Countries and Regions

	Table of Contents
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: Uzbekistan

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Portfolio Management Issues

A. Portfolio Performance

27. From the start of assistance in 1996 up to 2003, ADB approved 17 loans amounting to $774.7 million from OCR and $20 million from ADF. During the same period, ADB provided TA amounting to $27.2 million for 51 projects. The disbursement ratio increased from 9.9% in 2002 to 11.5% in 2003, although it remained lower than the ADB-wide average of 20.2%. The contract award ratio increased to 13.5% in 2003 from 11.4% in 2002. The share of the number of projects classified “at risk” was 21.4% in December 2003 against the ADB-wide average of 14.5%.

28. Significant steps toward improvement of portfolio performance have been taken since the last CSPU, most importantly the regular portfolio working group meetings held between the government counterpart agency, the Department of External Economic Relations and Foreign Investments, the Cabinet of Ministers, and URM. Nevertheless, several major issues remain, including:

1. Start-up performance. Problems typically arise due to the time taken for all involved parties to sign the government resolution for project implementation and the protracted process of fulfilling the conditions of loan effectiveness, such as engagement of consultants and appointment of key project implementation unit staff.
2. Contract awards and disbursements. The Government has occasionally rejected contract prices and sought renegotiation after the contracts have been approved by ADB.
3. Implementation capacity. Issues related to selection and remuneration of project implementation unit staff, counterpart agencies' lack of familiarity with ADB procedures, weak interagency coordination, and lack of delegation of administrative authority among both the executing agencies and partner agencies, need to be addressed to improve implementation capacity.

These issues affecting portfolio performance have implications for Uzbekistan's absorptive capacity of ADB assistance. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the ADB's country portfolio review mission signed on November 2003 has developed an action plan to address these and other portfolio issues. The Government has been working closely with URM to address outstanding issues.

B. Performance Monitoring and Evaluation

29. With ADB's now stronger emphasis on results-based CSPs, it will be ensured that monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are an important component of the next CSP. ADB will also cooperate with other development partners in Uzbekistan to support capacity building of national M&E systems. Indeed, the LSS recognizes that monitoring and evaluation (M&E) will be essential to managing the quality of LSS implementation. While providing a preliminary list of performance indicators, the LSS indicates that the list will be improved taking into account the country-specific MDGs to be developed for Uzbekistan. Since ADB's portfolio is relatively young, only one project completion report and two technical assistance program reviews are available to date; no loan projects have been post-evaluated.