Bangladesh: Urban Governance and Infrastructure Improvement (Sector) Project II

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Lessons

Allocation of investment funds based on governance performance introduces good policies and practices and motivates local governments to improve public services.

The project’s performance-based fund allocation approach, which linked the investment allocations of a pourashava (secondary town) to achievements in 6 key result areas, enhanced the governance capacity of the pourashavas and encouraged them to improve public services. A high rate of success was achieved in better administration of pourashava development, improved urban planning and development, enhanced tax assessment and collection, and enhanced urban infrastructure and services. Achievements in urban poverty reduction, public participation in planning and design, women’s participation employment generation, and slum improvements had also been significant, with a tremendous impact on sustainability. Overall, the project has demonstrated the effectiveness of leveraging urban investments in embedding good governance in local government policies and practices.

Clear implementation timeframes and strong monitoring systems help ensure the success of a complex, multicomponent project.

The 3-phased implementation scheme followed by the project required the participating pourashavas to achieve a set of performance criteria before progressing to the next phase. The project’s updated design and monitoring framework provided clear timeframes for these criteria to be met and a 2-year deadline from project start was set for disqualifying pourashavas that did not achieve any of the initial performance criteria. Along with consistent monitoring, undertaken on a component basis by the project implementation unit in each pourashava and the project management office for the whole project, the well-defined implementation timeframes enabled the timely completion of governance-related activities. While a 6-month extension in project completion had to be made, this resulted from initial delays in consultant recruitment and civil works.

Involving citizens in local planning and development fosters transparency and improves the quality of urban infrastructure and services.

Promoting participatory governance was a key feature of the project, for which matter, it established town- and ward-level coordination committees, gender committees, and slum improvement committees that were run with adequate citizen representation. Operating in all the 47 participating pourashavas, these committees helped ensure citizen’s participation in municipal planning and development that in turn fostered transparency and high-quality of works. A citizen report card was also operationalized to update all stakeholders on project progress as well as call attention to pressing development concerns.

Roads with reinforced cement concrete pavements are sturdier and more sustainable in coastal and flood prone areas.

Project experience has shown that cement concrete pavements are better able to withstand flooding/waterlogging than bituminous pavements. Given the long-drawn inundation that frequents several coastal and low-lying pourashavas, this experience may be considered in the design of future road works. The conduct of cost-benefit and economic viability analyses, comparing these 2 options, will provide a solid basis for their use in future similar projects.

Project readiness is essential to efficient project implementation.

Procurement and implementation of subprojects in phases II and III went quickly, as the designs were prepared by consultants in phase I. This reinforced the overall experience at ADB that project readiness is key to efficient implementation.

Background

Urbanization in Bangladesh had been increasing at a rate of 6% per year since 1971. As of 2005, an estimated 38 million people or 27% of the total population lived in urban areas. Despite significant progress in poverty reduction, 37% of the urban population were below the poverty line in the 1990s. Urban living conditions worsened as the growth in urban poverty and population outstripped the development of urban infrastructure and services. Improving urban governance also became an urgent concern in this context.

The Urban Governance and Infrastructure Improvement (Sector) Project II (UGIIP-II), financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through a loan of $87 million approved in October 2008, continued the performance-based allocation of investment funds for urban improvements started by UGIIP-I. The project’s envisaged impact was sustained improvement in the urban environment and quality of life. Its expected outcome was expanded access to and usage of urban infrastructure and services, and improvement of urban governance. It had 3 components: (i) urban infrastructure and service delivery, (ii) governance improvement and capacity development, and (iii) project management and implementation support. The Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) provided parallel financing of $36.10 million and $4.7 million, respectively.

The project was implemented in 3 phases. Phase I started with 35 pourashavas (secondary towns) selected during project preparation. All 35 successfully achieved phase I performance criteria, proceeded to phase II, and were allocated partial investment funding for their approved subprojects. At the end of phase II, 16 new pourashavas were added, and the performance of the original 35 pourashavas was evaluated, of which, 31 were found to have achieved phase II performance criteria and thus were given the rest of the funding to complete their subprojects under phase III. The 16 additional pourashavas also received allocations according to their phase II performance.

At completion, the project built or upgraded 1, 1,083.60 kilometers (km) roads, 34.44 km of water supply pipes, 156.81 km of drains, and several bus/truck terminals, slaughterhouses, markets, and community centers; and provided 4,644 households with new sanitation.

It enhanced pourashava governance by strengthening citizen awareness and participation, especially of women and the urban poor; and improving urban planning, tax assessment and collection, and administrative transparency and efficiency.

Urban conditions improved with the completion of the physical investments. For instance, traffic congestion and travel time from households to city centers declined, access to economic opportunities and social services increased, the number of households affected each year by monsoon floods decreased, access to sanitation and municipal facilities such as markets, bus and truck terminals, and parks expanded. Consequently, the average incomes of slum and non-slum households increased by 156% and 65.54%, respectively.

Urban governance in the project pourashavas likewise improved. Specifically, the pourashavas were more able to (i) effectively plan and implement urban development and related activities, (ii) increase taxes and clear past debts, and (iii) undertake the operation and maintenance of urban facilities with their own income.

ADB’s South Asia Department rated the project successful. The project was implemented with a negligible cost overrun for a period of 6.5 years, 6 months longer than envisaged. The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) was the executing agency. A project management office under the LGED and a project implementation unit in each pourashava served as implementing agencies.

Project Information

Project Name:

Bangladesh: Second Urban Governance Improvement (Sector) Project

Report Date:

August, 2017

Main Sector:

Water and Other Urban Infrastructure and Services

Country:

Bangladesh

Project Number:

40559-013

Report Type: