Viet Nam : Promoting Climate Resilient Rural Infrastructure in the Northern Mountain Provinces

Sovereign Project | 41461-042

Strategy 2020 identifies infrastructure and climate change as two of ADB's five core operational foci. The rehabilitation of rural infrastructure (RI) has long been a component of ADB's lending program to Vietnam. The potential damage from climate change to the RI built under the ADB projects and to infrastructure provided by other projects is potentially a serious threat to the country's rural development program.

The proposed TA will demonstrate appropriate and effective methods to reduce the possible damage due to climate change and other weather factors. The TA will be implemented within the proposed Sustainable Rural Infrastructure Development Project in the Northern Mountains (SRIDP) and subprojects under the SRIDP will be used as demonstration sites. The outcomes of the demonstrations will be used for setting out appropriate RI design and construction standards, building implementation capacity, and taken into the design of future RI investments.

Project Details

  • Project Officer
    Salter, Charles David
    Southeast Asia Department
    Request for information
  • Country/Economy
    Viet Nam
  • Modality
  • Sector
    • Agriculture, natural resources and rural development
Project Name Promoting Climate Resilient Rural Infrastructure in the Northern Mountain Provinces
Project Number 41461-042
Country / Economy Viet Nam
Project Status Closed
Project Type / Modality of Assistance Technical Assistance
Source of Funding / Amount
TA 8102-VIE: Promoting Climate Resilient Rural Infrastructure in Northern Mountain Provinces
GEF-Special Climate Change Fund US$ 2.00 million
Strategic Agendas Environmentally sustainable growth
Inclusive economic growth
Drivers of Change Gender Equity and Mainstreaming
Governance and capacity development
Partnerships
Sector / Subsector

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Agricultural policy, institutional and capacity development

Gender Effective gender mainstreaming
Description

Strategy 2020 identifies infrastructure and climate change as two of ADB's five core operational foci. The rehabilitation of rural infrastructure (RI) has long been a component of ADB's lending program to Vietnam. The potential damage from climate change to the RI built under the ADB projects and to infrastructure provided by other projects is potentially a serious threat to the country's rural development program.

The proposed TA will demonstrate appropriate and effective methods to reduce the possible damage due to climate change and other weather factors. The TA will be implemented within the proposed Sustainable Rural Infrastructure Development Project in the Northern Mountains (SRIDP) and subprojects under the SRIDP will be used as demonstration sites. The outcomes of the demonstrations will be used for setting out appropriate RI design and construction standards, building implementation capacity, and taken into the design of future RI investments.

Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy

Since the mid-1990s the Government of Vietnam has been engaged in a program of RI development with funding from ADB, the World Bank, the Government's own resources and other development partners. The positive results of this program to date have contributed to an improvement in the standard or living of a large portion of the rural population and a decline in poverty from 53% in 1993 to 22% in 2005. Unfortunately, the results of this program are now threatened due to the potential impact of climate change. Even in a static climate situation, RI is prone to climate induced damage. This will be exacerbated as climatic events become increasingly extreme. It is important to protect the limited land resource base in the mountain areas and the infrastructure which serves it and the local population.

The main expected impact of climate change in Northern Vietnam, is for rainfall to increase in annual volume, and to become more irregular, with higher intensities. This will result in increased damage to RI due to flooding, structural damage due to increased fluctuations of groundwater levels and, especially in mountainous areas, erosion and reduced slope stability. The ensuing damage will result in high maintenance and rehabilitation costs as well as a loss of benefits, as long as structures remain un-repaired and non-functional. Steps need to be taken now to protect against the likely effects of climate change in the future.

