Pakistan : Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Program - Tranche 2

Sovereign Project | 37220-033

The project focuses on priority infrastructure identified by North Sindh Urban Services Corporation Ltd (NSUSC) based on existing master plans and ongoing master planning exercise in Ghotki, Jacobabad, Khairpur, New Sukkur, Rohri, and Shikarpur.

Project Details

  • Project Officer
    Shafi, Mian S.
    Central and West Asia Department
    Request for information
  • Country/Economy
    Pakistan
  • Modality
  • Sector
    • Water and other urban infrastructure and services
Project Name Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Program - Tranche 2
Project Number 37220-033
Country / Economy Pakistan
Project Status Closed
Project Type / Modality of Assistance Loan
Source of Funding / Amount
Loan 2975-PAK: Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Program - Tranche 2
Ordinary capital resources US$ 25.10 million
Loan 2976-PAK: Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Program Tranche 2
Asian Development Fund US$ 74.00 million
Strategic Agendas Environmentally sustainable growth
Inclusive economic growth
Drivers of Change Gender Equity and Mainstreaming
Governance and capacity development
Private sector development
Sector / Subsector

Finance / Inclusive finance

Water and other urban infrastructure and services / Urban policy, institutional and capacity development - Urban sewerage - Urban solid waste management - Urban water supply

Gender Effective gender mainstreaming
Description The project focuses on priority infrastructure identified by North Sindh Urban Services Corporation Ltd (NSUSC) based on existing master plans and ongoing master planning exercise in Ghotki, Jacobabad, Khairpur, New Sukkur, Rohri, and Shikarpur.
Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy

The combination of physical and non-physical investments under the Program aim to improve quality, continuity and coverage of urban infrastructure services in water supply, wastewater and SWM, while incentivising and supporting effective management and sustainable financing of urban service providers. This in turn should help improve quality of life for residents in provincial cities, including the poor, and address growing regional development imbalances within the project area.

Impact

Improved health, quality of life in and eocnomic competitiveness of participating towns

Project Outcome
Description of Outcome

Increased quality, reliability, and coverage of water supply, wastewater, and solid waste management services in participating towns

Progress Toward Outcome The Project physically closed on 31 August 2017 as per original schedule. However, the project outcomes will not been achieved because the project could not deliver the planned outputs.
Implementation Progress
Description of Project Outputs

NSUSC provides effective and more sustainable services in participating towns

More informed urban policies and planning

Timely and transparent operations support funding for NSUSC to cover eligible shortfall

Improved water supply, wastewater and solid waste management services in participating towns

Management structure and capacity for WSS operations improved

Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues)

The loan closing date passed on 31 August 2017, and the Project stand physically closed on the same date. The winding up period was extended for three months, until 31 March 2018 for; (i) payments of all eligible expenditure for the work done until the loan closing date of 31 August 2017, and (ii) full liquidation of the imprest advance, and closing the loan accounts in ADB books of accounts.

Implementation Challenges:

The Project has historically been facing many implementation challenges. The issues mainly stemmed out of; (i) lack of political commitment to implement the project as per originally design, (ii) lack of ownership of the Project within the Sindh bureaucracy , (iii) too much politicization of Board of Directors (BOD) of the North Sindh Urban Services Corporation (NSUSC) - the implementation agency of the Project, (iii) NSUSC's inability to deal with its negative image within the policy makers and general public, (iv) lack of professionalism and corporate culture within the NSUSC, and (v) lack of effective leadership skills within the NSUSC's management.

Procurement of Works and Goods:

The Project could only award one civil works contract though international competitive bidding, (for Sukkur Water supply Intake), 10 goods contract for procurement of solid waste, and waste water disposal equipment (one through International competitive bidding, and nine through shopping).

