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Lesson
Need for improved and expeditious processing of approvals both within ADB business processes and within the government to avoid delays to approval of variation requests and other procurement matters.

Project Number: 30551-013
Project Name: Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Capital grants are attractive, but should only be given as a reward for good performance. In the first years of the project the DILG offered capital grants for eligible subprojects. These were discontinued in 2005 after the cancellation of the DILG's grant source. After that, many LGUs stopped subproject preparation work because of the (perceived high) costs of ADB loans. The commitment and buy-in of LGUs was weak at times. Many LGUs were more oriented toward grants than the lending facility.

Project Number: 30551-013
Project Name: Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Decentralized projects call for a better PPMS. The scattered nature of investments throughout Mindanao created substantial management challenges of reporting and data management. The disparity and decentralized nature of the subprojects should have made it imperative that the project implement a web-based project performance monitoring system (PPMS) instead of employing traditional narrative reporting methods. A web-based PPMS would have facilitated management and supervision.

Project Number: 30551-013
Project Name: Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
More strategic and participatory planning is desirable. LGU chief executive officers (CEOs) often selected subprojects and made investment decisions on their own rather than on the basis of strategic local development plans. Although the project assisted some LGUs in formulating comprehensive land use plans, it did not succeed in ensuring that such plans are standard tools for investment planning despite an LBP requirement mandating that LGUs possess annual development plans to qualify for loan approval.

Project Number: 30551-013
Project Name: Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
A single executing agency could have simplified implementation. The report and recommendation of the president (RRP) and the loan agreement both established an unnecessary overlap of functions between LBP and the DILG. This could have been avoided through a more straightforward and functional separation of roles: LBP to implement Part A, and the DILG to limit its role to Part B. The existence of two executing agencies under the project should have been avoided.

Project Number: 30551-013
Project Name: Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Revenue-earning subprojects were favored. Many of the implemented subprojects e.g. public markets, public transport terminals, and water supply schemes are good revenue earners or have the potential to be good revenue earners. These subprojects provide essential economic and environmental benefits that will have long-lasting positive impacts. It is expected that most of these investments will be sustainable and will lead to further related investments to expand infrastructure networks.

Project Number: 30551-013
Project Name: Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The value of capacity development. Although not easily measurable in terms of monetary impacts and outcomes, capacity development support made an important contribution to the project. The investment of $6 million through an Nordic Development Fund (NDF) loan to the DILG was an unprecedented engagement in favor of LGUs; this amount was augmented with a substantial in-kind operational counterpart contribution by the DILG.

Project Number: 30551-013
Project Name: Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Participating local government units (LGUs) obtained several benefits. The project generated strong interest among LGUs. Most LGUs appreciated the loan terms (particularly the fixed long-term nature of ADB funds) and the assistance and services provided by the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). LGUs also appreciated receiving assistance in modernized governance systems, including assistance in rationalized planning (comprehensive development plans), property tax administration, and revenue enhancement.

Project Number: 30551-013
Project Name: Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
LGUs see banking requirements as too tedious. Despite various introductory workshops, some LGUs kept complaining about the documentation requirements. The assistance of DILG and its consultants has helped ease their concerns, but LGUs reported that at times they felt like they were being forced into compliance with procedures that other official development assistance (ODA) providers (like Japan Bank for International Cooperation) had already relaxed. Both ADB and LBP procedures could have been simplified to better bond LGU customers with the project.

Project Number: 30551-013
Project Name: Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The program required the cooperation of a large number of government agencies, while responsibility for implementation was given to the newly established Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, without a well-established mandate or political influence. Without high-level political support, coordination became difficult and program outcomes were not achieved. When the responsibility for project implementation was delegated to sector agencies, it became more effective.

Project Number: 30308-013
Project Name: Pasig River Environmental Management and Rehabilitation Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The program was overly ambitious in its scope and in its implementation structure. Only after modification of the scope and implementation arrangements was progress made. This could have been avoided, had a proper risk assessment and risk mitigation plan been prepared, based on the lessons learned from the previous program. Although the Pasig River Development Plan provided a good framework for the implementation of environmental improvement projects, more and longer-term assistance is required to establish the institutional setting for its effective implementation.

Project Number: 30308-013
Project Name: Pasig River Environmental Management and Rehabilitation Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Because the government had already purchased most of the housing prior to ADB loan approval, it could not be financed by the loan. ADB funds were therefore directed toward facilities. If ADB had not been involved in the project, the host communities would have received these community facilities much later and they would probably have been of a lower quality.

Project Number: 30308-013
Project Name: Pasig River Environmental Management and Rehabilitation Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The technical assistance contributed substantially to achieving the policy reforms envisaged under the policy loan, but longer-term and more focused assistance will be required since: (i) as a new agency, the PRRC has limited capacity to drive policy reforms; (ii) policy change requires skills, effective institutional incentives and culture change; (iii) the program is ambitious and multi-faceted, encompassing a wide range of stakeholders with a variety of interests, not necessarily linked to the policy agenda.

Project Number: 30308-013
Project Name: Pasig River Environmental Management and Rehabilitation Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The program assumed that by implementing the policy framework the government would have the tools and capacity to implement the full Pasig River Development Plan (PRDP), leading to the overall objective of improving the Pasig River water quality to class C level by 2014. However, the outputs of the policy loan covered only part of the implementation activities of the PRDP, and therefore it should have been clear from the start that the overall objective was not attainable.

Project Number: 30308-013
Project Name: Pasig River Environmental Management and Rehabilitation Sector Development Program
Report Date: