| General Information |
Project/Program |
Project |
| Project Name |
Rural Infrastructure Improvement Project 28099 |
| Duration |
Date of Board Approval: 28-Sept.-1995 Closing Date/ In Loan Agreement: 31-Jan.-1996 Actual: 10-Jan.-1996 |
| Donor |
Asian Development Bank (ADB) |
| Implementiong Organization |
Ministry of Rural Development |
| Sector and/or Subsector Classification |
Infrastructure |
| Region |
Provinces: Kampot, Kandal, Kompong Cham, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, and Takeo |
| Financing |
Total estimation: USD 31.4 million (ADB: loan USD 25.1 million , Japan Special Fund: grant USD 1.5 million) |
| Analytical Information |
Stakeholders |
Asian Development Bank, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Rural Development, Provincial Rural Development Committee, Provincial Department of Rural Development, Project Implementation Consultant, Project Implementation Unit, Project Management Office, Provincial Project Manager. According to the completion report, stakeholders participated in subproject selection through workshops to identify investments based on local priorities and this are willing to maintain the ensuing assets. |
| Cross-cutting Issue |
Environment |
Project scope was changed due to severe damage of flooding in 2000. Unutilized loan funds under the component Rural Road Rehabilitation were used for the Emergency Flood Rehabilitation Project to rehabilitate flood damaged roads. Sustainability is another issue due to low government salaries given to technical staff who need to work at the project site after the completion of the project. Moreover, the authorities in the Project Implementation Unit had conflicting responsibilities leading to inefficient processing and poor coordination. |
| Gender |
No relevant material is found in the completion report regarding any gender issues. |
| Impact Analysis |
Project aligns with the National Program to Rehabilitate and Develop Cambodia, Socioeconomic Development Plan II, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, ADB country strategy and program. |
| Effectiveness |
Ownership/Partnership |
Evaluation |
Limited capacity for project management office lead to increased third party contracts to take over the limited management; in addition, participation was low for the PMO due to overloaded responsibilities in other projects. This eventually led to delay in production of financial reports. Moreover, the Ministry of Rural Development lacked knowledge regarding ADB procedures and reporting requirements. |
| Rating |
2/5 |
| Policy Coherence/Harmonization |
Evaluation |
ADB's frequent change of project officers caused delays of the project. There is no information regarding the harmonization with the Japanese Government regarding the project. However, the project was divided in so the grant from Japan was to be used for technical assistance for project identification, prioritization, preparation, implementation, operation, and maintenance. There is no further material regarding the two donor's method of communication. |
| Rating |
2/5 |
| Evaluation Framework |
Evaluation |
Conditions of the covenants were fully met by the government and the agencies. During this project, benefit monitoring and evaluation (BME) was created in Ministry of Rural Development to train its staff to monitor socioeconomic benefits of the current and the future development projects. This team initially focused on economic evaluations of road projects. |
| Rating |
4/5 |
| Alignment/Composition of Finance |
Evaluation |
Project schedule was in accordance with the original plan; despite some initial delays in appointing the project implementation unit. In addition, prior to project implementation, provincial and district officials, development agencies, and nongovernment organizations gathered in various workshops to review the subprojects to prioritize their list for 1999 and 2000 (also known as the participatory process approach). This naturally provided a list of subprojects for future projects. |
| Rating |
4/5 |
| Other Remarks |
Overall, the ministries, agencies, and the implementation units were severely under staffed and needed on job training regarding the procedures of the ADB (lack of capacity). Market rehabilitation, one of the four components, lead to performance failure in the end due to lack of maintenance and declining utilization. |
