Azerbaijan : Water Supply and Sanitation Investment Program - Tranche 1

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

The Water Supply and Sanitation Investment Program (the Investment Program) will improve the quality and coverage of urban services in secondary towns and peri-urban areas surrounding Baku. It will benefit approximately 500,000 residents.

The Investment Program has three components: (i) constructing water supply and sanitation (WSS) infrastructure to boost service coverage, quality, and reliability (Component A); (ii) developing institutional effectiveness, including management and governance (Component B); and (iii) instituting program management facilities to oversee program implementation and treatment of technical requirements such as those for environment and social safeguards and gender mainstreaming (Component C).

Project 1 has three components: (i) Water Supply and Sanitation Infrastructure Development; (ii) Institutional Effectiveness; and (iii) Establishment of Program Management Facilities at Project Management Offices (PM0s) of AzerSu and SAWMA to Oversee Program Implementation.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the quality and efficiency of water service delivery declined in Azerbaijan, due to poor management and inadequate investments. The existing WSS system is over 50 years old. Water supply sources are in a poor state of repair, and other modes of supply (e.g., through private vendors) are expensive and/or unreliable. Water treatment facilities in secondary and small towns are either absent or largely dysfunctional. Despite an 83% piped-network coverage rate in these towns, the majority of residents do not have access to safe drinking water. The sewage system is in even worse condition. Pipes are broken or clogged with silt and debris, and wastewater is discharged into ditches or the nearest watercourses. Poor sanitation and leaking sewers create serious health risks and environmental hazards.

Insufficient and unreliable infrastructure and services are adding to household costs and are diminishing the quality of life in secondary towns. An intensive program of reforms and organizational development targeting service delivery bodies, coupled with long-term capacity programs and investments, is now needed to meet the targets under the state program on poverty reduction and sustainable development for 2008 2015. These actions are also needed to ensure 24-hour water supply and 80% 85% coverage in secondary towns.

A set of sequenced reform actions and sector investments will bring improvements in service delivery. The Investment Program responds to these needs by adopting a long-term and holistic approach in improving institutions, capacities and systems, and service delivery.

A. Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Rehabilitated and Improved

A.1 Reconstructed, and expanded existing piped-water supply systems, water works, and treatment facilities in participating towns

A.2 Water quality monitoring system developed

A.3 Rehabilitated, replaced and expanded sewerage networks

B. Improved WSS management and planning

B.1 Institutions improved for WSS service delivery

B.2 Capacity developed for better system planning, operations and maintenance

B.3 Cost recovery enhanced through metering, billing and collection tariffs

B.4 Efficiency increased for timely processing of effective WSS projects

B.5 Twinning arrangement finalized with an external WSS utility to support capacity development

C. Program Management Facility established providing effective support to AzerSu, SAWMA, and JSCs

Achieved

Achieved. Tariff was updated in 2016, however this is not done annually

Ongoing

Goychay WSS, Nakhchivan WSS and Nakhchivan WTP works fully completed;

140 km of water supply lines in Goychay and Nakhchivan installed;

100% of the population in the project areas were connected to the water network

NRW reduced to less than 25% as targeted

Completed

Ongoing

Achieved

Achieved

Ongoing

Achieved

Achieved

Achieved

Monitoring of water quality undertaken on regular basis

Completed. 122 km of sewer lines constructed

Achieved

Not implemented

Ongoing

Twinning partnership program finalized between SAWMC and Aguas de Portugal under Tranche 2 of the MFF, supplemented by the procurement of specialized WSS maintenance equipment under Tranche 1.

Completed. 1,300 households connected to the sewerage system as originally planned

Extensive consultations have been undertaken with stakeholders including affected persons (emphasizing women and the disadvantaged), beneficiary communities, NGOs and community-based organizations, elected representatives, administrative departments, rayon administrations, and representatives of various government ministries. Meetings, focus group discussions, public awareness campaigns, and structured interviews were undertaken with stakeholders to enable transparency of project works and operations.

To date, consultations were held with six sample project towns. The meetings involved municipal officials, elected representatives, NGOs, and a sample of randomly selected citizens (of which at least 50% were female). In these meetings, mayors and project engineers familiarized the towns with the designs. The towns' environmental concerns and ideas on improving the water and sanitation systems have been analyzed and incorporated where appropriate into the project designs and mitigation measures. All towns showed interest in participating in the town water users' associations to liaise with the program management facility and administrative officials to address any water- or wastewater-related concerns or issues. All public consultation notes are attached to the initial environmental examinations included as supplementary appendixes.

The consultation and participation plan comprises three distinct components: (i) the community awareness and participation program, (ii) hygiene and sanitation education program, and (iii) training program. A major feature of the proposed institutional development and capacity building component includes enabling SuKanals (town water supply and sanitation agencies) and joint stock companies to take a more participatory approach to water supply and sanitation development and service delivery. Implementation support has been developed, including the provision of a social development specialist within the executing agencies and provisions supporting the creation of town water users' associations.

Ongoing consultations and participatory monitoring will take the form of community forums or focus group discussions combined with annual surveys including disaggregated gender, internally displaced persons, refugee, and poverty surveys to notice effects on women and the disadvantaged. The media for this public information mechanism will include local television, newsletters, and community meetings.