Completion Report Project Number: 51028-001 Technical Assistance Number: 9379 August 2020 People’s Republic of China: Comprehensive Hub- Oriented Transportation Strategy for Urumqi Metropolitan Area This document is being disclosed to the public in accordance with ADB’s Access to Information Policy. 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. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE COMPLETION REPORT TA Number, Country, and Name: Amount Approved: $800,000.00 TA 9379-PRC: Comprehensive Hub-Oriented Transportation Revised Amount: Not applicable Strategy for Urumqi Metropolitan Area Executing Agency: Source of Funding: Amount Undisbursed: Amount Used: Urumqi Urban Comprehensive Technical Assistance $40,300.00 $759,700.00 Transport Project Research Special Fund-other sources Center TA Approval Date: TA Signing Date: TA Completion Date 21 September 2017 30 October 2017 Original Date: Latest Revised Date: 28 February 2019 16 September 2019 Financial Closing Number of Date: Extensions: 4 October 2019 1 TA Type: Nature of Activity: TA Arrangement: Not applicable Knowledge and support TA Policy advice Description The technical assistance (TA) was prepared to support the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to prepare a comprehensive hub-oriented transportation strategy for Urumqi metropolitan area (comprised of nine cities: Changji, Fukang, Hutubi, Qitai, Shawan, Shihezi, Turpan, Urumqi, and Wujiaqu) through research and analysis of current and future trends and best practices. Expected Impact, Outcome, and Output The TA was aligned with the following impacts: (i) build a comprehensive transportation system that connects domestic and international transportation routes, extensively covers both urban and rural areas across regions, incorporates hubs with optimized functions, and provides integrated, efficient services; and (ii) transformation of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region into a hub for transport, trade and logistics, finance, culture, science and education, and medical services. The TA was to have the following outcome: transport and logistics strategies and plans for Urumqi metropolitan area improved. The output was comprehensive hub-oriented transportation strategy for Urumqi metropolitan area completed. The strategy was to include: (i) the desktop review and case studies focusing on planning documents in the Urumqi metropolitan area, trends in trade, economy, and demographics, and best practices of international comprehensive transport-hub cities; (ii) the transport and logistics outlook requiring data collection and analysis, demand analysis, and forecasting and gap analysis to determine priority areas for development; (iii) the urban transport strategy and the urban logistics strategy both building upon the desktop review and outlook and including monitoring and evaluation indicators, policy recommendations, and action plans; and (iv) the implementation plans involving identifying and prioritizing projects required for the Urumqi metropolitan area’s transition to a comprehensive transport-hub city. The output aimed to strengthen planning, particularly the intercity linkages, across the Urumqi metropolitan area for (i) public transport and road network development with consideration of transit-oriented development and mode and route preference; and (ii) urban logistics development with a focus on existing locations, potential for clustering and integration, multimodal connectivity, and mode and route preference. The public and private sectors were consulted throughout the TA. The output was to be disseminated digitally. Implementation Arrangements The planned inputs were to recruit a consulting firm specialized in transport and logistics planning on a lump sum basis, using a quality- and cost-based selection method with quality-cost ratio of 90:10 for 71 person-months of consulting services from December 2017 to February 2019. In March 2018, ADB engaged a firm, a joint venture between David Lupton and Associates and SSF Ingenieure AG / Consulting Engineers, in line with the planned arrangements in the TA report. The consultants implemented the TA over 16 months, from March 2018 to July 2019. A working group of representatives from each of the cities in Urumqi metropolitan area provided guidance to the consultant team throughout the assignment. 2 Conduct of Activities The consultants undertook desktop review, developed case studies, developed a transport and logistics outlook and developed urban transport and logistics strategies, as well as implementation plans, as was envisaged in the TA report. In addition, the consultants conducted three major stakeholder workshops: an interim workshop, a multi-stakeholder workshop and a final workshop. The stakeholder workshops were attended by university professors plus representatives from the Provincial Finance, Commerce, Transport, Railways, and the National Development and Reform Commission. Each workshop was attended by 30 participants, about 40% of whom were female. The TA was to prepare a comprehensive hub-oriented transportation strategy for Urumqi metropolitan area which is comprised of nine cities: Changji, Fukang, Hutubi, Qitai, Shawan, Shihezi, Turpan, Urumqi, and Wujiaqu. However, the executing agency for the TA was Urumqi Urban Comprehensive Transport Project Research Center (UCTRC) who only has responsibility for Urumqi, and not the other eight cities. As a result, the consultants experienced difficulties in accessing stakeholders outside of Urumqi city which was crucial for the strategy. ADB was able to support in requesting the Xinjiang Department of Finance (DOF) to provide implementation support to the UCTRC and the consultants to foster interactions with the stakeholders outside Urumqi. A multi-stakeholder workshop was fielded and with the assistance of the DOF, the implementation became significantly smoother; however, the initial setback resulted in implementation delays. In 2018, the consultants experienced further delays in access to data and were unable to visit Urumqi in July and August due to government restrictions. This resulted in further delay to TA implementation. The original TA completion date was 28 February 2019. The TA completion date was automatically revised in the system to 16 June 2019 to coincide with the firm's original contract completion date and was further extended by 3 months to 16 September 2019. The 3-month extension to 16 September 2019 was to (i) allow sufficient time for ADB and the UCTRC to review and provide comments on the final report, (ii) conduct a final stakeholder workshop, and (iii) handover the final report to UCTRC and stakeholders. With the extension of the TA, the consulting firm’s contract was also extended for 1 month until 16 July 2019 at no additional cost. The consultants submitted the inception report to ADB on 29 June 2018, the interim report in January 2019, and the final report was submitted to ADB, incorporating all comments from the government on 4 July 2019. Technical Assistance Assessment Ratings Criterion Assessment Rating Relevance The TA was relevant as it provided a comprehensive transport and Relevant logistics plan, including a list of projects needed to improve transport and logistics for the nine cities, and a prioritization framework for project selection and implementation which was developed using participatory techniques which involved all key stakeholders. Effectiveness The TA was effective in delivering the outputs and outcome. The Effective outputs included case studies, a transport and logistics outlook, an urban transport strategy, an urban logistics strategy and implementation plans. The outcome was a comprehensive hub- oriented transportation strategy for Urumqi metropolitan area which was accepted by the government in August 2019. The TA added value by introducing a strategic framework and conducting training on new concepts such as integrated planning and logistics hub operations. Further, the consultants were able to bring the nine cities together to avoid silo-based planning and develop an integrated transport and logistics strategy and project plan which strengthened planning, particularly the intercity linkages, across the Urumqi metropolitan area. Efficiency The TA was efficient in delivering the outputs and outcome. The Efficient outputs were delivered within the estimated budget, and although the timeframe was extended, the overall extension was only 7 months, and the consultants submitted the reports, and these were adopted by the government in 2019. The consultants experienced delays in gaining access to key documentation and data as the executing agency only had jurisdiction in Urumqi and was not able to gather the key stakeholders from the other 8 cities. Although this was remedied through the involvement of the provincial DOF, it contributed to slight delays along with the unanticipated request for all deliverables to be in both English and Chinese as well as difficulties in traveling to Xinjiang province at that time. However, these delays were out of the control of the executing agency, the extension was only seven 3 Criterion Assessment Rating months and there were no cost implications, hence the TA implementation can be considered efficient. Overall The TA is rated as successful. The TA produced the intended Successful