Evaluation Working Paper Sri Lanka Country Assistance Program Evaluation: Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Assistance Evaluation August 2007 Supplementary Appendix E Operations Evaluation Department CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (as of 27 April 2007) Currency Unit — Sri Lanka rupee (SLR) SLR1.00 = $0.0092 $1.00 = SLR109.27 ABBREVIATIONS ADB — Asian Development Bank EIRR — economic internal rate of return m3 — cubic meter MDG — Millennium Development Goal NWSDB — National Water Supply and Drainage Board TA — technical assistance UNDP — United Nations Development Programme USAID — United States Agency for International Development NOTE In this report, “$” refers to US dollars. Director General Bruce Murray, Operations Evaluation Department (OED) Director R. Keith Leonard, Operations Evaluation Division 1, OED Evaluation Team Leader Njoman Bestari, Principal Evaluation Specialist Operations Evaluation Division 1, OED Operations Evaluation Department CONTENTS Page Map ii A. Scope and Purpose 1 B. Sector Context 1 C. The Country Sector Strategy and Program of ADB 8 1. ADB’s Sector Strategies in the Country 8 2. ADB’s Sector Assistance Program 12 D. Assessment of ADB’s Sector Strategy and Assistance Program 16 E. ADB’s Performance in the Sector 20 F. Identified Lessons 21 G. Future Challenges and Opportunities 23 Appendix Positioning/Coherence of Asian Development Bank’s Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Strategies in Sri Lanka 24 Njoman Bestari (team leader, principal evaluation specialist) and Jennifer Simon (consultant, evaluation research associate) prepared this evaluation working paper. Caren Joy Mongcopa (senior operations evaluation assistant) provided administrative and research assistance to the evaluation team. The guidelines formally adopted by the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) on avoiding conflict of interest in its independent evaluations were observed in the preparation of this report. To the knowledge of the management of OED, there were no conflicts of interest of the persons preparing, reviewing, or approving this report. 80 o 00'E 81o 30'E SRI LANKA WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION SECTOR t i Rural Water Supply Schemes a Kankasanturai r t S Covered under Loan 1575-SRI Third Water Supply and Sanitation Project k l Kodikamam a P Jaffna Covered under Loan 1993-SRI Secondary Towns and Rural Community-Based Water Supply and Sanitation Project Covered under Loan 1575-SRI and Kilinochchi Loan 1993-SRI P a l k B a y Urban Water Supply Schemes Mullaittivu Loan 0817-SRI Water Supply Project Loan 1235-SRI Second Water Supply and Sanitation Project Tanniyuttu Loan 1575-SRI Third Water Supply and Sanitation Project Mankulam Talaimannar Loan 1993-SRI Secondary Towns and Rural Community-Based 9 o 00'N NORTHERN Water Supply and Sanitation Project 9 o 00'N Puliyankulam Mannar National Capital Vavuniya Provincial Capital Gulf of Mannar City/Town Trincomalee National Road Horowupotana Railway River Anuradhapura District Boundary Provincial Boundary NORTH CENTRAL Boundaries are not necessarily authoritative. Tambuttegama Kekirawa B a y o f B e n g a l Puttalam Welikanda Valaichchenai Dambulla Polonnaruwa EASTERN Batticaloa NORTH Chilaw WESTERN Kurunegala Matale Madampe CENTRAL Polgahawela Kandy Mawanella Ampara Negombo Warakapola Minuwangoda Kegalle Gampola Gampaha o Nuwara Eliya Badulla o 7 00'N Talawakele 7 00'N Colombo Avissawella Welimada U V A SRI JAYAWARDENEPURA KOTTE Hatton Monaragala Bandarawela Moratuwa Ratnapura Wellawaya WESTERN Pelmadulla Kalutara Balangoda SABARAGAMUWA Alutgama Elpitiya N Ambalangoda SOUTHERN Hikkaduwa Akuressa Hambantota 0 10 20 30 40 50 Galle Tangalle Kilometers Matara I N D I A N O C E A N 80 o 00'E 81o 30'E 06-3742 HR A. Scope and Purpose 1. This evaluation is part of the Country Assistance Program Evaluation for Sri Lanka. It takes sector context into account and evaluates the strategies and assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the water supply and sanitation sector.1 The positioning and performance of ADB’s sector strategies and assistance were analyzed. This evaluation assesses the contribution of ADB to development results in Sri Lanka and identifies development issues and lessons in the sector pertinent to the preparation of the next country partnership strategy. Situations discussed herein were updated in March 2007. B. Sector Context 2. Political, Economic, and Social Settings. Water is a vital resource, indispensable to life, and essential for overall economic and social development of a country. In Sri Lanka, access to safe water is considered an inalienable right of its people, thus making its provision a top priority of the Government. The World Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1980–1990) had been an important turning point in planning and programming investments for the water supply and sanitation sector in the country. The Strategic Macro-Investment Plan (1986–1995) adopted in 1985 called for sustained allocation of funds amounting to 4%–5% of total public investments to meet national development targets for the sector. Before 1980, only 50% of the urban population and 56% of those in the rural areas had access to safe drinking water.2 In 1986, about 26% of the urban population had access to piped water supply. In comparison, only 2% of the rural population had access to piped-water services, 4% relied on standpipes, and a vast majority obtained water from wells and other surface sources.3 Piped water supply, where available, was characterized by irregular and less than 24-hour/day supply, substandard water quality, poor service coverage, and high incidence of unaccounted water (loss of water to leaks, theft, and other undetermined causes). 