Others

Strong project design, including carefully thought-out subproject selection criteria and adequate financial assessments can help reduce the need for scope changes and mitigate the risk of implementation delays. At approval, this project included seven subprojects in five provinces. Four of the seven subprojects were dropped in 2016 and 2017 because of changes in the companies’ investment priorities, changes in management due to the equitization process, and/or insufficient financial capacity.

Continued timely adjustments in tariffs could make projects financially viable. The project financial reevaluation at completion concluded that the project was financially viable subject to continued timely adjustments in tariff. This has legal basis as Decree 124/2011/ND-CP allows WSCs to propose water tariffs in a tariff roadmap, which provincial governments approve. The tariff roadmaps of the participating WSCs included adjustments every two years. However, only one adjustment was made in 2019–2022 due to the impacts of COVID-19.

It will be advisable to nominate alternate participants to training activities in the future. One of the TA’s capacity building activities created an opportunity for two representatives from Kazakhstan to participate in the road maintenance training organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Unfortunately, only one of the nominees was able to participate because personal circumstances prevented the other nominee to travel. The unoptimal use of future opportunities may be prevented by naming alternate participants to future training activities.

Frequent requests for scope changes pose a challenge to smooth and timely TA implementation. The government had been consulted in the design of the TA; however, it made frequent requests to expand or modify the TA scope that, although agreed upon by ADB created a challenge to the smooth implementation and timely delivery of outputs. This contributed to a significant delay in TA completion, from March 2022 to December 2023.

Urban land acquisition in densely populated areas poses significant challenges. Compensation rates may rise during implementation, driven by urbanization rather than project schedules, potentially causing delays beyond the control of the project. Aligning civil engineering procurement with land acquisition progress is essential to prevent contractual disputes. Close collaboration, clear milestones, and effective communication mitigate risks. Establishing a resettlement information system aids in early issue identification, maintaining transparency.

Sufficient time for visa application and domestic approval procedure needs to be taken into consideration for international study tours.

A policy brief, summarizing the key messages and findings from the TA, is an effective tool to facilitate wider replication of the experience and knowledge from the TA, especially when the final TA consultant report is very comprehensive with heavy data.

Virtual events are effective for knowledge sharing in a cost-effective manner, but not so suitable for having dialogue for concrete country actions. Therefore, it is necessary for the use of either modality should consider the purpose and objective of the event.

Effective knowledge transfer requires adaptation to local context and the participation of stakeholders in the design and preparation of the necessary materials and documents.The project supported the development of manuals and guidelines (e.g., corporate plans, landfill operation guidelines, public–private partnership guidelines). However, preparation of the documents had minimal participation from key stakeholders and there was limited communication to explain the documents to intended users.

Border crossing points (BCPs) will risk becoming stranded assets in the face of border disputes and other related issues. BCPs completed under the project have remained closed for traffic since April 2021 following a border dispute between the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. By May 2024, around 10% of the border line with total estimated length of 970 kilometers remained to be delimitated. The countries are determined to complete the process and sign a border agreement within 2024. Until the delimitation is completed, the potential traffic volumes across the borders will remain unknown.