| General Information |
Project/Program |
Project |
| Project Name |
Northwestern Rural Development Project 34207 |
| Duration |
Board of Approval: 27-Nov.-2001 Closing Date: (in loan agreement): 31-Dec.-2007 (actual): 30-June-2008 |
| Donor |
Asian Development Bank (ADB) |
| Implementiong Organization |
Ministry of Rural Development |
| Sector and/or Subsector Classification |
Infrastructure |
| Region |
14 Target Districts of 4 Provinces: Battambang, Banteay Meanchy, Oddar Meanchey, Siem Reap |
| Financing |
Total project cost during appraisal was USD 27.2 million (during the time of completion report: USD 31.73 million), ADB assisting USD 15.3million and local Government of USD 7.4 million. The actual costs were USD 32.53 million (foreign costs amounting up to USD 14.26 million, and local costs up to USD 18.27 million) where the Government financed USD 4.25 million. |
| Analytical Information |
Stakeholders |
Asian Development Bank, Community Based Organization, Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Water Resource and Meteorlogy, Non-governmental Organizations, Partnership for Development Kampuchea, Provincial Department for Rural Development, Project Implementation Unit, Project Management Unit, Village Development Committee, public institutions, civil society, private sector, local elected officials, village organizations. Project was formulated through extensive consultations with the community; according to the project completion report, stakeholder participation was a feature of the project design with planning workshops reviewing detailed proposals, community consultations and workshops for infrastructure planning and implementation. |
| Cross-cutting Issue |
Environment |
As this is the first project of ADB regarding decentralization and deconcentration, there it was noteworthy that ADB was able to work more intimately with the local provinces. There were no informed unchangeable problems. |
| Gender |
No relevant information regarding gender issues have been raised. |
| Impact Analysis |
Project aligns with ADB's operational strategy, and the government's approach to decentralization and deconcentration. In addition as the Northwestern region was one of the most underdeveloped places of Cambodia, the project predicted increase of market, school, health center participation from the rural poor. |
| Effectiveness |
Ownership/Partnership |
Evaluation |
Project Implementation Units PMUs were set up in each of the four provinces to participate in actual day to ay activities, monitoring, evaluation, and technical planning, administering. In addition, according to the completion report, there were many recruitments of nongovernmental organizations which assisted in the participation of selecting contractors, and helping communities in participatory methods of selection and identification. However, the report also claims the project did not directly address the low level of participation from the most vulnerable people in the rural villages of the project. |
| Rating |
3/5 |
| Policy Coherence/Harmonization |
Evaluation |
There is no separate evaluation of the harmonization of donors (ADB and Japan) regarding this project although the completion report mentions training costs were split and under the estimate as the responsibilities went to non governmental organizations assisted by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction- funded Community Based Livelihood Enhancement Project. Harmonization with ADB and the Government had some issues: the executing agency had some noncompliance with the ADB Procurement Guidelines to some extent, lack of diligence of the liason office, and Ministry of Rural Development did not follow its practices of the project outline (not specified in completion report). |
| Rating |
2/5 |
| Evaluation Framework |
Evaluation |
No relevant information on the evaluation framework of the donors, recipients, and contractors. |
| Rating |
N.A. |
| Alignment/Composition of Finance |
Evaluation |
Disbursements were late due to numerous small contracts which created a cash flow problem; documenting these numerous small amounts by inexperienced contractors. According to the project completion report, delays of large infrastructure were subsequent, however were not due to technical, design flaws, or project implementation. All covenants were complied by the Government. |
| Rating |
3/5 |
| Other Remarks |
The completion report remarked all PIUs were ineffective except one (which was not specified in the report); thus funding for these units were stopped after August 2006. There were resettlement issues regarding a small number of people but were minimal and thus was not dealt in the completion report. |
