Sri Lanka : Improving Project Readiness and Portfolio Management
The proposed CDTA will support the government to improve capacities of EA staff implementing ADB financed projects and enhance the ability of EAs to address the cross cutting issues in achieving on-time readiness and enhanced portfolio performance. The TA is designed to provide direct support for project management and administration to the government staff undertaking ADB funded projects. The TA will support feasibility studies of alternative investment options and enhance capacity of the EA staff in developing and maintaining a project performance monitoring system. Cross-learning will be promoted by encouraging EA and IA staff to share experiences in managing complex contract and safeguard related challenges, among others. This TA will also support periodic portfolio review meetings as these provide a forum to disseminate best practices identified during project preparation and implementation among EAs and IAs and other stakeholders in various sectors.
Project Details
-
Project Officer
Amarasekera, Navodhini C.
South Asia Department
Request for information -
Country/Economy
Sri Lanka -
Sector
- Water and other urban infrastructure and services
Related Projects
| Project Name | Improving Project Readiness and Portfolio Management | ||||||||
| Project Number | 48374-001 | ||||||||
| Country / Economy | Sri Lanka |
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| Project Status | Closed | ||||||||
| Project Type / Modality of Assistance | Technical Assistance |
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| Source of Funding / Amount |
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| Strategic Agendas | Inclusive economic growth |
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| Drivers of Change | Governance and capacity development Knowledge solutions |
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| Sector / Subsector |
Energy / Energy sector development and institutional reform Public sector management / Public administration Transport / Transport policies and institutional development Water and other urban infrastructure and services / Urban water supply |
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| Gender Equity and Mainstreaming | No gender elements | ||||||||
| Description | The proposed CDTA will support the government to improve capacities of EA staff implementing ADB financed projects and enhance the ability of EAs to address the cross cutting issues in achieving on-time readiness and enhanced portfolio performance. The TA is designed to provide direct support for project management and administration to the government staff undertaking ADB funded projects. The TA will support feasibility studies of alternative investment options and enhance capacity of the EA staff in developing and maintaining a project performance monitoring system. Cross-learning will be promoted by encouraging EA and IA staff to share experiences in managing complex contract and safeguard related challenges, among others. This TA will also support periodic portfolio review meetings as these provide a forum to disseminate best practices identified during project preparation and implementation among EAs and IAs and other stakeholders in various sectors. | ||||||||
| Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy | 1. There has been improvement in the portfolio performance with an annual average of $280 million in contract awards and $307 million in disbursement during the last 4 years. However, some unresolved matters need addressing, including (i) the lack of project readiness to meet ADB requirements governing procurement, selection of consultants, disbursement, safeguards, and other thematic areas (governance and gender); (ii) the lack of capacity to address complex project implementation challenges when a project needs restructuring; (iii) weak project implementation and management capacity of executing agency staff; (iv) weak project performance monitoring and evaluation capacity of executing agency staff; (v) lack of attention to safeguard monitoring and reporting; (vi) lack of knowledge sharing on best practices and innovations across sectors; and (vii) delays in meeting fiduciary requirements. 2. Therefore, there is a need to systematically address challenges in the Sri Lanka portfolio related to readiness and implementation. This is further emphasized in the midterm review of Strategy 2020, approved on 23 April 2014, which includes streamlining business processes to strengthen ADB's development effectiveness and delivering value for money. The review calls for adoption of realistic project implementation schedules using project readiness filters, and to reduce delays in project implementation and minimize transactions costs for clients. While ADB is streamlining its business processes, it will only achieve its intended objective if, at the same time, the executing agencies and implementing agency are also strengthened, and this will be addressed by the TA. |
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| Impact | Enhanced operational effectiveness of ADB projects in Sri Lanka. | ||||||||
| Project Outcome | |
|---|---|
| Description of Outcome | Improved Portfolio Performance of Sri Lanka. |
