Background of the Project

The Government of Sindh is implementing Sindh Water Sector Improvement Phase-I Project (WSIP-I) with financing assistance of the World Bank to improve the irrigation network of three Area Water Boards of Ghotki Feeder, Nara Canal and Left Bank Canals.

The project development objective (PDO) is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of irrigation water distribution in the three AWBs of Ghotki, Nara and Left Bank, particularly with respect to measures of reliability, equity and user satisfaction.

Initially the project was launched in 2007 at the total estimated cost of the project was US$ 175 million with financial assistance of US$ 150.2 million from the World Bank under IDA Credit NO: 3458-Pak and remaining amount of US$ 24.8 million contributed from Government of Sindh from through its Annual Development Program (ADP).

The Project has been revised and approved with additional financing of US$ 138 million from the World Bank under the IDA Credit No: 5556-PAK to complete all project activities specifically the civil works for rehabilitation and improvement of physical infrastructure of main and branch canals of AWBs under sub-component-B1 planned under the original project scope. The time period of the revised project has also been extended from 28th February, 2015 to 30th December, 2018 under the revised approved project.

Additional Financing Project: The Additional Financing would continue support rehabilitating/improving the hydraulic and irrigation infrastructure on which irrigated agriculture is fully dependent, thus avoiding social and environmental disaster in case of irrigation and drainage infrastructure collapse. The Additional Financing would also continue to deepen the reforms already underway in Sindh’s irrigation and drainage sector and improve the efficiency, quality, accountability and sustainability of irrigation and drainage services. The project would also continue to contribute towards agricultural production and employment generation in rural areas of Sindh which are among the poorest regions in the country, leading to improving the lives of the vulnerable population. In our reading of the project the M&E will contribute to these larger objectives by enhancing the quality of the work undertaken and contributing to a better and shared insight in the quality of the irrigation and drainage services and organizational improvements. As far as practical these insights would be shared by all key stakeholders, including representatives of FOs – to come to better learning and transparency.

The part of additional financing payments will use for the consultancy services of the activities being carried out for Monitoring, Evaluation of Project Impact and supervision of Environmental Management Plan under the revised project period.

• Project Area

• The project area consists of three Area Water Boards i.e. Nara canal, Ghotki feeder canal and Left bank canal (AkramWah and Fulleli). These three AWBs have gross command area (GCA) of 5.2 million acres (2.1 Mha) and culturable command area (CCA) of 4.54 million acres (1.8 Mha); which is about 35% of the total CCA in Sindh.

• Project Beneficiaries

• The main beneficiaries of the Project will be the smallholder farmers (up to 5 ha) and medium-size farmers (5-20 ha) in Sindh engaged in irrigated agriculture described in the following table, however, in consultation with the client it will be modified:

• Results and Indicators	Target	Progress of Year 2014	Cumulative Target Values 2015 2016 2017 2018
  Number of water users provided with improved irrigation water (male)	610,000	380,500	526,300 541,200 571,000 610,000
  Number of water users provided with improved irrigation water (Female)	2,300	500	1,000 1,500 2,000 2,300
  Number of operational water user associations/FOs created and/or strengthened	344	90	150 250 300 344

  
  

  Source:Project Appraisal Document (PAD) Additional Funding for WSIP, 2014

• Project Components

• We understand the project components to be financed under the Additional Financing as summarized below:

  Component A: Community Development and Capacity Building: Provide continued support to strengthen the capacity of SIDA, AWBs and FOs to enable them to perform their responsibilities according to the Sindh Water Management Ordinance of 2002. Among other things, the Additional Financing will continue to strengthen the capacity of FOs to carry out operation and maintenance of the irrigation and drainage systems.

  Component B: Rehabilitation and Improvement of the Irrigation and Drainage System: The additional resources of US $ 123.2 million will be used to carry out the works for improvement of the main canal systems of Ghotki and Left Bank and for completing the remaining works on the Nara Canal through three large civil works contracts. Rehabilitation of the main canals will include the following works: (a) Rehabilitation or replacement of regulating structures including rehabilitation or replacement of gates including provision of hydraulic control gates; (b)Establishing a modified hydraulic profile of the three main canals; (c) Erosion protection works and canal embankment strengthening; (d)Rehabilitation of inspection and non-inspection canal roads; and (e) Rehabilitation or replacement of road bridges crossing the canals.

  Component C: Management Plan for major Irrigation and Drainage Infrastructure: The Additional Financing will continue to support the preparation of feasibility studies and detailed designs for rehabilitation of the Sindh barrages by extending the current consulting services contracts.

  Component D: Monitoring and Evaluation of Project Impact, Environmental Management Plan and Social Action Plan: The Additional Financing would continue to support monitoring and evaluation and supervision of the environment management plan and the social action plan. The current consulting services contract will be extended for the duration of the Additional Financing.

  Component E: Project Coordination, Monitoring, Technical Assistance and Trainings: The Additional Financing would continue to support the project coordination, monitoring of implementation activities, management and supervision of procurement by an independent project management consultant, and technical assistance and training during the extended project duration. The current Project Management Consultant/Procurement Agent contract will be extended for the duration of the Additional Financing.