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Asian Development Bank to reform project delivery, cut delays
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Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) forged a memorandum of understanding on Monday on the sidelines of the ADB’s 49th annual board of governors meeting. (Antara/Antara)
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n response to concerns voiced by shareholders about the speed of project delivery and procurement rules, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has vowed to embark on necessary reforms that will deliver outcomes faster.
The multilateral bank will make greater use of national systems, improve its quality of consultants and contractors and strengthen its resident missions by providing them greater authority and by posting more staff.
“I fully share your concerns about the need to improve our project implementation and our disbursement, and to deliver outcomes faster. Unless loans and grants are disbursed, they have no impact on development,” said ADB president Takehiko Nakao in his closing remarks at the bank’s annual board of governors meeting on Thursday.
“We have streamlined our procurement review process to speed up project implementation. For small island countries in the Pacific, we now have a simplified system of project implementation adapted to local conditions.”
Based on a recent ADB performance review, a number of performance concerns remain, with the overall success rates for operations at 72 percent, still below the 80 percent target level.
Operational efficiency has been weighed down by implementation delays, which average almost 2 years and affect 90 percent of sovereign projects.
There was a decline in the disbursement ratio for sovereign projects, which was affected by low project readiness and slow procurement, among other reasons.
Indonesia has demanded that the ADB continue efforts to improve procedures for its lending and procurement rules.
Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro urged the ADB’s annual governors meeting to ensure that the bank’s enhanced financial capacity be complemented by improved operational capability through continuous reforms.
He said Indonesia was pleased with the reforms that the ADB had undertaken in implementing a mid-term review but urged the bank to continue efforts to improve business processes, including further streamlining procedures, lessening delays in the overall process and making procurement rules more flexible. (dmr)
