Environmental

The need to obtain varioushe need to obtain various forest and wildlife clearances should be considered at project planning and replanning stages. Processing of forest and wildlife clearances led to some delays in project implementation. The requirements for this should have been considered during the original planning stage and while processing the scope changes, with timeline extensions likewise considered to address the lengthy process of obtaining these clearances in India.

It is important to engage suitable safeguards experts to ensure that high-quality reassessments are undertaken to align safeguards implementation to changes in the project scope. Changes in scope are common in the implementation of large power transmission projects and timely updating of all relevant project documents to reflect and address such changes is necessary. In this project, scope changes were made especially to utilize the large loan savings that resulted from the overestimation of the project costs at appraisal.

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.

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.

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.

ADB’s Safeguard Policy Statement (2009) fits well with the RBL modality with comprehensive due diligence review conducted at appraisal and adequate action items integrated into a program action plan and implemented accordingly. The external resettlement Monitoring and evaluation arrangement proved essential to ensure implementation of the proposed actions and to assess the income and livelihood restoration of affected people.

Support from experts in safeguards, financial management, procurement, and other aspects was necessary to implement this first RBL in the country. Although the overall fiduciary system of the program was sound, some schools had weak capacity and needed extra support during program implementation.

Procurement of works and recruitment of consultants followed due process and were completed on time. The contract award was synchronized with loan effectiveness and civil works commenced on time. Payment of small amounts to affected persons was a challenging task that is still ongoing. The prompt establishment of the project
implementation unit and lessons from tranche 1, particularly regarding LARP implementation, contributed to the smooth startup of construction activities.

To help deal with the complexities of land acquisition and meet ADB’s safeguard requirement of payment before construction, linear greenfield projects such as M–4 should benefit from good practices learned in other projects involving multiple federal and provincial agencies in the land acquisition process. Future project designs could consider a pragmatic approach to the complexities of land acquisition and payment of compensation at the early stages of land acquisition, specifically at the time the executing agency is issued the notice to proceed.

Enhanced project readiness filters need to be applied to future projects to minimize or avoid the challenges encountered in this project, which commonly occur in
infrastructure projects. These challenges included (i) insufficient construction equipment at the work sites; (ii) contractors’ chronic working capital shortages; (iii) non-payment of local contractors and/or suppliers, resulting in shortages (e.g., of materials and fuel); and (iv) a lack of capacity for efficient project management