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Lesson
Effective institutional arrangements and adequate project management capacity are crucial to project success. At the onset, effective institutional mechanisms and linkages were established to ensure efficient project management andimplementation. Extensive, expanded, and continuingCapacity development through hands-on training, advocacy, and dissemination of knowledge products provided a cohesive approach to ensure that innovative technological solutions to groundwater degradation were effectively addressed and absorbed by stakeholders.

Project Number: 47047-002
Project Name: Shandong Groundwater Protection Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Knowledge gained from projects needs to be shared to optimize benefits. The knowledge developed through the project—the groundwater protection engineering and non engineering measures—would be beneficial if made accessible and promoted to key stakeholders. The recording of data on groundwater mitigation, water reservoirs, river and embankment protection, and wetland benefits should be maintained.

Project Number: 47047-002
Project Name: Shandong Groundwater Protection Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Accurate cost estimates, including for contingencies, and effective utilization of loan savings are critical to the attainment of intended project results and timely financial closing. The actual contract price was lower than the amount estimated because of the inaccuracy of the engineering cost estimate and contingency estimates. Cost savings, however, were effectively utilized through minor changes in the project, further enhancing the achievement of project outcomes and outputs. Eligible expenses should be clarified early on, so as not to delay the project financial closing.

Project Number: 47047-002
Project Name: Shandong Groundwater Protection Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Engineering and non-engineering interventions require cohesive and integrated approaches; hence, long-term planning and consultative processes are required to ensure sustainable development.

Project Number: 47047-002
Project Name: Shandong Groundwater Protection Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Project readiness and advance contractung and retroactive financing facilitate successful and timely project completion. Project readiness—in terms of technical, financial, and safeguards readiness—was effectively undertaken, thereby facilitating smooth project implementation. The use of advance contracting and retroactive financing likewise helped enable the completion of all project activities by the original loan closing date.

Project Number: 47047-002
Project Name: Shandong Groundwater Protection Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Strong commitment of executing and implementing agencies is instrumental to project success. The project target impact was fully aligned with the government’s high priority for sustainable socioeconomic development. The provincial and local governments listed this project under their priority project pipeline and practical projects for civilian affairs. The provincial and project county and city governments provided full support to the project (policy, technical, financial, institutional, social, environmental, etc.) from preparation through post-implementation.

Project Number: 47047-002
Project Name: Shandong Groundwater Protection Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Additional ADB support for safeguard implementation should be anticipated for future projects in which the executing and imoplagencies have no prior experience in ESMS. ADB environmental safeguard support was comprehensive for project preparation but less so for project implementation. This was due to a range of factors, which contributed to reduced guidance for the review of subproject safeguard categorization, draft safeguard documents, and support for the implementing agencies.

Project Number: 47046-002
Project Name: Gansu Featured Agriculture and Financial Services System Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
It is important to examine the rural grassroots performance of financial intermediaries being considered for agricultural financial service projects with a large number of clients. The performance of potential intermediaries for agricultural financial service projects catering to smallholder farmers, cooperatives, and agricultural small and medium enterprises needs to be examined to ensure that intended benefits are not unduly compromised.

Project Number: 47046-002
Project Name: Gansu Featured Agriculture and Financial Services System Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
It would be best for ADB to review all subprojects classified as category B for the environment in all future financial intermediation loans. The ESMS criteria defining the number and types of subprojects to be reviewed by ADB resulted in the submission of only 11 sample subprojects and one IEE to ADB for review. The criteria were originally designed to balance the need for an adequate ADB review and guidance with the practical need to avoid reviewing a very large number of subprojects.

Project Number: 47046-002
Project Name: Gansu Featured Agriculture and Financial Services System Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
It is important for future projects to exhaust options to finance a certified institute to prepare IEEs. The project management office's initiative to use a project implementation consultant to prepare the IEEs for category B subprojects was a pragmatic solution to fulfill ESMS requirements and reduce the financial burden on subborrowers. Nonetheless, this approach may have contributed to the suboptimal quality of the IEEs and added to the consultant’s intended key roles, i.e., project oversight, training, monitoring, and reporting.

Project Number: 47046-002
Project Name: Gansu Featured Agriculture and Financial Services System Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Improved implementation of the ESMS would require complete documentation of the steps being followed and strengthening of linkages with other ADB safeguard measures. Implementation of the ESMS steps for impact assessment, consultation, monitoring, and reporting was less documented than the other steps for screening and categorization in the initial environmental examination (IEE) and safeguard monitoring reports. The COVID-19 health and safety plan was prepared during project implementation, but the ESMS template was not updated to include the plan.

Project Number: 47046-002
Project Name: Gansu Featured Agriculture and Financial Services System Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Effective communication mechanisms enhance project implementation and need to continue beyond project completion. The effective communication mechanisms established by the project management and implementation institutions guaranteed joint efforts to timely find issues, actively communicate and consult with all parties, and seek and adopt effective solutions. After project completion, the relevant institutions should further ensure smooth communication.

Project Number: 47046-002
Project Name: Gansu Featured Agriculture and Financial Services System Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Repeated and progressive training and continuous practice are effective in promoting mastery and proficient use of the environmental and social management system (ESMS). The ESMS was a new concept for the executing and implementing agencies, and its implementation depended on the gradual accumulation of knowledge and experience from learning and practice. The financial intermediaries’ successful incorporation of the ESMS into their business was largely attributable to robust training and practice.

Project Number: 47046-002
Project Name: Gansu Featured Agriculture and Financial Services System Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Making social and Gender action plan (SGAP) an integral part of the ESMS and consultants' deliverables would help ensure its implementation. Guidance and training on the SGAP were provided by ADB’s social development specialist and/or ADB’s social development staff consultant during the ADB review missions. SGAP implementation was made an integral part of the ESMS; in addition, it was included in the terms of reference of social development consultants for the project. Both measures ensured implementation as well as progress monitoring of the SGAP.

Project Number: 47046-002
Project Name: Gansu Featured Agriculture and Financial Services System Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Balanced distribution of project benefits may require the provision of incentives for coverage of less attractive project areas. The beneficiaries of the project were highly concentrated in a few counties. Adequate incentives (e.g., bonus and honor) to the financial intermediaries and county project management offices to implement the project activities in all project counties would have ensured balanced the distribution of project benefits.

Project Number: 47046-002
Project Name: Gansu Featured Agriculture and Financial Services System Development Project
Report Date: