TA implementation could be more challenging due to the involvement of different stakeholders. For future similar TA projects, it is recommended that ADB consider direct financing and independent administration. This will put implementation and consultants’ recruitment under project team control.
Cofinancing expands possible project activities and outputs. Cofinancing from the Financial Sector Development Partnership Special Fund (FSDPSF) for this project allowed a more comprehensive set of deliverables and activities under outputs 1, 3, and 4. It provided flexibility in the use of resources, as FSDPSF beneficiaries are not differentiated according to country categories.
Cofinancing can create conditions for the continued engagement of partners. The TA established partnerships with government agencies, domestic research organizations and universities, and private sector, which helped enrich the project content and developintegrated solutions. The cofinancing from Government of Japan's High-Level Technology (HLT) Fund helped mobilize an international firm with advanced technologies (earth observations and ICT) and good in-country experiences.
Successful resource mobilization is crucial for the implementation of energy projects. The TA experience highlighted the need to identify and gather multiple donors for cofinancing both physical and non-physical investments.
Post-TA financial resources should be sought and considered in order to implement the recommendations made, based on the in-depth diagnostic studies completed for Nepal and Cambodia under the TA. These recommendations will require financial contributions for the effective implementation of an adapted, coherent, transparent, and equitable property tax for all.
Trust funds and cofinancing can play a crucial role in supporting innovation and high-level technology transfer, which may not happen without such support due to limited ADB internal TA funding. Therefore, it is important that project teams pay more attention to effectively promote visibility and raise awareness of cofinancier contribution and support to ADB TAs and projects.
The lack of organizational capacity and requisite implementation skills also weighs heavily against the attainment of project objectives. Another major reason for poor performance of the PNB was its inability to scale up individual subloans through either the Renewable Energy Services Company (RESCO) or demand aggregation of smaller subprojects, be they in the commercial and industrial sector, MSME, or residential sector.
The risks associated with single-tranche loans can be mitigated through proper management of the loan proceeds and control of the project cost. The ADB loan was featured to have a single tranche disbursement arrangement to address currency mismatch and hedge financial risks arising from foreign borrowing. In the early stage of project implementation, the full amount of the ADB loan ($90.8 million) was disbursed as an advance and exchanged to local currency.
It might be useful to develop a climate finance strategy for the state-owned enterprises(SOE) sector, building on the experience and lessons from this program's. Assessment of the fiscal risks associated with climate change was incorporated into subprogram 2. This highlights the significant role SOEs can play in addressing climate change impacts and supporting the countries climate obligations. Given this, it might be useful to establish a climate finance strategy for the SOE sector, building on the experience and lessons from this program.
Additional measures are necessary for the government securities market to stimulate demand from both retail and institutional investors. The program had several supply-based reforms, particularly around the primary dealer system and government bonds; however, turnover velocity was below the target, particularly for the secondary market relating to government securities. This would suggest that additional demand-based measures are as of December 2023 required for the government securities market to stimulate demand from both retail and institutional investors.