ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: The Sindh On-Farm Water Management project for which the World Bank had sanctioned $61 million credit in 2004, has suffered serious implementation delays, and even after eight years, the project could not take off due to unresolved administrative issues, says a World Bank assessment report.
Taking note of the non-utilisation of the credit, the World Bank fielded an assessment mission which has pointed out that the project implementation has suffered from serious implementation delays primarily due to inability of recruiting supervision consultants whose main task was to monitor and verify civil works which were to be completed by Water Course Associations under community-based contracts.
The Sindh government is now requesting the World Bank for a two-year extension of the project, which is being channelled through the Economic Affairs Division.
Given the continued importance of the project for improved irrigated agriculture productivity and enhancement of irrigation reforms in Sindh, and the fact the key delay reasons were lying mostly outside the control of the project, a joint assessment team of the Sindh government and the World Bank has concluded that a two-year project extension would beneeded to complete the activities under the project.
Since the agreement on project extension requires at the higher level, the Sindh government has asked the federal government to seek extension of the project from the World Bank.
The project was to bring improvements to all sections of the farming community in the province, but poor farmers, at the tail end of the system, as well as sharecroppers and landless tenants, will benefit the most from better irrigation infrastructure and improved service delivery.
The delays in recruitment of supervision consultants were caused by legal disputes between Agriculture Department and one of the consulting firms.
As a result of extensive efforts of the provincial government, the issue was finally resolved and the supervision consultants have now come on board and paved the way for accelerated implementation.
The report however stated that unprecedented flooding following heavy rains in August-October 2011 jeopardised implementation of project activities, and reversed some of project progresses made till then.
During the last four months, the execution of civil works for watercourse improvement component has not been undertaken due to recent flood and the actual civil work is heavily affected however activities under productivity enhancement component are progressing well.
Due to major delays occurred at earlier stage of implementation, the project still faces a significant challenge of meeting the key project targets, says the World Bank report.
The project is aimed at helping farmers to better manage water and increase agricultural productivity, by improving the efficiency, reliability, and equity of irrigation water; supporting productivity enhancement measures and enhancing long-term sustainability by fostering greater farmer participation.
The Sindh On-Farm Water Management Project was to focus on canal commands in Sindh where institutional reforms were in progress and Area Water Boards (AWBs) have been established. The project supports five mutually complementary components: social mobilisation and capacity building, improvements of irrigation facilities, productivityenhancement programme, monitoring and evaluation, and project management support.