Afghanistan : Energy Supply Improvement Investment Program (Tranche 7)
20 out of 34 provinces, including the Shindand District of Herat Province and the Farah District of Farah Province of western Afghanistan, are not connected to the national grid causing the cost of doing business to increase, the environment to deteriorate, and sustainable development indicators to subdue. This, in turn, impedes growth opportunities, generates inequalities, and fuels tensions. The proposed project will extend the national grid into Shindand District of Herat Province and the Farah District of Farah Province with a population of nearly 2.6 million and construct new distribution networks in two districts. Household connections to the grid electricity supply will ease the burden of hundreds of thousands of females tasked with housework. The project will also enable transmission of planned renewable energy-based generation in the provinces.
Project Details
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| Project Name | Energy Supply Improvement Investment Program (Tranche 7) | ||||||||
| Project Number | 47282-009 | ||||||||
| Country / Economy | Afghanistan |
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| Project Status | Active | ||||||||
| Project Type / Modality of Assistance | Grant |
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| Source of Funding / Amount |
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| Operational Priorities | OP1: Addressing remaining poverty and reducing inequalities OP2: Accelerating progress in gender equality OP3: Tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability OP7: Fostering regional cooperation and integration |
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| Sector / Subsector | Energy / Electricity transmission and distribution |
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| Gender | Effective gender mainstreaming | ||||||||
| Description | 20 out of 34 provinces, including the Shindand District of Herat Province and the Farah District of Farah Province of western Afghanistan, are not connected to the national grid causing the cost of doing business to increase, the environment to deteriorate, and sustainable development indicators to subdue. This, in turn, impedes growth opportunities, generates inequalities, and fuels tensions. The proposed project will extend the national grid into Shindand District of Herat Province and the Farah District of Farah Province with a population of nearly 2.6 million and construct new distribution networks in two districts. Household connections to the grid electricity supply will ease the burden of hundreds of thousands of females tasked with housework. The project will also enable transmission of planned renewable energy-based generation in the provinces. | ||||||||
| Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy | In June 2020 ADB received the government's periodic financing request to fund the transmission and distribution infrastructure in Herat and Farah provinces. The project is aligned with ADB's Strategy 2030's operational cluster 3 on infrastructure and economic connectivity, and supports four operational priorities: (i) addressing remaining poverty and reducing inequalities; (ii) accelerating progress in gender equality; (iii) tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability; and (iv) fostering regional cooperation and integration. It is aligned with ADB's country partnership strategy for Afghanistan, 2017-2021. The project is also aligned with the CAREC Energy Strategy 2030, which prioritizes regional interconnection. The project is included in ADB's country operations business plan for Afghanistan, 2019-2021. | ||||||||
| Impact | Improved access to sustainable energy supplies across Afghanistan aligned with the targets of the National Energy Supply Program of the Government of Afghanistan |
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| Project Outcome | |
|---|---|
| Description of Outcome | Increased supply of imported and indigenous power |
| Progress Toward Outcome | |
| Implementation Progress | |
| Description of Project Outputs | Transmission capacity in western Afghanistan expanded Power distribution network and capacity expanded |
| Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues) | |
| Geographical Location | Nation-wide |
| Safeguard Categories | |
|---|---|
| Environment | B |
| Involuntary Resettlement | A |
| Indigenous Peoples | C |
| Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects | |
|---|---|
| Environmental Aspects | DABS prepared an IEE study for Tranche 7 and updated the environmental assessment and review framework prepared for this MFF, which were disclosed on the ADB website. The project will result in short-term, site-specific environmental impacts during construction, which are primarily related to soil erosion, deterioration of air quality, generation of noise and vibration, construction waste, and occupational and community health and safety. Risks related to electromagnetic fields and natural hazards, such as earthquakes, landslides, and rockfalls, can result in adverse impacts during operation. These impacts can be mitigated by careful line routing, resilient design, and effective environmental management plan (EMP) implementation, which were budgeted in the project cost. DABS did not carry out detailed baseline surveys and consultations due to security concerns in the project area, but will carry them out during detailed design, with the IEE study duly updated and cleared by ADB before construction. DABS will report on the EMP implementation through semiannual environmental monitoring reports. PMO's Environmental Specialist supported by an international environmental consultant of the Project Supervision Consultant are responsible for monitoring and supervision of the Environmental Management Plan and provisions of the IEE. |
