Technical Assistance Report Project Number: 51324-001 Knowledge and Support Technical Assistance (KSTA) December 2017 Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Revitalizing the Ecosystem of Ravi River Basin (Cofinanced by the People’s Republic of China Poverty Reduction and Regional Cooperation Fund and the Multi-Donor Trust Fund under the Water Financing Partnership Facility) The views expressed herein are those of the consultant and do not necessarily represent those of ADB’s Thismembers, is the Board abbreviated of Directors, version Management, of the ordocument staff, and maythat beexcludes preliminary commercially in nature. sensitive and confidential business information that is subject to exceptions to disclosure set forth in ADB’s Public Communications Policy 2011. CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (as of 2 November 2017) Currency unit – Pakistani rupee/s (PRe/PRs) PRe1.00 = $0.00949747 $1.00 = PRs105.291 ABBREVIATIONS ADB – Asian Development Bank EPD – Environment Protection Department KPA – knowledge partnership agreement PRCF – People’s Republic of China Poverty Reduction and Regional Cooperation Fund TA – technical assistance TASF – Technical Assistance Special Fund WFPF – Multi-Donor Trust Fund under the Water Financing Partnership Facility WWF-Pakistan – World Wide Fund for Nature Pakistan NOTE In this report, “$” refers to United States dollars. Vice-President Wencai Zhang, Operations 1 Director General Sean O’Sullivan, Central and West Asia Department (CWRD) Director Akmal Siddiq, Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture Division Team leader Julian Doczi, Young Professional, CWRD Team members Lariz Abenojar, Associate Project Analyst, CWRD Munir Abro, Senior Project Officer (Health and Rural Development), CWRD Bruce Dunn, Principal Environment Specialist, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC) Kiyoshi Nakamitsu, Principal Urban Development Specialist, CWRD Susann Roth, Senior Social Development Specialist (Social Protection), SDCC Mian Shafi, Senior Project Officer, CWRD Yasmin Siddiqi, Principal Water Resources Specialist, SDCC Ahsan Tayyab, Principal Natural Resources Economist, CWRD Asad Zafar, Senior Project Officer (Water Resources), CWRD In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. CONTENTS Page KNOWLEDGE AND SUPPORT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AT A GLANCE I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. ISSUES 1 III. THE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 3 A. Impact and Outcome 3 B. Outputs, Methods, and Activities 3 C. Cost and Financing 5 D. Implementation Arrangements 5 IV. THE PRESIDENT'S DECISION 7 APPENDIXES 1. Design and Monitoring Framework 8 2. Cost Estimates and Financing Plan 11 3. List of Linked Documents 12 The views expressed herein are those of the consultant and do not necessarily represent those of ADB’s members, Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature. Project Classification Information Status: Complete KNOWLEDGE AND SUPPORT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AT A GLANCE 1. Basic Data Project Number: 51324-001 Project Name Revitalizing the Ecosystem of Ravi Department CWRD/CWER River Basin /Division Nature of Activity Capacity Development, Policy Advice Executing Punjab Environment Protection Department Agency Modality Regular Country PAK 2. Sector Subsector(s) ADB Financing ($ million) Agriculture, natural Water-based natural resources management 0.15 resources and rural development Health Health sector development and reform 0.10 Industry and trade Small and medium enterprise development 0.03 Public sector Public administration 0.03 management Water and other urban Urban policy, institutional and capacity development 0.15 infrastructure and services Total 0.46 qq 3. Strategic Agenda Subcomponents Climate Change Information Inclusive economic Pillar 2: Access to economic Adaptation ($ million) 0.50 growth (IEG) opportunities, including jobs, made Climate Change impact on the Low more inclusive Project Environmentally Eco-efficiency sustainable growth Environmental policy and legislation (ESG) Global and regional transboundary environmental concerns Natural resources conservation Urban environmental improvement Regional integration Pillar 4: Other regional public goods (RCI) qq 4. Drivers of Change Components Gender Equity and Mainstreaming Governance and Civil society participation Some gender elements (SGE) capacity development Institutional development (GCD) Institutional systems and political economy Knowledge solutions Knowledge sharing activities (KNS) Partnerships (PAR) Civil society organizations Implementation qq 5. Poverty and SDG Targeting Location Impact Geographic Targeting No Rural Medium Household Targeting