3. Sri Lanka is still home to millions of people without access to adequate water supply. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2004, the country achieved 79% coverage of improved water supply4 (Table 1). Comparisons among countries should be cautiously interpreted due to issues related to definitions of indicators (Table 2). There are differences in reported data and interpretations of access and coverage of water supply. According to the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB), water supply coverage in the country reached 72% in 2004 and 74% by the end of 2005. A majority of the people without access to improved water supply live in rural areas. Among urban population in 2002, about 75% benefit from piped water supply services, compared to only 14% of the rural population. Disparities with respect to access are evident across districts (Table 3). By 2001, access to safe drinking water, including through protected wells, had become available to 82% of the total population, excluding those who reside in conflict-affected areas in the North and East (Table 4). About 91% of the population in the Western Province had access to safe drinking water, with Colombo district recording the highest access at 96%. Conditions in the North and East, particularly in areas affected by protracted conflict, are not fully reflected in aggregate statistics. According to UNDP (2005), the proportion of households in northern 1 ADB. 2006. Guidelines for the Preparation of Country Assistance Program Evaluation Reports. Manila. Available: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Guidelines/Country-Assistance-Program/default.asp 2 UNDP. 2005. Millennium Development Goals Country Report: Sri Lanka. Colombo. 3 ADB. 1986. Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors on a Proposed Loan to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for Water Supply Sector Project. Manila. 4 Improved water supply means piped water supply, borehole, protected dug well, protected spring water, rainwater collection, and other technological means for improving water supply to consumers. 2 districts having access to improved water supply in 2001 was reported to be at only 21.2% in Mannar, 67.8% in Vavuniya, and unknown in Mullaitivu. The World Bank reported that only 46% of the population in North and East has access to safe drinking water.5 Table 1: Status and Trends of Selected MDG Indicators in Sri Lanka Latest Year MDG Target Indicator 1990 Available 2015 Status Proportion of Population Below National Poverty Line, Total 26.1 22.7 (2002) 13.1 Not on track Urban 15.0 Rural 22.0 Poverty Gap Ratio (Incidence and 5.6 5.1 (2002) — Not on track Depth Of Poverty) Children Under Five Mortality Rate 32 14 (2004) 12 On track (Per 1,000 Live Births) Infant (0–1 Year) Mortality Rate 26 12 (2004) 12.8 On track (Per 1,000 Live Births) Population With Access to Improved Water Sources, Total 68 79 (2004) 86 On track Urban 91 98 Rural 62 74 Population With Access to Improved Sanitation, Total 69 91 (2004) 93 On track Urban 89 98 Rural 64 89 — = not available, MDG = Millennium Development Goal. Source: UNDP. 2005. Millennium Development Goals Country Report: Sri Lanka. Colombo. 4. With respect to sanitation services, considerable improvements have been achieved over the years. In the 1980s, sewerage services were available in only some parts of Colombo and most people relied on septic tanks and pour-flush latrines for waste disposal. In the early 1990s, 50% of the people in the rural areas had sanitation facilities.6 According to UNDP, Sri Lanka’s access to improved sanitation reached 91% in 2004 (Table 1), higher than that of all developing nations (51%) and South Asian countries (37%).7 Comparing access to improved sanitation across districts in Sri Lanka, the highest access was recorded in Colombo (96.2%) and Gampaha (96.5%), and the lowest was reported to be in Batticaloa (57%) in the East. There are other reported data of different sources with conflicting reports on access to water supply and sanitation. In general, data on conflict-affected areas in the North and East are incomplete and less reliable than those of other parts of Sri Lanka. 5 World Bank. 2007. Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment: Engendering Growth with Equity: Opportunities and Challenges. Washington, DC. 6 ADB. 1993. Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors on Proposed Loan and Technical Assistance to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for the Second Water Supply and Sanitation Project.