South Asia Department

Assisting Bangladesh’s Socio-economic Development in the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector with other Development Partners
A partnership framework agreement [ PDF: 94kb | 16 pages ] was signed last 10 November 2007 by the Government of Bangladesh with five development partners for improving water, wastewater and drainage services in Dhaka and Chittagong. The agreement aims to focus on improving urban services through reforms, financial management improvement, and expanding service delivery. The first phase of this long-term support program is supported by ADB through the $200 million Dhaka Water Supply Sector Development Program (DWSSDP) which targets the improvement of the water supply services in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area.

Sustaining Urban Development in Rajasthan
A US$273 million Investment Program was approved to finance infrastructure investments and capacity development for improving the urban environment. The Program will support

• ongoing reforms for sustainable, efficient, and responsive urban service delivery in 15 initially identified Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Rajasthan
• promote further economic growth and tourism potential

The ongoing assistance has provided significant improvements in the provision of basic urban services as well as provided capacity development to six ULBs in Rajasthan.

Deploying a Support Team for Kathmandu Valley Water Services Operations
Nepal water service sector has been undergoing a major reform to improve its service delivery performance, particularly the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) which will take the responsibility for water services operations in Kathmandu Valley. A US$2.5million advisory technical assistance will be provided to assist the reform process in water service sector for improving management capacity and efficiency of private sector participation A transitional management advisory team is being mobilized and will be fielded to Nepal early 2008 to assist in setting start-up operations, adequate corporate structure and operational platforms as well as providing management support to KUKL.

Addressing Tourism Infrastructure Gap in India
ADB and Government of India began a long-term partnership to strengthen India’s tourism sector. The first ever dedicated assistance on India’s tourism started with a technical assistance [ PDF: 43kb | 16 pages ], aimed at formulating a road map for tourism infrastructure development that is environmentally sustainable, culturally sensitive, socially inclusive, and economically and financially viable. Based on the road map, key areas of tourism infrastructure investment and potential priority projects for ADB’s financing will be identified in 2008.

Supporting Reforms for Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Sector in Sri Lanka
To support reforms in the utilities sector, ADB provides an advisory technical assistance for the Government of Sri Lanka. The assistance will help the Sri Lanka government in reformulating and amending the National Water Supply and Drainage Board Act, and preparing a regulatory guideline with appropriate tariff setting methodologies.

Mainstreaming Public-Private Partnerships in India for Urban Infrastructure Development: Capacity Development for NCRPB
ADB is in action to support enhancing the institutional capabilities of National Capital Region Policy Board (NCRPB), participating State-Level NCR cells and other implementing agencies. The US$2 million grant assistance will focus on improving the business processes and skills in the area of planning for Public-Private Partnerships in urban infrastructure development

Sponsoring the Creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle in Nagpur City: Proposed Nonsovereign Lending
Nagpur Municipal Corporation sets a target to create a special purpose vehicle (SPV) helping and improving the performance of water services, and increasing the coverage of water supply. ADB engages in the process of creating SPV by providing non-sovereign lending for Nagpur Municipal Corporation to partially fund capital expenditure program with 7 project components in the water supply sector.

Clustered City Development Initiative [ PDF: 43kb | 5 pages ]
ADB Urban sector community identifies Clustered Cities Development (CCD) as one of the key emerging areas requiring ADB’s attention for the rapidly urbanizing Asian region. A Flagship Study is ongoing to assess

• the CCD potential for inclusive growth
• strategic framework analyzing the phenomena
• key focus areas of development

SAUD initiates a market analysis covering the South Asia region to spearhead strategic directions of promoting and supporting Clustered Cities development. CCD, if well-coordinated and supported by relevant government agencies, may become effective tools for accelerating economic development with inclusive growth. Accruing the scales of economy is one of the key points.

E-procurement as a Government Tool [ PDF: 27kb | 3 pages ]
Electronic government procurement has proven to produce transparency and significant saving for those countries able to implement them successfully. The Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP) has recently obtained ADB’s approval for use of e-tendering system. Whether this system brings about efficient procurement process depends on the readiness of the parties concerned. And worth mentioning is that e-tendering system is only replacing the procedure, but not the more important role of deciding on the outcome of the selection process.

Workshop on PRC’s Urban Development Experience involving Private Sector
The central government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the local governments of Suzhou and Shenzhen shared best practices in urban planning and development utilizing Private Sector Participation (PSP) schemes. Twenty-one senior urban development policy makers from India participated in the Workshop held in PRC during 8-16 November 2007. At the end of the Workshop, the participants shared learning experience on urban development by contrasting PRC and India’s system. Key policy implications on planning, governance, financing, land as a development financing tool, and inclusive growth were discussed. A paper summarizing key policy action items will be prepared and disseminated.

Knowledge Sharing Workshop between the Greater Mekong Sub-region and the South Asia region. 3-6 December 2007, Vientiane, Lao PDR [ PDF: 25kb | 2 pages ]
The Tourism Working Group and Regional Project Steering Committee of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) have shared the practices and lessons of GMS tourism development projects with South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) participants in view of subregional cooperation. The representatives of SASEC Tourism Working Group and national tourism organizations have participated for discussion.

Presentation: Does citizen engagement improve urban water delivery? Assessing the evidence from Greater Bangalore and Manila. 28 November 2007, Manila [ PDF: 568kb | 16 pages ]
SAUD intern Malini Ranganathan presented her research evaluating the efficacy of grievance redress mechanisms in building accountability for improved access to municipal water. Findings of her study demonstrate that while citizen feedback and engagement are attractive notions, there are critical aspects related to institutional design, relationships of accountability, and linkages that may hinder the ability of service providers to respond effectively to grievances.

Workshops on Mainstreaming Public-Private Partnerships in India’s Urban Sector. 15-16 October 2007, Jaipur and 18-19 October 2007, Hyderabad
ADB and the Commonwealth Secretariat co-organized a series of workshops for cabinet ministers and senior state and municipal officials to discuss capacity development to create an enabling environment for PPPs. Experts from Singapore, Manila and Australia presented successful PPP experiences.

Yi Xu joined SAUD as Urban Development Specialist last September. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Industrial/Electrical Automation and Master of Science in Business Administration from Tianjin (Peiyang) University, PRC. He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management, Engineering Economics and System Engineering from the same university. He is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Senior Economist.

He started his career in 1987 as an officer at Liaoning Provincial Planning Commission in Shenyang, PRC. He had been an independent consultant since December 1996, and for more than 10 years had been conducting comprehensive financial analysis, economic assessments, and institutional strengthening for numerous projects funded by ADB, the European Union and other organizations.

Masayuki Tachiiri joined SAUD as Urban Economist last September. He studied economics and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in econometrics, economic growth and development from the Hitotsubashi University in Japan.

Before joining the ADB, Masa worked for various offices of the Japan Bank International Cooperation (JBIC), starting with its Research Institute, South Asia Operation Department and then the Cairo Resident Mission. He was in-charge of water the supply project in Chittagong, Bangladesh and the wastewater treatment project in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Ricky Barba joined SAUD as Safeguards Specialist last October. A national of the Philippines, he obtained his Master’s degree in Economics from the National University of Singapore and his Bachelor’s degree in Development Economics from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos (UPLB).

Ricky started his career teaching at UPLB in 1991, and while in UPLB was involved in various research projects on poverty and income inequality assessment. From 1995 to 1996, he was a Research Associate for USAID’s Environmental and Natural Resource Accounting Project III. For 11 years, he worked as a consultant for various departments of ADB and since 2004, has assisted SARD in ensuring projects complied with safeguards policies.