Since the extent and future impact of climate changes are difficult to predict, it is impossible to design for changes in rainfall amount, intensity or frequency with any degree of specificity. There are however, some low cost, no regrets approaches for increasing the resilience of RI to climate change, which supplement and strengthen current engineering designs at low incremental costs and which provide multiple benefits such as erosion control and soil and water conservation, enhanced slope stability and the enhanced sustainability of water-crossing structures. By focusing on the demonstration of potential of simple, low cost measures to provide incremental climate resilience, the overall GEF/SCCF funded activities will facilitate (i) the mainstreaming of climate risk reduction into policy formulation and infrastructure development planning; (ii) capacity development to increase understanding about current and emerging climate risks and promote climate resilience at central and local planning levels; and (iii) a meaningful demonstration of low cost, easily implementable measures to reduce the vulnerability of RI to extreme climate events. In addition, the TA will provide the opportunity to undertake specific, on the ground vulnerability assessments at the district and village level within the influence area of the RI subprojects to be used as demonstration sites, and thus to broaden the overall knowledge base about the likely impact of climate change and potential protection measures in specific locations within the Northern Mountains.

Impact

Improved sustainability of rural infrastructure.

Project Outcome
Description of Outcome

Effective climate-resilience measures mainstreamed into the MARD RI program.

Progress Toward Outcome TA Implementation is ongoing.
Implementation Progress
Description of Project Outputs

1. Low cost climate proofing measures suitable for RI in northern Viet Nam identified.

2. Appropriate climate change resilient techniques demonstrated.

3. A trained cadre of technical personnel familiar with the protection measures established.

4. Recommendations for the integration of the demonstrated approaches into training curricula, standard

design procedures and contract specifications prepared.

5. Climate change risks and vulnerabilities, and the potential for applying the measures used in the demonstrations for strengthening the resilience of nearby communities are identified.

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

The TA is implemented through a consultancy contract (with the International Centre for Environmental Management, ICEM).

The project is designed around physical implementation of rural infrastructure resilience demonstration measures at four sites (i.e., two riverbank and two road sites) as the basis for capacity development activities. The four demonstration subprojects have been completed as of November 2016.

ADB approved an extension of the TA completion date to 31 May 2017 to (i) measure the post-construction performance of the demonstration subprojects, (ii) complete the corresponding technical materials and knowledge products, and (iii) disseminate the knowledge products to the TA's technical committee and provincial representatives.

Geographical Location
Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects
Environmental Aspects
Involuntary Resettlement
Indigenous Peoples
Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation
During Project Design
During Project Implementation An important source of information has been consultation at local level, in particular during two fieldtrips by the TA social specialists in May and June 2013. This fieldwork resulted in identification of a variety of bioengineering techniques already used by local residents to prevent and manage erosion.
Business Opportunities
Consulting Services The TA was implemented with consulting services engaged through a firm. International expertise included civil, bio-, and geotechnical engineering, technical training, climate change adaptation and social development. National expertise included agricultural engineering, agronomy/forestry, technical training, civil engineering, meteorology/ hydrology, gender and indigenous people.
Responsible ADB Officer Salter, Charles David
Responsible ADB Department Southeast Asia Department
Responsible ADB Division Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture Division, SERD
Executing Agencies
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Timetable
Concept Clearance 28 Apr 2011
Fact Finding -
MRM -
Approval 29 Jun 2012
Last Review Mission -
PDS Creation Date 30 Sep 2010
Last PDS Update 31 Mar 2017

TA 8102-VIE

Milestones
Approval Signing Date Effectivity Date Closing
Original Revised Actual
29 Jun 2012 09 Oct 2012 09 Oct 2012 31 Aug 2015 31 May 2017 25 Aug 2017
Financing Plan/TA Utilization Cumulative Disbursements
ADB Cofinancing Counterpart Total Date Amount
Gov Beneficiaries Project Sponsor Others
0.00 2,000,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2,000,000.00 17 Jun 2022 1,753,423.83

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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Safeguard Documents See also: Safeguards
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Evaluation Documents See also: Independent Evaluation

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Related Publications

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Tenders

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Contracts Awarded

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Procurement Plan

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