Pakistan: Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Program - Tranche 1

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

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

Output 1:NSUSC provides effective and more sustainable services in participating towns

Progress:

The performance of NSUSC has been better compared to that of the tehsil municipal administrations (TMA). However, it is neither of the desired standards, nor is sustainable at the moment.

Output 2:More informed urban policies and planning

Progress:

No significant work on improved urban planning and institutional reforms has been witnessed under the Project.

Output 3: Timely and transparent operations support funding for NSUSC to cover eligible shortfall

Progress:

NSUSC has been getting the operations support funding from ADB during the Project implementation period.

Output 4: Improved water supply, wastewater and solid waste management services in participating towns

Progress:

There is some improvement in the provision of municipal services under Tranche I, though not upto the envisaged levels. The EA has reported the following achievements;

(i) Increase in households with Piped Connections from baseline of 37% to 45% at project completion.

(ii) Increase in households with access to Solid Waste Collection from baseline of 37% to 70% at project completion.

(iii) Increase in waste collection from baseline of 46% to 65% at project completion.

A Project completion review Mission will be fielded in April 2016 to assess project performance and validate the above achievements.

The provision of potable piped-water supply plus wastewater and SWM improvements will improve the environment in each participating town. The design involves simple, appropriate, low-cost technology and does not pose any significant adverse environmental consequences. The Investment Program has been categorized as B for the purposes of environmental safeguards. Potential negative environmental impacts for each project are mainly short-term in nature during the construction period and can be easily minimized by the proposed mitigation measures and environmentally sound engineering and construction practices. An environmental assessment and review framework (EARF) prepared following ADB procedures is in Supplementary Appendix L of the RRP. For each PFR, the USCs will prepare initial environmental examinations (IEEs) or environmental impact assessments for each subproject or for groups of similar subprojects in the same subsector, as appropriate. The IEEs for the first tranche show no significant adverse environmental impacts (Supplementary Appendix M). As these IEEs, including environment management plans, were prepared based on field reconnaissance survey and secondary reports, they will be improved during the detailed engineering design stage. ADB's review and clearance of the revised subproject IEE, including the environment management plan, will be a condition precedent for release of relevant tender documents.

Environmental subproject selection criteria ensure that the Investment Program will not have significant negative environmental impacts and will have no impacts on environmentally sensitive areas. Impacts that are potentially significant and/or irreversible will be avoided. Potential negative environmental impacts of typical subprojects are expected to be mostly localized and temporary. These impacts can largely be avoided through proper subproject design (particularly site selection) or through appropriate choice of water and wastewater treatment technologies and process design parameters. Alternatively, they can be mitigated through proper implementation of mitigation measures and environmental management. The EARF will help to ensure compliance with applicable government and ADB environmental requirements and guide the design and implementation of future subprojects. The safeguards cell of each USC will have an environmental safeguard specialist who, with assistance from an international environmental consultant, will apply the EARF. Training will be conducted by the international consultant to pertinent USC, PSU, and TMA staff.

Stakeholder consultations were held throughout the design stage in a total of 14 taluka municipal administrations. At provincial level, several workshops were held with provincial government departments, local government officials, community stakeholders, and nongovernment organizations. At taluka level, focus group discussions involved representatives of schools; labor, women, and religious groups; and the business sector. A socioeconomic survey helped to augment information collected during consultations, including willingness to pay for services.

As project preparation developed and the current design of SCIP emerged, additional consultations were held in North Sindh and tranche 1 towns. Taluka councils were consulted multiple times and passed resolutions to participate in SCIP. Public consultations indicate broad support for the combination of reforms and investment. Further, willingness-to-pay surveying was done in 2008 following ADB guidelines.