Table of Contents

  • Table of Contents

Terms and Abbreviations

Executive Summary

Summary of Recommendations

Introduction

Overview

Objectives of the Mid-Term Review

Report Outline

Approach and Methodology

Overview

Consultation

Document Review

Site Inspections

Project Context

Overview

Punjab Villages – Water and Sanitation pre-project situation

Governmental interventions under way at Project Design stage

Issues taken into consideration at Design Stage

Institutional, Regulatory and Management set-up

Capacity Assessment at Project Design

Sector Approach of the Government of Punjab

Project Objectives, Expected Results, and Performance Indicators

Overview

Project Objectives

Expected Results

Performance Indicators

Implementation Arrangements, Fiduciary and Safeguard Aspects

Overview

Implementation Arrangements

Fiduciary Aspects

Amount of Instalment

Condition for Release of Instalment

S.No

S.No

B. Community Sanitation

Procurement

Key Concerns of Stakeholders at the time of Effectiveness

Capacity Building Needs

Communication Strategy and Action Plan

Environmental Safeguards

EMF Activity

Monitoring and Evaluation

Project Status, Lessons Learned and What Lies Ahead

Overview

General Background of PRWSS progress

Impact of Change in Cost-sharing Formula

Project Status-Part A- IEC [Information, Education and Communication]

27 Committee Members & 7 DPMC officials attended the training.

18 Committee Members & 6 DPMC Officers/officials attended the meeting.

41 Committee Members & 10 DPMC Officers/officials attended the meeting.

34 Committee Members & 6 DPMC Officers/officials attended the meeting.

21 Committee Members & 12 DPMC Officers/officials attended the meeting.

Project Status-Part B-Coverage

District-wise Performance

Project Status-Part C- Procurement

Project Status-Part D-Financial

Project Status-Part E-Institutional Arrangements for Implementation

Project Status – Part F - Staffing

Project Status-Part G-Social Consultations

Project Status – Part H- Quality Assurance

Lessons Learned and What Lies Ahead

Part A- Overall Project

Part B – Functional Areas- Procurement and Finance

Part C-Functional Area - IEC

Part D – Quality Assurance

What Lies Ahead

Evaluation, Findings and Conclusions

Relevance of the Development Objectives

Appropriateness of Project Design and Covenants

Sustainability of Interventions

Realism in the Key Performance Indicators and Their Measurement

Institutional Arrangements and Project Management

Adequacy of Stakeholder Consultation

Bank Performance

Borrower Performance

Key Issues and Actions Needed

Recommendations

Overview

Recommendations

Next Steps

1

Terms and Abbreviations

ADB / Asian Development Bank
ARP
DWSS / Department of Water Supply and Sanitation
DPMC / District Programme Management Cell
DOF / Department of Finance, Government of Punjab
DEA / Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India
FC / Fully Covered Villages
GOI / Government of India
GOP / Government of Punjab
GP / Gram Panchayat
GPWSC / Gram Panchayat Water and Sanitation Committee
IEC / Information, Education and Communication
MV / Multi-village schemes
NABARD / National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development
NRHM / National Rural Health Mission
NC / Not-covered Villages
O&M / Operations and Maintenance
PRWSS / Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project
PC / Partially covered Villages
QA / Quality Assurance
SPMC / State Programme Management Cell
SSA / Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
SV / Single Village Schemes
WB / World Bank

1

Executive Summary

The World Bank Mission in July 2009 observed that ‘The project is assisting in community mobilization through an intensive IEC campaign and with support from NGOs in most of the districts. Access to water supply in the rural areas is increasing with the project assistance, though at a slower pace than estimated. The project has received wider acceptance since the revision of the cost-sharing rules for water supply schemes which was made effective from November last year, and registering increased demand. Government's reaffirmation of the commitment to implement the MTP to increase access to improved water supply and sanitation following SWAp, the demonstrated administrative will and the action taken in the last six months, and as mentioned above the increasing demand point towards likelihood of achievement of the PDO.’ On the basis of this observation, the Bank Mission rated achievement on the PDO as Moderately Satisfactory. There has been one more Mission since then, and the opinion has not changed.

This Mid-Term Review Report represents the understanding of the State Programme Management Cell of the Government of Punjab of the progress made so far in the Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, and the issues that have come to light during the preceding two-and-a-half years of implementation of the project.

The Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project has been a late starter. There have been many justifiable [and some uncontrollable and unanticipated] administrative and technical reasons for this. The issue currently is not that it is a late starter, but that the project has picked up a certain speed and this speed not only needs to be maintained, but increased. To that end, a number of issues have been identified which will need immediate attention, not only of the project authorities, but also the Government of Punjab and the World Bank.

The issues that have been identified during the Evaluation are quite wide-ranging in their individual scope. However they may be categorized in terms of the following:

  • Impact of the initial delay upon project execution overall
  • Impact of new Cost-sharing formula upon GP/GPWSC
  • Impact of plans to scale-up scheme implementation during the next two years
  • Impact of intensified IEC efforts upon the existing project management infrastructure

This MTR report was designed to examine all the above issues in detail with respect to the initial conditions of the project, the current status and recommendations made to deal with these issues. The Report points out a number of such recommendations and makes the case that these recommendations need to be considered and acted upon as may be deemed appropriate, but also stresses simultaneously that so far as the PRWSS is concerned, time is running out and it is necessary to do so expeditiously.