| Involuntary Resettlement | DABS updated the MFF land acquisition and resettlement framework allowing sectional approach in September 2019. Three SDDRs prepared by DABS for Pul-e-Hashemi, Shindand and Farah substations were disclosed. DABS prepared two draft LARPs for the Pul-e-Hashemi to Shindand and Shindand to Farah transmission lines, based on the preliminary design. These draft LARPs identified the total of about 217 households with about 1,736 persons to be affected. Of these, about 30 households with about 240 persons will be physically displaced. The total number of economically displaced persons to be significantly affected will be confirmed by the final LARPs. Once the detailed designs are finalized, DABS will update the LARPs and submit for ADB's approval before implementation. No civil works will start on any section of the transmission lines until the LARPs are fully implemented in the respective sections and a third-party monitoring report validating compliance with the LARPs is accepted by ADB. ADB will finance up to $1 million from ADF grant to cover non-land component of the total LAR cost. The PMO will engage a resettlement team as part of the project supervision consulting firm to conduct the displaced persons census and survey and implement the final, implementation ready LARP. A LARP coordinator will be assigned within the project supervision consulting team to liaise between the PMO and the displaced persons. DABS will submit semiannual social safeguards monitoring for ADB's review. In addition, the third-party monitoring firm engaged by ADB will monitor the project implementation. The Pul-e-Hashemi substation, the upgrade of which will be financed by the tranche, is an associated facility to this project as per the definition provided in the Safeguard Policy Statement. DABS prepared environmental and social safeguard due diligence reports in compliance with the Safeguard Policy Statement requirements. Impacts from this facility were also analyzed in the IEE study. |
| Indigenous Peoples | The field survey found that no indigenous people, as defined by the Safeguard Policy Statement, is involved or affected. |
| Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation | |
| During Project Design | The project is designed to provide at least 176,191 residents of Shindand and Farah Districts (of which 49% are females) with continuous access to the grid electricity supply. The women in Shindand and Farah are mostly engaged in household chores and family care. Many of them are also involved in dairy production, and meat processing, and even in leather and wool production, albeit, inside their homes. Women are among the major users of household energy. Give the unpredictable power supply, women tend to work longer, as they engage in both housework and income-earning activities. Long power outages impair their productivity and earning opportunities. The project will ease women's household burdens and enable livelihood and income-generating activities. |
| During Project Implementation | The project envisages participation of civil society organizations in project implementation. Local NGO/Facilitating partner will be recruited under Tranche 1 of MFF II to support development of the training modules on energy-based livelihood and conduct of the trainings in the selected districts. The design of the training will allow equipping the trainers with the necessary equipment for them to start their livelihood, for example repair kits for appliances, or high-speed sewing machines, or even food processing equipment, etc. |
| Business Opportunities | |
|---|---|
| Consulting Services | The Project Supervision Consultant will be recruited under MFF II Tranche 5 according to ADB Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2013, as amended from time to time). Up to 219 person-months (91 international, 128 national) of consulting services are required to (i) develop and implement comprehensive project management plan to ensure most efficient, timely and economical implementation of the project; and (ii) supervise the engineering contractor for supply, installation, commissioning and testing of equipment. Estimated contract duration is 32 months. A consulting firm will be engaged by DABS using the quality-and cost based (QCBS) method with a standard quality cost ratio of 90:10. The reason for the quality cost ratio is due to the complexity of the project. |
| Procurement | All procurement of goods and works will be undertaken in accordance with ADB Procurement Policy (2017, as amended from time to time) and Procurement Regulations for ADB Borrowers (2017, as amended from time to time). DABS will employ turnkey contractors to design, manufacture, supply, install and commission the substations and transmission lines. The procurement follows OCB procedure using the ADB single stage two-envelope bidding procedure. ADB standard bidding documents for Plant Design, Supply and Install are used. |
| Responsible ADB Officer | ADB Disclosure |
| Responsible ADB Department | Sectors Group |
| Responsible ADB Division | Energy Sector Office (SG-ENE) |
| Timetable | |
|---|---|
| Concept Clearance | - |
| Fact Finding | - |
| MRM | 30 Oct 2020 |
| Approval | 02 Dec 2020 |
| Last Review Mission | - |
| Last PDS Update | 02 Dec 2020 |
Grant 0769-AFG
| Milestones | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approval | Signing Date | Effectivity Date | Closing | ||
| Original | Revised | Actual | |||
| 02 Dec 2020 | 17 Dec 2020 | 16 Apr 2021 | 31 Dec 2025 | - | - |
| Financing Plan | Grant Utilization | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (Amount in US$ million) | Date | ADB | Others | Net Percentage | |
| Project Cost | 39.00 | Cumulative Contract Awards | |||
| ADB | 36.40 | 21 Jul 2023 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0% |
| Counterpart | 2.60 | Cumulative Disbursements | |||
| Cofinancing | 0.00 | 21 Jul 2023 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0% |
| Status of Covenants | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Sector | Safeguards | Social | Financial | Economic | Others |
| Rating | Satisfactory | Satisfactory | - | Satisfactory | - | Satisfactory |
Grant 0770-AFG
| Milestones | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approval | Signing Date | Effectivity Date | Closing | ||
| Original | Revised | Actual | |||
| 02 Dec 2020 | 17 Dec 2020 | 16 Apr 2021 | 31 Dec 2025 | - | - |
| Financing Plan | Grant Utilization | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (Amount in US$ million) | Date | ADB | Others | Net Percentage | |
| Project Cost | 118.00 | Cumulative Contract Awards | |||
| ADB | 0.00 | 21 Jul 2023 | 0.00 | 77.96 | 66% |
| Counterpart | 0.00 | Cumulative Disbursements | |||
| Cofinancing | 118.00 | 21 Jul 2023 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0% |
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