Institutional arrangements. The project management office serves a critical coordinating function in executing urban development projects that involve implementing agencies from several sectors. A project management office with strong leadership, experience with ADB procedures, and good communication skills is desirable. The establishment of databases and monitoring mechanisms by each implementing agency early in the project is important. Placing a monitoring specialist and project performance monitoring system within each implementing agency allows for consistent monitoring throughout the project period. Consultant recruitment and procurement. Recruitment of consultants through the use of the quality- and cost-based selection method can take 9-10 months, reducing the time allowed for project preparation. In addition, managing a large number of contracts can increase the coordination challenge for the project management office. The ADB threshold between requiring national competitive bidding and requiring international competitive bidding is very easy to exceed, and international competitive bidding is time-consuming, taking 6-9 months. The international consulting company recruited by the project management office provided consulting services at the early stage of project implementation. It ensured successful procurement, implementation, and payments, as well as timely report submission. In project procurement, bidding document preparation, bidding, bidding evaluation, and contract award progressed smoothly. Early recruitment of consultants and national competitive bidding for contracts can reduce project delays. Resettlement. Although some delays occurred in land acquisition and resettlement, a good consultation process and transparent information disclosure mechanisms helped to build trust and understanding between the different stakeholders. In 2008, Nanning municipal government updated the resettlement regulations, which made the compensation more acceptable to affected persons. The practice of providing commercial land for livelihood restoration based on these regulations was successful and left the affected persons highly satisfied. Allocating commercial land for tertiary industry to affected persons is a good practice for maintaining long-term income sources for affected persons that can be replicated where local regulations permit. The installation of some sewer networks under the Kelijiang River subproject was planned to coincide with the construction of roads scheduled to be built with government financing. The inability of the government to carry out the planned road construction on time due to resettlement problems forced a change in the project's scope. This showed that to avoid scope changes and delays, the risks of undertaking project components whose timely implementation and design are dependent on the schedule and design plans of non-ADB projects should be carefully evaluated during project preparation, and the actual progress on and potential changes in these non-project activities should be carefully monitored. Solid waste tariff covenant. The solid waste tariff increase required for cost recovery was estimated accurately at appraisal, and the increase was made part of a covenant to assure the Nanning Shixi Solid Waste Treatment Company�s financial autonomy. While the tariff was raised in 2007 and 2011, it remained below that set in the covenant and insufficient to ensure cost recovery in the solid waste management operations. The failure to execute the necessary tariff increase was due to the lack of support from relevant government agencies and Nanning municipal government�s concerns about social reaction, affordability, and willingness-to-pay in light of inflation. Cost recovery has not been achieved, Nanning Shixi Solid Waste Treatment Company operations are therefore subsidized by Nanning municipal government budget, and further policy dialogue on the tariff increases is needed to realize full cost recovery and sustainability for solid waste services.
Guangxi Nanning Urban Environmental Upgrading Project