People’s Republic of China: Hunan Flood Management Sector Project

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Lessons

The numerous subprojects comprising a sector project can present an implementation challenge.

The 35 subprojects that made up this sector project, 8 of which comprised the core subprojects approved together with the sector project, presented an implementation challenge, particularly for land acquisition and resettlement. As required by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), review and approval of the core subprojects’ resettlement plans were completed prior to overall project appraisal. Finalization and ADB’s approval and disclosure of the resettlement plans for the subsequent 27 noncore subprojects, designed and approved during project implementation, took an average of 18 months. The fastest took 12 months. ADB had anticipated this sector project’s risk of taking a long time for the preparation and approval of resettlement plans for the noncore subprojects, due to the huge volume of centralized documentation. This risk was not adequately resolved, despite considerable efforts by the design institute that prepared the resettlement plans, the provincial project management office (PPMO), and ADB project team. Addressing this challenge may have to be taken up institutionally by ADB.

Allocations for consultant inputs to support project management should be commensurate to the project’s scale and complexity and the capacity of the project management offices (PMOs).

The consultancy services provided under the project’s associated technical assistance fell short of what was needed to help the PPMO manage 35 subprojects scattered all over Hunan, each undertaken independently by 35 separate city and county governments. The consultancy inputs were fully utilized by September 2009, and the PPMO had to manage the project without consultancy services from then on. Future projects should earmark adequate loan proceeds for these services, which should be commensurate to the project’s scale and complexity and PMO institutional capacity.

Ensuring compliance to environmental covenants and ADB safeguard policies requires ADB to provide regular guidance and ensure the participation of all stakeholders in project preparation.

Despite efforts to improve environmental monitoring and reporting, there was only partial compliance to the project’s environmental covenants. Several reasons were provided by the PPMO: the project’s environmental impacts were insignificant (category B); the local environmental protection bureaus were not motivated because of lack of participation in project preparation; funding was not enough; and coordination and capacity issues. Future projects should give greater attention to addressing these issues, as well as the need for ADB to provide more regular guidance to ensure that environmental management is being undertaken in line with ADB’s safeguard policies as well as those of the country. The requirements for environmental monitoring, particularly the frequency of reporting, should also be spelled out in the loan agreement and made consistent in all the project documents.

Careful consideration of all the relevant urban development plans minimizes the need for redesigning subprojects.

The implementation of some subprojects was delayed due to the need to update their design to make them consistent with the urban development plans and priorities, particularly of the local governments. This also meant that certain aspects of some subprojects were not implemented because of the absence of a policy basis. To minimize the need for redesigning subprojects, which would also require changes in bid documents and works contracts, future projects should ensure that all relevant urban development plans are carefully considered during subproject preparation. This would also help align the subprojects to the urban development priorities of the government at various levels.

Background

Many cities and industrial centers in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are on or near major rivers, which puts a high proportion of the country's economic activity at risk from periodic floods. Major flooding and the poor drainage that contributes to it constitute the most common and severe form of natural hazard in the PRC. To deal with it, the Ministry of Water Resources has changed its strategy from flood control to an integrated flood management approach based on river basins. This strategic shift is economically and environmentally sustainable and aims to be socially inclusive.

Reflecting the strategic shift, the Hunan provincial government (HPG) combined structural flood control with nonstructural flood management under its 11th five-year plan for 2006–2010. Nonstructural flood management included improving flood forecasting, flood warnings, and emergency response. The Hunan Flood Management Sector Project approved by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in June 2006, for a loan of $200 million, supported the implementation of part of Hunan’s integrated flood management program. The project focused on the basins on the upper reaches of the Lishui, Xiangjiang, Yuanjiang, and Zishui rivers. These rivers drain 84% of Hunan’s area, and the basins are home to 84% of Hunan’s people.

The project’s expected impact was enhanced sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic growth in the flood-prone areas of Hunan. Its intended outcome was improved flood protection for strategic and priority flood-prone areas in the upper reaches of the 4 main river basins in Hunan Province. It had 4 components: (i) strengthening nonstructural flood management systems; (ii) preparing and completing structural flood protection works, along with the related resettlement and environmental management activities; (iii) strengthening project management and building capacities; and (iv) supporting flood management and planning.

At completion, the project substantially achieved its output targets. It established new flood warning and management systems that linked 35 cities and counties linked to the flood warning platform of the Hunan Provincial Water Resources Department and enabled warnings to be announced 1−3 days before flood events. Before these systems were put in place, a flood warning could be issued only several hours to 1 day before an expected flood event. Accuracy of flood forecasting and warning had also been improved from 70%–85% before the project to 85%–90% afterwards.

Flood protection structures were constructed or rehabilitated through 35 subprojects. These structures comprised 399.2 kilometers of embankments and flood walls, sluice gates, pumping stations, and diversion channels. Flood protection levels consequently increased from a pre-project baseline of 1-in-5-year-return-level to a 1-in-20-year-return-level, in 26 county-level cities and counties. In 9 prefecture-level cities, the baseline flood protection level was improved to a 1-in-50–100-year-return-level.

Substantial delivery of the output targets allowed the project to achieve its intended outcome. Annual flood damage and disaster relief costs in the project province was reduced. Annual average direct economic losses caused by floods and waterlogging declined.

The project was rated successful by ADB’s East Asia Department. The Hunan Provincial Government was the executing agency, and the 35 participating cities and counties were the implementing agencies.

Project Information

Project Name:

Hunan Flood Management Sector Project

Report Date:

September, 2016

Main Sector:

Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural Development

Country:

China

Project Number:

37641-013

Project/Modality:

Loan

Themes:

Environmentally Sustainable growth

Inclusive Economic Growth

Governance and Capacity Development

Sub Sector:

Rural flood Protection

Rural water policy, institutional and capacity development

Report Rating:

Successful