At an overall level, this report notes that for such major projects as PRWSS,

  • Top-level political driver is necessary. From the point of view of overall project management, it has been seen that the major issue has been the political driver. Had there initially been political commitment and concern to the level that it exists today, the project would perhaps have progressed much faster.
  • Commitment and ownership of senior bureaucracy is required. Current level of reviews by senior bureaucracy has also been an engine for creating momentum in the project. At the beginning, this level of bureaucratic commitment was also not there. The two drivers – political and senior bureaucratic- combine with each other to get a project going through its most difficult phases.
  • Envisaged Project Structure must be clearly responsive to project needs. For projects that are predicated on beneficiary participation and decentralization, an organization structure different from that in standard Government departments is needed.
  • Manpower requirement and deployment issues must be identified and addressed early.
  • Alignment of Client Preparatory Activities with Project Effectiveness. Another major lesson from this and other projects is that project preparatory activities [especially in manpower matters] at the Client level must begin much earlier than Effectiveness. This does not normally happen because the Government is not given to committing resources until the project is actually approved by the concerned Funding Agency.
  • Managed and Pro-active mid-stream corrections. Mid-stream corrections are normally the result of reports and aide-memoires given by the Funding Agencies. However, PRWSS has shown that where the project management is pro-active, project implementation becomes speedier and more streamlined as a result of mid-stream reviews by project authorities themselves.

At the internal level of the project, actions necessary are:

  • Building up in-house capacity in World Bank, UN, etc. procurement Rules.
  • Building up in-house capacity in Financial Management.
  • Specific Procurement Strategies to be identified early on. It has been seen that in PRWSS, in quite a few cases, so-called ‘standard’ procurement strategies have not worked. Consequently strategies have had to be modified, in some cases only after a few first attempts – costing several months of project time – failed to yield any result. Therefore, one activity that needs to be included among the preparatory ones before the project actually begins, is the planning of procurement strategies.
  • Need to build up internal checks, balances, and control systems.
  • Establishment of measures of effectiveness of procurement and finance, and the need for a Costing function.

So far as the major lessons learnt are concerned, stress must be put on IEC activities. Government departments typically are attuned to maintenance, and not development functions. Field level functionaries cannot afford to ignore these changes. At the beginning, PRWSS was also predicated upon such assumptions and not much attention was paid to outreach functions. It was later realized that social outreach is in fact the pivot upon which the success of the whole project revolves. Once this realization became organizational, much more attention was paid to IEC activities, and the results of the same are now evident.

Quality Assurance (QA) has been a point of concern for the project authorities. While there are specific norms for QA within the DWSS, the monitoring of Quality has not been a matter seen as apart from normal engineering executive functions. PRWSS has shown that where large-scale civil works are concerned, it is necessary to have independent evaluation of Quality.

Further actions that are now deemed necessary are:

  • Increasing Design Effectiveness
  • Effective Quality Monitoring
  • Streamlined Procurement
  • Re-computation, adjustments of Project Costs
  • Overall improvement in Scheduling of implementation
  • Introduce village level Grievance Redress Mechanism where the scheme has been commissioned.
  • Preparation of a detailed Manpower plan and recruitment strategy.
  • Prepare a list of FAQ regarding participation and operation and maintenance, and launch at Website
  • Establish close coordination at Village level with the education (SSA), health (NRHM); and sanitation (TSC)programs to enhance IEC penetration. These matters are already being discussed at village levels, having been approved by the SWSM.
  • Prepare evaluation methods and criteria for best GPWSC award to be given from 2009-10. SPMC has already prepared a set of Drafts in regard to the selection criteria and the GPWSC are being made aware.
  • Preparation of Concept Note on Sustainability Monitoring

This Review also points out some Policy issues which need to be handled at the GOP level:

  • Needs of Special Groups. These include population from border villages, kandi area hill villages, waterlogged villages, etc. Lowering the bar for such Special Category villages has resulted in accelerating the progress of schemes somewhat but the project authorities feel that it is necessary to inject more momentum into the progress of scheme execution.
  • Capacity constraints of professionals working in the Water Sector. As PRWSS implementation has shown, there is a serious deficiency of professionals who are willing to work in the water sector, particularly at district and village levels. These constraints may prove to be serious in the future as coverage expands.
  • Land related issues. Land related issues have already become important for sewerage schemes where land parcels for STP are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

As can be easily understood, the addressing of the above issues cannot be predicated upon policy decision at the government level alone. Some of these issue would be addressed at the local level, and some others would be addressed by the GOP in terms of the emergent situation[s] at GP level. The current overall structure and approach of the SPMC and the DPMC are such that with the addition of some elements to the existing structure of GOP, the policy development and feedback loop could be completed reasonably satisfactorily. However, expansion of the project ambit would be required to fully address all the issues satisfactorily.

