China, People's Republic of : Strategy for Inclusive and Green Development of Small Cities, Towns, and Villages in Jiangxi Province

Sovereign Project | 49024-001

Project Details

  • Project Officer
    Rau, Stefan
    East Asia Department
    Request for information
  • Country/Economy
    China, People's Republic of
  • Modality
  • Sector
    • Public sector management
Project Name Strategy for Inclusive and Green Development of Small Cities, Towns, and Villages in Jiangxi Province
Project Number 49024-001
Country / Economy China, People's Republic of
Project Status Closed
Project Type / Modality of Assistance Technical Assistance
Source of Funding / Amount
TA 9035-PRC: Strategy for Inclusive and Green Development of Small Cities, Towns, and Villages in Jiangxi Province
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 400,000.00
Strategic Agendas Inclusive economic growth
Drivers of Change Gender Equity and Mainstreaming
Governance and capacity development
Sector / Subsector

Public sector management / Decentralization

Gender Some gender elements
Description

The TA will support the following:

(i) Preparation of a province-wide inclusive and green economic development strategy with short-, medium-, and long-term investment program for small cities, towns, and villages. The strategy will include assessments and planning for (a) basic public and social infrastructure such as roads and public transport, transport safety, education, health and elderly care, and convenient public service stations, e.g., one-stop-shop, integrating registration, approvals, etc.; (b) environmental infrastructure and ecosystem services such as water supply, wastewater management, solid waste management, river rehabilitation and flood risk management, reforestation, and urban-rural partnership mechanisms including eco-compensation; and (c) an enabling environment for private sector development including urban-rural supply chain integration, local value addition including agricultural upscaling and product processing, green food production, light industry and service sector development, and rural finance.

(ii) Preparation of a policy framework that will facilitate the implementation of the development strategy to cover all aspects of the strategy and investment program.

(iii) Capacity development to improve approaches to planning, implementation, and administration of the development strategy to integrate, create, and benefit from synergies among urban and rural areas.

The TA will prepare international and domestic case studies with lessons from other project villages and towns. PRC case studies of recently planned and implemented urban-rural integration best practices will be included and lessons will be drawn on successful approaches in five dimensions: (i) public service, infrastructure, and physical improvement; (ii) economic development; (iii) social inclusiveness and more gender equality; (iv) institutional improvement; and (v) environmental impact, as well as mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. International case studies of rural upgrade, rural-urban linkages improvement, and urban-rural and rural-rural partnerships will be shared for future urban and rural integrated development in the PRC. Domestic training events and an international study tour to learn best practices from other ADB member countries are planned during TA implementation.

Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy

Despite a robust agriculture sector, Jiangxi Province (Jiangxi) lags behind PRC's general development with a significant poverty rate in the rural areas. Jiangxi has a population of 45,222,000 of which 51.1% are from rural areas. The poverty rate across the province is 5% higher than the national average. Jiangxi has 11 municipalities and urban districts; 100 county cities (small cities); about 1,400 townships; 17,000 administrative villages; and 177,000 villages. Jiangxi is located in the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Its gross domestic product still largely depends on its rural economy and agriculture. Jiangxi has many mountainous and hilly areas (36% of the land area) and surface water (22% of the provincial surface area) which limits its urban development potential. Gan River and Poyang Lake in Jiangxi are significant watershed systems that serve as resources of ecosystem services and contribute to the economic growth of the province. The Jiangxi Province New-Type Urbanization Plan (2014-2020) aims to (i) increase the urbanization ratio to 60% by 2020 (from 47.5% in 2012) for urban resident population and to 40% for registered household population (from 27.0% in 2012), and (ii) remove the urban and rural dual system. The plan includes (i) development of a core urban cluster around the Poyang Lake anchored in Nanchang and two urban corridors, (ii) general development of small- and medium-sized cities, and (iii) rural upgrading. The latter two will be supported by the TA.

The development progress of small cities, towns, and villages is relatively slow and policy planning and urgent actions are needed. Jiangxi provincial government (JPG) intends to study, plan, and develop policies to demonstrate successful approaches to (i) improve coordinated planning and systematic medium- and long-term investment programming, and integration of housing, economic, and industrial development in small cities, towns, and villages; (ii) enhance economic development and jobs creation, promoting farming upscaling, improving produce quality (i.e., green food), integrating value chain, food processing, and light industry, and developing the service sector in small cities, towns, and villages; (iii) upgrade infrastructure, public services, and linkages between and among small cities, towns, and villages; (iv) reform the dual hukou system and rural land policy to enable farming upscaling and land market development; (v) improve ecosystems planning and management through environmental protection, pollution reduction from chemical fertilizers and pesticides, water source protection and water safety, and wastewater and solid waste management; (vi) promote self-administration through enhanced community management systems within the local communities and government units; (vii) coordinate equal public service delivery for health, education, technical and vocational training, social security, poverty alleviation, and cultural facilities and institutions; and (viii) improve public finance mechanism and raise funds to construct infrastructure of small cities and towns and promote enabling environments for private investments and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Impact

