Regions and Countries

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p. 3 of 4 BACK | NEXT I. Current Development Trends and Issues II. Implementation of the Country Strategy and Program III. Portfolio Management Issues IV. Country Performance and Assistance Levels

Country Strategy and Program Update 2005-2006: Tajikistan

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III. Portfolio Management Issues

A. Portfolio Performance

21. Since Tajikistan became a member of ADB in 1998, 15 loans have been approved amounting to about $210.9 million. All of these loans were provided at concessional terms from the ADF. As of 31 December 2003, 13 of the 15 loans approved for Tajikistan were at various stages of implementation. Total disbursement and contract award amounted to $53.9 million and $70.2 million respectively, as of end-2003. The general performance of the Tajikistan portfolio is satisfactory. Of the 13 active loans in portfolio, one loan-for the Regional Power Transmission Modernization Project (Loan 1977) or 7.7% of the portfolio-is rated unsatisfactory, compared with 14.5% for ADB as a whole (Appendix 1, Table A1.6). The unsatisfactory status of Loan 1977 is mainly due to the prolonged bilateral negotiations on the Power Trade Relations Agreement, the pace of which is not always under the control of Tajikistan (para. 16).

B. Performance Monitoring and Evaluation

22. The first postevaluation study in Tajikistan for the Post-Conflict Infrastructure Program (Loan 1651)¹⁴ began with a country mission in July 2004. The 2004 country portfolio review mission conducted the first country portfolio review for Tajikistan. Part of the review was conducted in cooperation with the World Bank as a joint review exercise (para. 19). The mission noted that while a number of loans for emergency assistance and policy reform program are closing and phasing out of the portfolio soon, most new loans coming into the portfolio are provided for development projects that have much longer implementation periods. Given an average loan age of 1.4 years of the loans in the portfolio, this indicates that most of the loans in the portfolio are still at an early stage of implementation and many challenges for portfolio management are yet to arise alongside the further expansion and diversification of the portfolio. Timely actions are needed to help the Government establish the institutional capacity to improve portfolio management. With the World Bank through the joint review exercise, an action plan has been developed and agreed to with the Government so as to improve portfolio performance with special emphasis on reducing start-up delays, undertaking periodic portfolio monitoring through the Tajikistan Resident Mission, and establishing an institutional focal point at the Aid Coordination Unit under the Office of the President to provide oversight of portfolio management. A new TA for improving aid coordination and portfolio management has been included in the TA program for 2004 (para.10).

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