From the outset this project has been designed for sustainability and the interventions made thus far will go a long way in removing inequities in water supply in Punjab. In particular, sustainability has been encouraged through a number of measures discussed in this Report. Further issues that need to be considered with regard to sustainability are as follow:

  • Policy to be formulated for major repairs and replacement of the water supply systems both for SV and MV
  • IEC efforts should not cease with the end of the project term
  • Development and Statement of Long Term Policy prescriptions in terms of actionable strategies
  • Further integration with Swajaldhara and other programs

The key issues that need to be addressed during balance period of the project are:

  • Construction of Schemes during balance period of 2009-10 and 2010-11. This is probably the most significant challenge for PRWSS as a whole. While design and supervision activities have been now made the responsibility of a Consulting Firm, the schedules, perforce have had to remain very tight. In fact, there are hardly any flexibilities in terms of schedules. Of the 3000-odd villages proposed to be covered under the project, 70 villages are now in operation, and original project tenure is only for another two-and-a-half years. There is therefore a need to extend the tenure by at least another two years.
  • Additional manpower for IEC, procurement, and supervision. Augmentation of manpower is needed. Success of the project, with scaled-up rates of implementation will require immediate attention to this matter.
  • Planning for Contingencies. The Project needs to plan for the contingencies because of the inherent complexities and variables when working in a large geographically spread area and predicated upon the active participation of the communities.
  • Upgrading of physical and HR infrastructure of SPMC. Currently, project management still seems to operate on an emergency mode, with key responsibilities resting on the shoulders of a very few persons. Office support is practically non-existent. Such an infrastructure will not suffice for scaled-up operations.
  • Scaling-up IEC operations. As discussed earlier, IEC operations need to be substantially scaled-up in order to assure sustainability in the very large number of schemes that are now proposed to be implemented.
  • Improvement of DOF-SPMC collaboration. It is considered that further improvement of the level of cooperation and collaboration between the Department of Finance and the SPMC is needed.
  • Additional Technical Assistance. While the projects are primarily engineering in content, nevertheless it has been seen that considerable input of social and behavioral engineering will be required particularly when the sanitation schemes come into being and the question of maintenance of community facilities also arises. For this purpose expert TA (qualification of the TA may be elaborated )will be necessary in these fields[BC1] , in order to gauge the social impact of project related interventions properly and create a ground for social sustainability of these projects. This is important because currently most of the schemes are executed as a result of the initiatives of individual Sarpanches. There needs to be a socially institutionalized system that will continue no matter how the Gram Panchayat changes. Experts are needed to help build that socially institutionalized system.

This Report makes the following major recommendations

  1. Time Extension of Project Activities. It has been stated that very little flexibility is available in terms of time for achieving the coverage expected under this project. There are a number of issues and inherent risks associated with the balance period activities and implementation schedules, which lead to this recommendation as discussed in this report. It is recommended that the timeframe of the project be increased by two years. The proposed extension will mainly account for the time delays during the initial period of the project.
  1. Arrangements for Smoother Flow of Project Funds. It is recommended that the World Bank tranches may flow directly to the Project Account, paying for as many villages as possible after raising the WB contribution for such schemes from 66% to 90%. Conversely the GOI and GOP contribution for the balance of villages will then increase from the current 34% to 100% including the beneficiary share. This will have the advantage that until the WB funded villages are completed, there will be no difficulties in the flow of project funds. The smooth execution of the schemes will also then encourage inactive GP to join in.
  1. Improved and Intensified IEC activities. It has been stated in this document that quantum jumps in scheme implementation cannot be obtained without scaling-up IEC activities. Part of this problem has already been addressed by including village level IEC activities in the responsibilities assigned to Engineering Support consultant. Besides SPMC has conducted three residential training programmes for capacity building of the professionals working in DPMCs Now, on the basis of a Social Impact survey of IEC activities a strategic planningbased on a Social Impact survey of IEC activities alreadycarried out has been done and infrastructure facilities for intensifying IEC activities especially at the District level are under way.
  1. Improved Supervision and Contract Management of Schemes. It has been noted that the level and quality of construction supervision, contract management and assessment of quality has not been very satisfactory, and that this has been realized by the SPMC itself. Constraints of manpower resources have impeded better performance in this area. Key issues identified include (a) more intensive technical inspections during scheme construction, (b) more intensive financial inspections during scheme execution, (c) more intensive verification of contractors, (d) preparation of post-construction and commissioning drawings, etc.
  1. Intensified program for Water Quality Monitoring at the village level. The efforts of the project authorities to train volunteers from the villages to monitor water quality, is bearing fruit. Nearly one thousand workshops have been held and more than one lakh water testing kits have been distributed. Nearly 5000 villages have already been covered, and the balance would be covered during the current financial year.

6.Overall Manpower Planning and Sustainability Assurance of the Scheme Support Structure at the State level. It has already been mentioned that project sustainability will also depend to a very great extent on the way in which the Government decides to provide support services to the GP and GPWSC on a long-term basis. This implies proper manpower planning for the future [and continuing] structure. Else, if long-term management is to be handed over to the existing DWSS which has relatively less exposure to the new culture of decentralization, there is a chance that over a period of time there would be attrition and also a fall in the standards of O&M.