1. Socially inclusive development in small cities, towns, and villages in Jiangxi province increased (PRC National New-type Urbanization Plan, 20142020)

2. Environmental sustainability of development in small cities, towns, and villages in Jiangxi province improved (PRC National New-type Urbanization Plan, 20142020)

Project Outcome
Description of Outcome

Urbanrural development policy and planning toward greater social inclusion and environmental sustainability in Jiangxi province improved

Progress Toward Outcome

An interim workshop on 9-10 January 2018 was completed successfully with a total of 52 participants and consultants have carried out social survey and consultation with the provincial and pilot case counties, their small cities, towns and villages, and developed an initial planning framework which were also discussed in the workshop.

A final training and dissemination workshop was successfully held on 26 to 27 April 2018 with more than 60 participants including discussions with government leaders and stakeholders on implementing the proposed urban vitalisation and urban-rural integration strategy for the province and the three pilots that were selected by the TA.

An executive report as a draft to inform the official preparation for the provincial rural vitalisation strategy was submitted to the government in Chinese language, and a final report in English was submitted.

Implementation Progress
Description of Project Outputs

1. Development framework and investment program featuring inclusive and green economic development for small cities, towns, and villages in Jiangxi province developed

2. Policy recommendations and framework for institutional support structure enabling inclusive and green development of small cities, towns, and villages in Jiangxi Province prepared

3. Capacity for inclusive, green, sustainable, and coordinated development of small cities, towns, and villages in Jiangxi Province improved

Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues) An initial development framework for three representative counties and their urban-rural systems of small cities, towns and villages has been drafted in its economic, environmental and social aspects including proposals for investments for rural-urban linkages. An initial set of policy recommendations was developed and included in the interim report. Training workshops and a training for village and township leaders and administrators was carried out, including use of counterpart funds. A final TA workshop was completed in April 2018 and the draft final report and urban-rural systems development plan and investment program for the pilots, and a strategy for the entire province as extrapolated from the work and proposal for the three representative pilots was presented and discussed.
Geographical Location Jiangxi Sheng
Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects
Environmental Aspects
Involuntary Resettlement
Indigenous Peoples
Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation
During Project Design Consultation meetings were carried out with provincial government officials and experts in urban-rural development during the preparation of the project including considerations of statistical data, and discussions with residents from Jiangxi Province during preparation and by experts prior to the preparation of the project.
During Project Implementation A social survey has been carried out and consultation meetings with local communities and stakeholders were conducted. Consultations with local stakeholders and residents in the course of developing the framework for urban-rural inclusive development are included in the workplan of the TA. A final workshop and training with participation of a number of local government leaders and stakeholders was held and completed in April 2018.
Business Opportunities
Consulting Services It is estimated that the TA will require a total of 27 person-months of consulting services, including 9 person-months of international and 18 person-months of national consulting services. The consultants will be engaged by ADB through a firm in accordance with ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2013, as amended from time to time) using the quality- and cost-based selection method, with a qualitycost ratio of 90:10 using simplified technical proposal procedures. The proceeds of the TA will be disbursed in accordance with the Technical Assistance Disbursement Handbook (2010, as amended from time to time).
Responsible ADB Officer Rau, Stefan
Responsible ADB Department East Asia Department
Responsible ADB Division Urban and Social Sectors Division, EARD
Executing Agencies
Jiangxi Provincial Finance Department
Timetable
Concept Clearance 10 Nov 2015
Fact Finding 29 Aug 2015 to 30 Aug 2015
MRM -
Approval 10 Dec 2015
Last Review Mission -
Last PDS Update 28 Sep 2018

TA 9035-PRC

Milestones
Approval Signing Date Effectivity Date Closing
Original Revised Actual
10 Dec 2015 05 Jan 2016 05 Jan 2016 31 Dec 2017 31 Oct 2018 29 Jan 2019
Financing Plan/TA Utilization Cumulative Disbursements
ADB Cofinancing Counterpart Total Date Amount
Gov Beneficiaries Project Sponsor Others
400,000.00 0.00 100,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 500,000.00 17 Jun 2022 389,823.62

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.

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Evaluation Documents See also: Independent Evaluation

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Related Publications

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Tenders

No tenders for this project were found.

Contracts Awarded

Contract Title Approval Number Contract Date Contractor | Address Executing Agency Total Contract Amount (US$) Contract Amount Financed by ADB (US$)
Policy and Advisory Technical Assistance 9035 26 Aug 2016 Naree International Limited (Hong Kong, China) in Association with Naree Consulting Limited China (China, People's Republic of) | Unit N, 5/F, 4 Cho Yuen Street, Yau Tong Kowloon, Hong Kong, China Jiangxi Provincial Finance Department 346,950.00

Procurement Plan

None currently available.