Haidong Urban-Rural Eco Development Project (RRP PRC 48102-02)

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION

A. Major Development Partners: Strategic Foci and Key Activities

1. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) began support for urban sector development in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1992. Of the 39 loans totaling $4.6 billion, only two loans, accounting for $0.21 billion, were for urban projects in Qinghai Province. They targeted solid waste management, urban environmental improvement, urban infrastructure, urban transport, wastewater management, and wetland protection. The current project will be the first ADB- financed project that is concentrated in Haidong City.

2. Qinghai Province has signed agreements to borrow foreign loans with a total contracted amount of $0.58 billion for more than five projects with ADB and the World Bank, involving cultural heritage protection, education, expressways, health, hydraulic facilities, and urban infrastructure. Among them, ADB has financed two projects involving urban and rural development, and energy. ADB and the World Bank are the two main agencies supporting urban development. Other bilateral agencies are providing smaller and more sector-specific lending assistance.

Major Development Partners Development Amount Partner Project Name Duration ($ million) Urban Sector Development ADB Qinghai Concentrated Solar Thermal Power 2013–2018 150 Project ADB Qinghai Rural Water Resources Management Project 2011–2016 60 World Bank Qinghai Urban Transportation Project 2014–2019 120 World Bank Xining Environmental Rehabilitation Project 2015–2019 150 World Bank Xining Flood Management and Watershed Management 2008–2015 100 ADB = Asian Development Bank Sources: Asian Development Bank and World Bank.

B. Institutional Arrangements and Processes for Development Coordination

3. ADB is committed to sharing sector information and experiences in partnership with its developing member countries and other development agencies. In line with its support for the 2005 Paris Declaration and the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action, ADB has been harmonizing its policies, procedures, and practices with its key development partners through parallel implementation structures, technical working groups, and joint missions.1 In addition, ADB has supported global and regional efforts to enhance aid effectiveness.

4. In the PRC, the central government mainly coordinates development assistance. All the development partners are requested to align their operations to support the implementation of a national development strategy as set out in the PRC's Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, 2016–2020 for social and economic development and approved by the People's Congress.2 ADB's resident mission in the PRC also plays a key role in harnessing lessons learned in project design, implementation, and monitoring to be shared with other partners.

1 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 2005. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Paris; and OECD. 2008. Accra Agenda for Action. Paris. 2 State Council. 2015. National Economy and Social Development Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, 2016–2020. . 2

C. Achievements and Issues

5. Since 1992, coordination with major development partners has been strengthened to support the PRC's five-year plans, strategic master plans, public awareness and education, financial and institutional strengthening, sustainable development goals (newly launched by the United Nations in January 2016), and other development results in urban development.3

D. Summary and Recommendations

6. The project is similar in nature to the ongoing Qinghai Xining Environmental Rehabilitation Project and Xining Flood Management and Watershed Management Project, both of which are financed by the World Bank. In addition, lessons will be learned from the Qinghai Rural Water Resources Management Project financed by ADB.4 The project team will coordinate with these two projects during project implementation. The lessons and experiences from these two projects should be reflected in the project design to improve the efficiency of the proposed project. Strengthening development coordination in the PRC is expected to minimize transaction costs, maximize responsiveness, solve policy issues more systematically, provide greater support for institutional strengthening and capacity building, and increase accountability to achieve greater development impact.

3 United Nations. 2016. Sustainable Development Goals http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable- development-goals. 4 ADB. 2011. Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors: Proposed Loans to the Peoples Republic of China for the Qinghai Rural Water Resources Management Project. Manila. (Loan 2378- PRC).