No Urban High SDG Targeting Yes SDG Goals SDG2, SDG3, SDG6, SDG9, SDG11, SDG12, SDG13, SDG15 Qq 6. Risk Categorization Complex Qq 7. Safeguard Categorization Safeguard Policy Statement does not apply qq 8. Financing Source: Asian Development Bank This document must only be generated in eOps. 18092017183323736518 Generated Date: 21-Nov-2017 16:33:32 PM KNOWLEDGE AND SUPPORT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AT A GLANCE Modality and Sources Amount ($ million) ADB 0.46 Knowledge and Support technical assistance: Technical Assistance 0.46 Special Fund Cofinancing 0.75 Multi-Donor Trust Fund under the Water Financing Partnership Facility 0.20 (Full ADB Administration) People's Republic of China Regional Cooperation and Poverty Reduction 0.55 Fund (Full ADB Administration) Counterpart 0.00 None 0.00 Total 1.21 qq Qq Source: Asian Development Bank This document must only be generated in eOps. 18092017183323736518 Generated Date: 21-Nov-2017 16:33:32 PM Page 2 of 2 I. INTRODUCTION 1. The knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) will operate for 18 months and will develop a plan to revitalize and build resilience in the Ravi River Basin in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The river basin is being heavily polluted with urban, industrial, and agricultural waste, creating major human health, food, and water safety risks. These risks will continue to worsen without urgent action by the government and society. The TA will support activities to assess the pollution problem, identify and close institutional gaps, raise awareness, and develop a long-term plan to revitalize and build resilience in the basin, with detailed investment recommendations. 2. This TA is included in the country operations business plan, 2018–2020 of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Pakistan.1 It is in line with ADB’s country partnership strategy, 2015–2019 for Pakistan, which includes support for wastewater treatment, river basin management, and pollution control. 2 The TA was requested by the Punjab Environment Protection Department (EPD) through the Punjab Planning and Development Board and the Economic Affairs Division of the federal government in July 2017, and confirmed through an aide- mémoire in November 2017. Support for the TA is included in the ADB Water Sector and Environment Thematic Group work plans. II. ISSUES 3. The Ravi River is one of the six transboundary rivers of the Indus River system. It flows from the Himalaya in northwestern India through eastern Pakistan. The river merges into the Chenab River and then the Indus, which flows to the Arabian Sea. About 50 million people live in the basin within Pakistan.3 This includes 24 million urban dwellers in Punjab’s major cities of Lahore (population 11 million) and Faisalabad (4 million), and in about 70 other urban areas. The basin experiences huge flow variations, ranging from 10 cubic meters per second in the dry season to 10,000 cubic meters per second in the wet season. 4. The river provides critical ecosystem services that support Punjab’s economy. The river forms part of the Indus Basin Irrigation System within Punjab, the world’s largest contiguous irrigation system, and irrigates 2.9 million hectares of agricultural lands that account for about 30% of Pakistan’s agricultural cultivation. The river’s previously rich biodiversity hosted at least 31 fish species, among other wildlife, that offered livelihoods for Punjab’s rural poor.4 Its partial flow through the Lahore Canal also has recreational and cultural value to residents of Lahore. 5. Heavy pollution. Despite its economic value, the river basin has become heavily polluted since the 1990s. Punjab’s cities, industries, and agricultural areas have developed without effective infrastructure to control, capture, and treat their discharges of polluted water, and without effective policies and regulations in place to reduce the pollution at source. This problem is not unique to the Ravi basin but is made worse there because of its large population and many farms, cities, and industries. Pakistan treats only about 1% of its urban wastewater. 5 The country partnership strategy notes that Pakistan’s environmental management is weak and ineffectual, 1 The TA first appeared in the business opportunities section of ADB’s website on 20 November 2017. ADB. 2014. Country Operations Business Plan: Pakistan, 2018–2020. Manila. 2 ADB. 2015. Country Partnership Strategy: Pakistan 2015–2019. Manila. 3 Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2017. District-Wise Census Results: Census 2017. Islamabad. 4 U. Moza. 2014. River Ravi Ecology and Fishery. Delhi: Indian Council of Agricultural Research. 5 Friends of Democratic Pakistan, Water Sector Task Force. 2012. A Productive and