Hiring of Consultants:

Three consulting firms were hired under the Project. One (Independent Verifier) by the Project support Unit in PnD, Karachi, (i) one for construction supervision of Sukkur water supply intake project, (iii) one design and construction supervision of water supply, wastewater, and solid waste management subprojects. In addition few individual consultants were also hired by the Project Support Unit, having expertise of Monitoring and Evaluation, Public Finance, Human Resources, and Municipal Services specialists for Water supply and waste water.

Apart from the implementation challenges as noted earlier, the NSUSC had a serious capacity gap in procurement and recruitment of consulting services. ADB did its best to fill the capacity gap and supported NSUSC by providing services of a staff consultant - Procurement and contract management specialist, who helped NSUSC in preparing bidding documents, RFPs, bid evaluation reports, technical and financial evaluations, and contract documents. This pushed the Project and things started maturing. Bidding documents were approved by ADB, four contracts were at the advance stages i.e. bid evaluation reports were approved and in some cases, contracts were about to be signed, when all of a sudden Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan issued a court order for closure of NSUSC on 16 March 2017. The SC issued these directives through its verdict on Constitution Petition No. 38, and directed the Sindh Government to withdraw all municipal functions (i.e. water supply, sanitation and solid waste disposal) of all the cities within the purview of NSUSC, and wind it up after completion of the two ongoing subprojects. The SC also advised that the project investments be routed through PHED instead of NSUSC.

The constitution petition was moved by a practicing layer from Shikarpur Sindh, complaining about performance of NSUSC and other government entities involved in urban services in the province of Sindh.

The ADB requested Government of Sindh to communicate through EAD, its decision about future course of the Project. so that timely actions are taken and any further loss of investments and its returns are avoided. However no response from the Government was received despite many follow-ups. The only thing communicated to ADB was that the Government and NSUSC were going to file a review petition before SC. However, no further progress was reported to ADB. In the given circumstances, ADB decided to close the Project on its original completion date, which ADB was ready to extend upon the request of the borrower, before the SC's verdict was announced.

In short, the NSUSC is closed, the staff has left, the operations have been transferred back to TMAs, the Sukkur intake works is completed, and ADB closed the Project physically on 31 Aug 2017. The loan account will be closed after receipt of the outstanding imprest advance of about $0.009 million.

Geographical Location Ghotki, Jacobabad, Khairpur, Larkana, Rohri, Shikarpur, Sukkur
Safeguard Categories
Environment A
Involuntary Resettlement B
Indigenous Peoples C
Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects
Environmental Aspects The subprojects in the second tranche of the Facility have been categorized as B for the purpose of environmental safeguards. The EIA for one new sub Project 'Raw Water Intake at River Indus for Sukkur has been categorized as Category A and this EIA was uploaded over ADB Website on 16 Apr. 2012 for 120 days disclosure period.
Involuntary Resettlement The subprojects to be financed in the second tranche of the Facility were suppose to minimize resettlement impacts by prioritizing rehabilitation and optimizing work within existing facilities with no Land Acquisition in Part B of the Tranche-2 Investments. New construction was proposed on vacant government land where feasible. However, due to substantial delay in land acquisition, no work on landfill sites could be designed and executed. The land for one landfill site was acquired following the appropriate procedures. For the remaining three sites, the process could not be completed by the loan closing date. Updated Land acquisition and resettlement plans (LARPs) for subprojects of Part C were prepared, in accordance with ADB guidelines, for those subprojects under the second tranche.
Indigenous Peoples The subprojects in the second tranche of the Facility were supposed not have any impact on indigenous peoples.
Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation
During Project Design Public consultations were conducted in Ghotki, Jacobabad, Khairpur, New Sukkur, Shikairpur, and Sukkur City in July 2012.
During Project Implementation Public consultations were undertaken with beneficiaries during project implementation.
Business Opportunities
Consulting Services

Recruitment of consulting assignments will follow ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (April 2010, and as amended from time to time).

The following selection method will apply: QCBS (90:10), QBS, CQS LCS, and FBS.

Two consulting packages for detailed engineering, design and construction supervision.

One consulting package each for PFR 4 preparation, independent verifier, and studies/trainings.

