega City Development Project
Report Date: