India: Karnataka Rural Water Supply Project (KRWSP)

OBJECTIVE

The objective is to provide reliable, sustainable and safe drinking water supply to the rural communities and selected urban local bodies in the Mandya and Vijayapura districts. 

DESCRIPTION

The project will develop bulk water supply systems to provide reliable, sustainable and safe drinking water to the rural communities in two districts of the state of Karnataka. The project comprises three components.

Component One-Investment in infrastructure for multi-village bulk water supply systems: (1) construction of bulk water supply structures including: intake structures, pumping stations, rising mains, water treatment plants, clear water storage reservoirs and water transmission mains, clear water gravity feeder main network, and elevated level surface reservoirs and/or village overhead tanks at habitations; (2) development of supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA) for water supply system management; (3) implementation support by Project Management Consultants (PMCs), and (4) operation and maintenance (O&M) for the initial 5 years upon the completion of the construction.

Component Two-Community development and institutional strengthening: (1) support for community participation and engagement in the project and village water supply distribution O&M; (2) assessment of the baseline water distribution and household connection situation in the project districts; (3) technical assistance in developing institutional capacity for bulk water supply O&M and cost recovery and piloting the study result in the project districts; and (4) support in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the project activities, outputs and outcomes.

Component Three-State-wide sector development support: (1) technical assistance to develop a roadmap for the rural water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector development, focusing on studying and identifying innovative Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models in WSS development and O&M; (2) piloting the result of the study from the technical assistance in the project districts.

PROJECT FINANCING

For more information about project financing, please review the project summary.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL INFORMATION

Policy and Standards. The project will be prepared in accordance with AIIB’s Environmental and Social Policy (ESP). Based on the preliminary environmental and social (E&S) due diligence for the project preparation, the following Environmental and Social Standards (ESS) are applicable to the project:

ESS 1 - Environmental and Social Assessment and Management.

ESS 2 - Involuntary Resettlement

ESS 3 - Indigenous Peoples.

Categorization and Rationale. The project has been assigned Category “A” in accordance with the ESP as it involves land acquisition, anticipated physical/commercial displacement, possibly temporary in nature and infringement on areas with Schedules Tribes.

E&S Approach. A framework approach will be adopted in accordance with the ESP, given that the project sites are yet to be precisely determined. The Environmental and Social Management Planning Framework (ESMPF) will be developed to guide preparation of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments in the project districts. The ESMPF will include a generic Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) and a Resettlement Planning Framework (RPF) and Tribal People’s Planning Framework (TPPF). A comprehensive Gender Action Plan (GAP) will be developed to address the water-women linkages, carefully delineating the needs and aspirations of women of different age groups. Public Consultations and Grievance Redress Mechanism: Consultations will be held in phases during the preparation of the ESMPF and after the draft ESMPF is completed. The ESMPF will be finalized, based on community feedback. The final ESMPF will be posted both online (on the websites of the borrower and AIIB) and made available in hard copy in the Project area. These documents will be available in English and Kannada.

Risks and Mitigation Measures. The key risk to implementing ESMPF and E&S management measures during project preparation and implementation is the potentially limited capacity for development of subproject E&S documents and implementation of ESMPs. Proposed mitigation measures will include:

Capacity development of the project management unit including appointment of competent E&S staff;

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) by a third-party M&E agency; and

Establishment of a multi-tier Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) in accordance with the requirements of the Bank’s ESP prior to the project implementation.