| Progress Toward Outcome | TA activities were completed by 31 December 2020. |
| Implementation Progress | |
| Description of Project Outputs | 1. Project Implementation and Management Capacity of EA and IA staff Strengthened 2. Project and Portfolio Monitoring Capacity of the EA, IA and MOFP is Strengthened 3. Improved Project Readiness and Performance |
| Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues) | Output 1: In this output: (i) 03 Consultants including a Training Coordinator, have been recruited, (ii) 14 training programs were conducted for Government and Project Management (PMU) staff and other stakeholders (iii) One exposure visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh on Non-Revenue Water Reduction Activities (NRW) was fielded, representing 08 government and staff from PMUs and; (v) A Geo Technical Study was undertaken to support project readiness for Northern Province Sustainable Fisheries Development Project. Output 2: In this output: (i) 03 Consultants have been recruited, (ii) 02 exposure visits of staff of the Department of Project Monitoring and Management (DPMM); (a) 02 staff took part in the program on Sustainable Development Goals held in Rome, Italy and; (b) 03 staff participated in the Tri-Partite Portfolio Review Meeting (TPRM) in Bengaluru, India within last 02 years, (iii) 04 Tripartite Portfolio Review Meetings (TPRM) conducted in 2014, 2015, 2016 ,2017 and 2018, and; 2019; a set of equipment amounting to USD 10,273. Output 3: In this output: 41 consultants have been recruited in various sectors to support project implementation and improve project readiness. TA activities were completed by 31 December 2020. |
| Geographical Location | |
| Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects | |
|---|---|
| Environmental Aspects | |
| Involuntary Resettlement | |
| Indigenous Peoples | |
| Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation | |
| During Project Design | Stakeholders were consulted mainly had discussions with department of project management and monitoring and external resources department of ministry of finance and planning. |
| During Project Implementation | Stakeholders are consulted after re-gazetting of Ministries and their associated functions after the General election in August 2015 , the MOFP, which was the EA at the time of TA approval ceased to exist and its functions and responsibilities were transferred to newly formed MNP&EA |
| Business Opportunities | |
|---|---|
| Consulting Services | 13. The TA will require about 15 person-months of international consulting services and 44 person-months of national consulting services to cover the TA outputs. The team of experts will be recruited on an intermittent basis and will initially comprise a capacity development consultant, procurement specialist, environment specialist, social safeguard specialist, desalination expert, legal and governance specialist, financial management specialist project performance monitoring specialist, and information system development expert. The resource persons and any additional experts required to undertake the capacity development activities will be identified following the detailed needs assessment |
| Procurement | Equipment will be procured for TA implementation in accordance with ADB's Procurement Guidelines (2013, as amended from time to time). Upon TA completion, the assets will be turned over to relevant government agencies. |
| Responsible ADB Officer | Amarasekera, Navodhini C. |
| Responsible ADB Department | South Asia Department |
| Responsible ADB Division | Sri Lanka Resident Mission |
| Executing Agencies |
Ministry of Finance and Planning P.O. Box 277 The Secretariat Building, Colombo 1 Sri Lanka |
| Timetable | |
|---|---|
| Concept Clearance | 04 Nov 2014 |
| Fact Finding | - |
| MRM | - |
| Approval | 15 Dec 2014 |
| Last Review Mission | - |
| Last PDS Update | 23 Mar 2021 |
TA 8798-SRI
| Milestones | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approval | Signing Date | Effectivity Date | Closing | ||
| Original | Revised | Actual | |||
| 15 Dec 2014 | 29 Jan 2015 | 29 Jan 2015 | 31 Dec 2018 | 31 Dec 2020 | 24 Mar 2021 |
| Financing Plan/TA Utilization | Cumulative Disbursements | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADB | Cofinancing | Counterpart | Total | Date | Amount | |||
| Gov | Beneficiaries | Project Sponsor | Others | |||||
| 1,500,000.00 | 0.00 | 100,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1,600,000.00 | 17 Jun 2022 | 1,449,395.39 |
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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| Title | Document Type | Document Date |
|---|---|---|
| Improving Project Readiness and Portfolio Management: Technical Assistance Completion Report | TA Completion Reports | Jul 2021 |
| Improving Project Readiness and Portfolio Management:Technical Assistance Report | Technical Assistance Reports | Dec 2014 |
Safeguard Documents See also: Safeguards
Safeguard documents provided at the time of project/facility approval may also be found in the list of linked documents provided with the Report and Recommendation of the President.
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