Procurement

Following procurement modes will apply: ICB for works estimated to cost $5.0 million and above; ICB for goods, equipment, supply and installation (turnkey) for $1.0 million and above; NCB for works below $5.0 million; NCB for goods, equipment, supply and installation for below $1.0 million, and shopping for works and goods below $100,000.

Responsible ADB Officer Shafi, Mian S.
Responsible ADB Department Central and West Asia Department
Responsible ADB Division Pakistan Resident Mission (PRM)
Executing Agencies
Planning & Development Department, Sindh
Timetable
Concept Clearance 30 Jun 2005
Fact Finding -
MRM 29 Nov 2012
Approval 18 Dec 2012
Last Review Mission -
PDS Creation Date 13 Jan 2010
Last PDS Update 30 Mar 2018

Loan 2975-PAK

Milestones
Approval Signing Date Effectivity Date Closing
Original Revised Actual
18 Dec 2012 08 May 2013 30 Jul 2013 31 Aug 2017 - 31 May 2018
Financing Plan Loan Utilization
Total (Amount in US$ million) Date ADB Others Net Percentage
Project Cost 25.10 Cumulative Contract Awards
ADB 25.10 17 Jun 2022 7.06 0.00 100%
Counterpart 0.00 Cumulative Disbursements
Cofinancing 0.00 17 Jun 2022 7.06 0.00 100%
Status of Covenants
Category Sector Safeguards Social Financial Economic Others
Rating Satisfactory Satisfactory - Satisfactory - Satisfactory

Loan 2976-PAK

Milestones
Approval Signing Date Effectivity Date Closing
Original Revised Actual
18 Dec 2012 08 May 2013 30 Jul 2013 31 Aug 2017 - 31 May 2018
Financing Plan Loan Utilization
Total (Amount in US$ million) Date ADB Others Net Percentage
Project Cost 114.70 Cumulative Contract Awards
ADB 74.00 17 Jun 2022 20.72 0.00 100%
Counterpart 40.70 Cumulative Disbursements
Cofinancing 0.00 17 Jun 2022 20.72 0.00 100%
Status of Covenants
Category Sector Safeguards Social Financial Economic Others
Rating Satisfactory Satisfactory - Satisfactory - Satisfactory

Project Data Sheets (PDS) contain summary information on the project or program. Because the PDS is a work in progress, some information may not be included in its initial version but will be added as it becomes available. Information about proposed projects is tentative and indicative.

The Access to Information Policy (AIP) recognizes that transparency and accountability are essential to development effectiveness. It establishes the disclosure requirements for documents and information ADB produces or requires to be produced.

The Accountability Mechanism provides a forum where people adversely affected by ADB-assisted projects can voice and seek solutions to their problems and report alleged noncompliance of ADB's operational policies and procedures.

In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of, or reference to, a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.


Safeguard Documents See also: Safeguards
Safeguard documents provided at the time of project/facility approval may also be found in the list of linked documents provided with the Report and Recommendation of the President.


Evaluation Documents See also: Independent Evaluation

None currently available.


Related Publications

None currently available.


The Access to Information Policy (AIP) establishes the disclosure requirements for documents and information ADB produces or requires to be produced in its operations to facilitate stakeholder participation in ADB's decision-making. For more information, refer to the Safeguard Policy Statement, Operations Manual F1, and Operations Manual L3.

Requests for information may also be directed to the InfoUnit.

Tenders

No tenders for this project were found.

Contracts Awarded

Contract Title Approval Number Contract Date Contractor | Address Executing Agency Total Contract Amount (US$) Contract Amount Financed by ADB (US$)
OPERATIONAL EXENSES OF NSUSC Loan 2976 29 Dec 2017 VARIOUS | VARIOUS PAKISTAN Planning & Development Department, Sindh 1,691,104.00 1,691,104.00

Procurement Plan

Title Document Type Document Date
Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Program - Tranche 2 Procurement Plans Dec 2012