After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the quality and efficiency of water supply and sanitation (WSS) in Azerbaijan deteriorated because of poor management, ageing infrastructure, and inadequate investment. This was especially true in secondary towns where, despite an 83% piped-network coverage in 2009, poor water supply sources and deteriorating or inadequate water treatment facilities rendered most households virtually without access to safe water. To address the situation, the government targeted an 80%–85% WSS coverage in secondary towns and villages, by 2015.
To help achieve the target, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved in September 2009 a multitranche financing facility (MFF) of up to $600 million for the Water Supply and Sanitation Investment Program. The program’s intended impact was improved public health and environment in the participating towns. Its expected outcome was improved coverage, continuity, and quality of water supply and wastewater disposal in the participating
towns.
Tranche 2 of the MFF was approved by ADB in December 2011 for a loan of $300 million loan. The tranche 2 project envisaged improved WSS services in Agdash, Beylagan, Goychay, and Nakhchivan towns, as impact; and improved access to WSS infrastructure in those towns, as outcome. Complementing the scope of project 1, approved in 2009 and closed in 2017, project 2’s scope at appraisal included three outputs: (i) construction of WSS infrastructure and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the four project towns, (ii) improvement of the WSS sector’s institutional effectiveness, and (iii) establishment of a program management facility.
However, a major change occurred during implementation. In 2012, the government expanded Agdash’s administrative area from 1,070 to 2,307 hectares, necessitating a change in the design of the WSS network in the project town. Because of significant cumulative cost overruns, WWTP construction in Agdash and Beylagan was moved to project 4 and eventually financed through the state budget.
The planned twinning programs to improve the operational efficiency of the WSS key agencies in Agdash and Beylagan were likewise replaced by a wide-ranging capacity building program for the Azersu by Suez Environnement, a France-based utility company. But a public outreach program to disseminate project benefits and better hygiene and sanitation practices among schoolchildren and teachers was carried out in the said towns through the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Successful output deliveries enabled the project to achieve its revised outcome. Access to WSS infrastructure in all four towns significantly improved, with 100% of beneficiaries receiving 24-hour potable water and sanitation services. WSS infrastructure targets were exceeded, expanding the water distribution network to 500 kilometers (km) instead of 460 km, the sewer lines to 458 km instead of 427km, and the water reservoirs to 10,000 cubic meters (m3) instead of 7,000. The only unachieved physical output was the sewage treatment plant capacity ─ instead of 83 million liters per day (MLD) as planned, only 52 MLD was achieved because of the yet incomplete WWTP construction in Agdash and Beylagan. The successful delivery of a WWTP with biological treatment and daily sewage treatment capacity of 20,000 cubic meters (m3) in Goychay and a membrane bioreactor WWTP with a 32,000 m3 per day treatment capacity in Nakchivan marked the completion of the full-scale reconstruction of the WSS systems in these two towns also covered by project 1.
Despite implementation issues, the project’s gender action plan was also largely implemented. Beneficiaries in Agdash, Beylagan, and Goychay expressed satisfaction with the project outcomes. Families no longer needed to spend considerable time, effort, and money in collecting, filtering, boiling, and chemically treating water. Female family members, who traditionally do this work, have been relieved from additional physical labor and enabled to better plan their housework. Operationalization of the new sewerage network and WWTPs in Goychay and Nakhchivan eliminated the negative public health and environmental impacts from discharging wastewater into streets and nearby watercourses because of blocked and collapsed sewers. Households have also been able to save financial resources previously spent on cleaning septic tanks.
The EAs were the State Amelioration and Water Management Committee (SAWMC) for project activities in Nakhchivan and the Azersu Open Joint-Stock Company for activities in the other project areas. These entities were first established under the ADB-financed Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project and then continued under project 1.
