Integrated Rural–Urban Infrastructure Development Project (RRP PRC 47030)

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION

A. Major Development Partners: Strategic Foci and Key Activities

1. External assistance to Jiangxi Province in the People’s Republic of (PRC) comes primarily from World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB). Sector assistance has been focused on flood risk and water resource management; agriculture and forestry; transport; and urban and urban transport. To date there has been no direct support to Pingxiang municipality, although Luxi County and Anyuan benefitted from two World Bank projects. Some representative projects are summarized in the following table.

Major Development Partners Development Amount Partners Project Name Duration ($ million) Flood risk and water resource management, agriculture, and forestry sectors World Bank Jiangxi Wuxikou Flood Management Project 2013–2019 100 World Bank Jiangxi Poyang Lake Small Town Project 2013–2018 150 World Bank Jiangxi Integrated Agriculture Modernization 2003–2010 200 ADB Jiangxi Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Development Project 2008–2014 200 ADB Jiangxi Zhelin Lake Water Resources Integrated Utilization being 100 Project processed Transport sector World Bank Sanqingshan Airport Project 2013–2018 50 World Bank Jiangxi II Highway Project 2001–2006 200 World Bank Jiangxi III Highway Project 2006–2010 200 World Bank Jiangxi Shihutang Navigation and Hydropower Complex Project 2008–2014 100 Urban and urban transport sectors World Bank Urban Rail Project 2013–2019 250 ADB Jiangxi Fuzhou Urban Integrated Infrastructure Improvement 2013–2017 100 Project ADB Jiangxi Ji'an Sustainable Urban Transport Project 2014–2018 120 ADB = Asian Development Bank. Source: Asian Development Bank.

B. Institutional Arrangements and Processes for Development Coordination

2. ADB is committed to sharing sectoral information and experiences in partnership with its developing member countries and other development agencies. In line with ADB support for the 2005 Paris Declaration and the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action, ADB has harmonized its policies, procedures, and practices with its key development partners through parallel implementation structures, technical working groups, and joint missions. In addition, ADB has supported global and regional efforts to enhance aid effectiveness.

3. The Government of the PRC mainly undertakes development coordination, led by the Ministry of Finance and the National Development Reform Commission. All development partners are requested to align their operations to support implementation of a national development strategy, as set in the current five-year plan for social and economic development approved by the National People's Congress. The ADB PRC Resident Mission plays a key role in drawing lessons from project design and implementation, and shares these with the PRC government and other development partners (all of which have resident missions in Beijing) through regular exchanges.

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4. The Jiangxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission and the Jiangxi Provincial Finance Department coordinate development partner support within the province. Requests for development assistance from local governments are matched to the needs and ranked according to the priorities and programs of the various development partners. In consultation with the Ministry of Finance and National Development Reform Commission, the development partners establish areas of mutual interest and make decisions on project pipelines.

5. Luxi County benefits from the ongoing World Bank loan for the Jiangxi Poyang Lake Small Town Project. Anyuan District benefitted from the World Bank loan for the Jiangxi Integrated Agricultural Modernization Project.

C. Achievements and Issues

6. Coordination between major development partners is being strengthened to support the PRC's five-year and strategic master plans, as well as public awareness and education, financial and institutional strengthening, and other sector development objectives. The project team has communicated with the World Bank (which is the other main development partner operating in Jiangxi Province) to share project processing and implementation experiences, and these consultations will continue as needed during project implementation.

7. Urbanization is taking place at an unprecedented pace and scale across the PRC, in cities and towns that have differing geographic conditions, and are in different stages of social and economic development. This will provide a rich source of knowledge and practices, as well as valuable lessons for future operations. Continued effort will be needed to gain and share knowledge with the government and development partners to respond to the challenges of rapid urbanization and economic transformation.

D. Summary and Recommendations

8. ADB will continue to coordinate closely with other development partners at the country and local level during project implementation to avoid duplication and ensure harmony. The strengthening of development coordination in the PRC is expected to minimize transaction costs, maximize responsiveness, address policy issues more systematically, provide greater support for institutional strengthening and capacity building, and promote increased accountability to achieve greater development impact.