By project appraisal in 2011, Vanuatu’s capital city, Port Vila, had expanded beyond its originally defined urban boundaries because of rural–urban migration and proliferating informal settlements. But as the government was unable to provide adequate urban services and infrastructure, particularly drainage, roads, sanitation, and hygiene facilities and awareness, economic activity, public health, and overall quality of life in the city were at risk.
To help address the situation, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a loan of $5 million for the Port Vila Urban Development Project in December 2011. The project, cofinanced by the government of Australia through two grants amounting to $31 million and by the Global Environment Fund through a grant of $2.87 million, was designed to support the sustained urban development of Port Vila. Its expected outcome was sustainably improved hygiene conditions and reduced water-based hazards in the city.
The project had five original outputs: (i) improved roads and drainage in greater Port Vila; (ii) improved sanitation in greater Port Vila; (iii) improved hygiene for the central business district and settlement communities; (iv) improved capacity in government agencies and community and user organizations to manage sanitation, roads, and drainage systems effectively and efficiently; and (v) efficient project management services. However, a major change of scope was necessitated by: (i) a fall in project finances because of exchange rate losses; (ii) underestimation of the stormwater runoff and drainage requirements; (iii) increases in the costs of construction and materials because of implementation delays; (iv) increased costs because of roads and drainage redesign; and (v) inclusion of special treatment for road sections with property interfacing (“street-scaping”) at key locations.
At completion, the project achieved most of its reduced output targets. Adjusted physical infrastructure targets were substantially achieved. Government staff training was completed through a separate government of Australia-financed project. Sanitation standards were fully complied with and beneficiaries were trained in the management of the community sanitation facility, with 54% women participants. Safeguards were implemented successfully. However, implementation of the project gender action plan was unsuccessful.
Despite substantial output accomplishments, the project achieved, in fact overachieved, only two of its four revised outcome targets. Against a target of 75% by 2019, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene estimated that by end-2016, 92% of Vanuatu’s urban population had access to improved sanitation. In Port Vila, 10,270 households or 94% had access to better sanitation. Compared to the target of reducing by half the incidence of diarrhea in Port Vila, according to the Ministry of Health 2018 statistics, the reported cases of mild, moderate, and acute diarrhea on the Efate island (including Port Vila) equated to almost ten-fold the target set.
A key shortcoming was failure to obtain government commitment to provide $400,000 annually for road maintenance. According to government data, $570,000 equivalent in the 2019 national budget was allocated for the development and maintenance of urban roads in Shefa Province, but data was unavailable for the actual expenditure on road O&M. Accomplishments in the reduction of travel time and vehicle operating costs cannot be assessed because no commuter or traffic surveys were undertaken since project implementation began in 2014.
The project’s overall contribution to ADB’s results framework comprised: (i) 22.1 kilometer of national highways, provincial, district, and rural roads built or upgraded; (ii) 50,000 road project beneficiaries; (iii) 27.7 cubic meters per day wastewater treatment capacity added; (iv) 10,000 households served with improved sanitation; and (v) six catchments improved through new drainage. Except for the total length of roads built or upgraded, project accomplishments exceeded all the adjusted targets.
The project had the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management as executing agency. It had two implementing agencies: the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities and the Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation.
