Southwestern Cities Development Project (RRP PRC 42010-01)

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION

A. Major Development Partners: Strategic Foci and Key Activities

1. Urban development often requires multisector intervention with components in the sector for water supply and other municipal infrastructure, and in the subsectors for urban transport, water supply and sanitation, and urban sector development as defined by the classification system of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The projects listed in the table below are those included in the programs of external funding agencies that have a specified operation focus in the sector or any of the subsectors mentioned above in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Major Development Partners Sectors and Development Amount Themes Partner Project Name Duration (million) Water and World Bank Guangxi Urban and Rural Programmed $100.0 sanitation Environmental Improvement Project Water and World Bank Environmental Improvement Programmed $150.0 sanitation Project II Urban sector ADB Guangxi Southwestern Cities Programmed $150.0 development Development Project Urban sector ADB Guangxi Beibu Gulf Cities Programmed $200.0 development Development Project Water and Germany Landfill Project Programmed €20.0 sanitation (KfW) Water and Austria Guilin City Wastewater Treatment Programmed €10.0 sanitation Project Water and Germany Zhongshan County Environmental Programmed €15.0 sanitation (KfW) Improvement Project Source: Guangxi Development and Reform Commission.

B. Institutional Arrangements and Processes for Development Coordination

2. ADB commits itself to sharing sector information and experiences in partnership with its developing member countries and other development agencies. In line with ADB's support for the 2005 Paris Declaration and the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action, it has been actively harmonizing its policies, procedures, and practices with its key development partners through parallel implementation structures, technical working groups, and joint missions. In addition, ADB has been supporting global and regional efforts to enhance aid effectiveness.

3. In the People's Republic of (PRC), development coordination is done mainly by the central government. Development partners are requested to align their operations to support the implementation of a national development strategy as set out in the 5-year plan for social and economic development approved by the People's Congress. The PRC Resident Mission of ADB also plays a key role in harnessing lessons learned in project processing and implementation, and in sharing the knowledge and experiences with other development partners in the sector.

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C. Achievement and Issues

4. Since 1992, coordination with major development partners has been getting stronger to support the 5-year plans of the PRC, strategic master plans, public awareness and education, financial and institutional strengthening, Millennium Development Goals, and other development results in the sector. The project teams of ADB regularly meet with major development partners of the PRC, such as the World Bank and other bilateral development agencies, to share project processing and implementation experiences.

D. Recommendations

5. The close coordination with other development partners will be continued and further strengthened. Stronger development coordination in the PRC is expected to minimize transaction costs, maximize responsiveness, address policy issues more systematically, provide greater support for reforms and capacity building, and promote better accountability to achieve greater development impact.