Finding the performance of the bank’s staff and Pakistani officialdom unsatisfactory, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) completion report on Pakistan infrastructure development has advised the bank to avoid granting of technical assistance loans with multi-sector, multi-agency, and multi-location scopes. ADB report says the loan was not efficient in achieving its desired results. ADB’s performance was partly satisfactory. Insufficient monitoring and tardy responses were two notable weaknesses. ADB staff could have acted earlier, especially by canceling the loans. This would have saved money, in part by reducing administrative expenses.
The government had borrowed $25 million in August 2005 and Planning and Development Division (PDD) was the executing agency. It says PDD’s lack of capacity to assist the implementing agencies delayed the issuance of consultant mandates, thus slowing down work on some priority subprojects. The choice of PDD as the executing agency was a mistake. The PDD lacked qualified staff, access, and a track record. The setting up of new units to manage consultancy contracts does not work and should not have been proposed in the first place. The report recommends avoiding multitasking as the work would be difficult to manage and even more difficult to monitor. Project preparation could have been the sole focus of the loan, as capacity building is a different job altogether.
The decision to do both at the same time was not a wise one. The loan was approved in August 2005, to help the government plan, prepare, and implement a programme for infrastructure development. The project was to be implemented over 4 years from February 2006 to March 2010. The project was aimed to strengthen and improve the sustainability of infrastructure investment and prepare investment and institutional capacity interventions for major infrastructure sectors, power, transport, and water resources. The report recommends avoiding institutional arrangements, such as new units, that lack properly qualified and motivated staff. Such arrangements result in delays, poor work quality, and inadequate monitoring and reporting. This wastes time and money, and compromises credibility. It advises taking note of changing circumstances earlier and responded to them faster. Moreover, economic developments negated the rationale for many projects under the loan. ADB and the authorities should have made immediate adjustments.
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