Independent Evaluation

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Evaluation of ADB’s Support for the Transport Sector in Viet Nam
Completed: 2009

Introduction

This sector assistance program evaluation presents the findings of an independent assessment of ADB support for the transport sector in Viet Nam since 1993. This evaluation forms part of the Viet Nam country assistance program evaluation and will contribute to the subsequent preparation of a new country partnership strategy.

Summary of Findings

This evaluation found that ADB has had a successful program of investments in the roads subsector. The program of support to other transport subsectors has been limited, but successful. With other development partners supporting other subsectors, the overall program of support to the Government for the transport sector is holistic and comprehensive. Overall, the current rapid expansion of funds for transport in Viet Nam needs to be viewed against the risks involved with those funds being channeled through relatively weak institutions to contractors still under the control of the state sector.

The overall rating for the ADB assistance for the Viet Nam transport sector is successful. ADB's top-down rating is successful based on separate assessments of strategic positioning, value addition, and ADB performance. ADB's strategic positioning is rated as high, while value addition is substantial. ADB performance is rated as substantial (on the low side).

The bottom-up assessment is partly successful based on separate assessments of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact. It is rated as relevant, effective, efficient, less likely sustainable and likely to have substantial impact.

Main Lessons

Several lessons need to be taken into account if the broader future program is to succeed and if sustainability is to improve:

• design flexibility—standard designs may not always be appropriate for certain local conditions (for example, in mountainous areas)
• project preparation—length of time from identification to effectiveness needs to be shortened
• underbidding—this problem has left some contractors with insufficient funds for successful implementation
• safeguard harmonization—already agreed to in principle, but needs to be implemented
• institutional strengthening—needs more attention, particularly in light of potentially large increases in future investment flows and a recent incident involving an Ministry of Transport project management unit
• transparency—the use of equitized state-owned enterprises to bid on ADB-funded projects when they may still be effectively under Government control may result in conflicts of interest and has also resulted in some reported cases of underbidding to secure contracts
• capacity analysis—not enough has been done to identify capacity building needs, particularly at the provincial level
• TA ownership—TA could be more demand driven to improve ownership

Recommendations

The evaluation made recommendations in relation to the following strategic areas of ADB's operations:

• In light of expanding transport sector operations, develop a governance plan that will comprehensively address the institution building and organizational changes required to mitigate the risks of the current institutional arrangements.
• Consider providing "real-time" advisory support to Government for new areas of intervention, such as private sector participation in investments.
• Through close cooperation with other development partners, improve the sustainability of projects by gaining Government commitment to maintenance funding.
• Review bidding arrangements to ensure that underbidding does not adversely affect project performance and that transparency is maintained in contracts with the equitized state-owned enterprise sector.
• Reassess current staffing requirements at both ADB headquarters and Viet Nam Resident Mission to ensure that the expanding transport portfolio is appropriately resourced.

Team Leader: Geoffrey Crooks, gcrooks@adb.org
Contact: evaluation@adb.org