In-depth Monitoring Report on “ 40 Pourashava and Growth Centre Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Project (Phase-II) (1st Revised)

Disaster Management Watch completed this study in June 2019. The purpose of this study was to review the overall progress and relevant issues through in-depth monitoring of the ongoing project. 16 municipalities were selected as the study area. A mixed method approach was employed where various tools such as questionnaire survey (both household and growth centres), focus group discussion (FGD), key informant interview (KII), physical observation, review of project documents and organization of local workshops were used. Around 1120 questionnaire surveys, 16 focus group discussions, 84 key informant interviews, physical observation of components from each Pourashava and a local level workshop were conducted. It was revealed that the physical and financial progress of the components were not satisfactory. During the extended period, the project spent 94% of the time, but the actual progress of the project up to April-2019 was 70% and the financial progress was 57.90%. A total of 545 km (out of 620 km) of pipelines had been installed in the municipalities, but 38% of the households had not yet received water connections. Because of persistent issues in the procurement plan, the implementation got delayed and beneficiaries didn’t receive all the facilities in due time. The project director said that about 60% of the total population of 40 municipalities would benefit from this project. Public toilets had been constructed in the places of public gatherings such as the markets, mosques, temples, bus stands. After the implementation of the project, implementing agencies would hand over the project to the municipalities. However, the existing financial and physical resources of the municipalities were not enough to ensure sustainability and proper monitoring of the components. The DMWATCH team recommended conducting a proper feasibility study to understand the context of the project areas, increasing the coordination among internal departments of Pourashava and DPHE . Also, to ensure the proper implementation, monitoring the effective implementation of the project by the concerned authority from the beginning of the project and following up regularly.