Documentof The World Bank Report No. 27454 IMPLEMENTATIONCOMPLETIONNOTE ON A CREDIT IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 2.20 MILLION (PORTION OF CREDIT2475-CHA)* ANDA CREDIT IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 1.63MILLION (PORTIONOF CREDIT3271-CHA)* TO THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA FOR A XINJIANGUYGHUR (ALTAI)SNOWDISASTERRECOVERY COMPONENT AND XINJIANGUYGHUR (TACHENG) SNOWDISASTERRECOVERY COMPONENT November 30,2003 Rural DevelopmentandNatural ResourcesSector Unit East Asia and Pacific Region * Reference should also be made to the primary ICRs for Credit 2475 - China - Zhejiang Multicities Development Project (Report No. 23946-CHA) and Credit 3271 - China - Enterprise ReformProject (forthcoming).This implementationcompletionnote is prepared in connectionwith the investments undertaken with those portion of Credit 2475 and Credit 3271, which arose following the reallocation of credit proceeds from the original projects to the Xinjiang Uyghur (Altai and Tacheng) Snow Disaster Recovery Components, supported by the International Development Association as an emergency operation. For the purpose of this ICR the Xinjiang Uyghur SnowDisaster Recovery Componentsare considered a project. CURRENCYEQUIVALENTS (ExchangeRate Effective September2003) CurrencyUnit = Renminbi (RMB) Yuan (Y) Y1.0 = US$0.12 US$l.O = Y8.27 FISCAL YEAR January 1to December 31 ABBREVIATIONSAND ACRONYMS AHB Animal HusbandryBureau FB Financial Bureau ha hectare IDA InternationalDevelopment Association M&E Monitoringand Evaluation mu Chinese squaremeasure (15 mu = 1ha) PLG Project Leading Group PMO Project ManagementOffice PMM ProcurementManagementManual QMR QuarterlyManagementReport sqm squaremeter SA SpecialAccount SDR SpecialDrawingRights SOE Statementof Expenditures TOR Terms of Reference TA TechnicalAssistance XUAR XinjiangUyghur Autonomous Region Vice President: Jemal-ud-dinKassum, EAPVP CountryDirector: Yukon Huang, EACCF SectorDirector: Mark D. Wilson, EASRD Task Team Leader/TaskManager: Achim Fock, EASRD CHINA - XINJIANGUYGHUR (ALTAI) SNOW DISASTER RECOVERY COMPONENT AND XINJIANGUYGHUR (TACHENG) SNOWDISASTER RECOVERY COMPONENT . CONTENTS Page No. 1.Project Data 1 2. Principal Performance Ratings 1 3. Assessmentof Development Objective and Design, and of Quality at Entry 2 4. Achievement of Objective and Outputs 4 5. Major Factors Affecting Implementation and Outcome 6 6. Sustainability 7 7. Bank and Borrower Performance 7 8. Lessons Learned 9 9. Partner Comments 10 Annex 1.Key Performance IndicatordLog Frame Matrix 11 Annex 2. Project Costs and Financing 13 Annex 3. Economic Costs and Benefits 20 Annex 4. Bank Inputs 20 Annex 5. Ratings for Achievement of Objectives/Outputs of Components 21 Annex 6. Ratings of Bank and Borrower Performance 21 Annex 7. List of SupportingDocuments 21 Annex 8. Borrower's Implementation CompletionNotes 22 Annex 9. Photographs 32 Project ID: PO60270 and PO03473 Project Name: XINJIANG UYGHUR (ALTAI AND TACHENG) SNOW DISASTER RECOVERY TeamLeader: Achim Fock TL Unit: EASRD ICR Type: Core ICR Report Date: November 30, 2003 1. Project Data Name: XINJIANG UYGHUR Credit Number: IDA-2475 AND IDA-3271 (ALTAI AND TACHENG) SNOW DISASTER RECOVERY Country/Department: CHINA Region: East Asia and Pacific Region Sector/subsector: AL- Livestock KEY DATES (Related to the new component) Original RevisedActual PCD: -- Efective: 09/24/200I 09/24/2001 Appraisal: 04/06/2001 MTR: -- -- Approval: II/I6/2001 Closing: 05/3U2003 05731/2003 Borrower/implementing Agency: PRC /XlJAR FB, AHB, Altai Prefecture FB, AHB and Tacheng Prefecture FB, AHB Other Partners: - - STAFF Current At Appraisal VicePresident: Jemal-ud-din Kassum Jemal-ud-din Kassum Country Manager: Yukon Huang Yukon Huang Sector Manager: Mark D. Wilson Mark D. Wilson TeamLeader at ICR: Achim Fock Achim Fock ICR Primary Author: Achim Fock Achim Fock 2. Principal PerformanceRatings (HS=Highly Satisfactory, S=Satisfactory, U=Unsatisfactory, HL=Highly Likely, L=Likely, UN=Unlikely, HW=Highly Unlikely, HU=Highly Unsatisfactory, H=High, SU=Substantial, M=Modest, N=Negligible) Outcome: S Sustainability: HL Institutional Development impact: S Bank Performance: S Borrower Performance: S QAG (if available) ICR Quality at Entry: S Project at Risk at Any Time: -- 1 3. Assessment of Development Objective and Design, and of Quality at Entry During the winter of 2000/2001,Xinjiang had a seriesof snow disastersleading to snow depths of 0.5-lm in the plains and 1-2 m in the mountains, The snow cover lasted over four months. The temperature reached lows of minus 37 degrees Celsius (minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit). The areas also suffered from gale force winds. The snow, the cold, and the wind caused immense damage. Over 300 thousand herdsmen suffered, over 30 thousand animals died, about 5 million animals were hurt, 10 thousand animal sheds were destroyed or badly damaged, and 7-8 thousand houses were destroyed or damaged. 3.1 Original Objective: The objective of the project was to assist the Borrower in restoring social and economic infrastructurecritical to the lives of herders devastated by this unusually severe snowstorm in hard hit areas of Altai Prefecture and Tacheng Prefecture of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and in enhancingand strengtheningthe disasterresponse capacityof the affectedherders. This objective reflected Bank policy for emergency recovery assistance, i.e. to restore assets and production levels in the disrupted economy through the financing of investment and productive activities,rather than relief or consumption. By targeting the project towards a very poor part of the society in remote pastoral areas it contributedto four of the five major themes of the 1997Bank's Country Assistance Strategy CAS for China (infrastructure;human development including poverty alleviation; agriculture and rural development; and, environmental protection) and two out of the three major themes of the 2003 CAS (addressing the needs of the poorer and disadvantaged people in lagging regions; and, facilitatingan environmentallysustainabledevelopmentprocess). Finally, the project was responsive to the Borrower's need in a situation of a natural disaster that seriously dislocated the local economy and called for a quick response. In line with best practice for emergency operation,the project objectivewas clear andrealistic. 3.2 Revised Objective: The original objectiveof the project remainedunchanged. 3.3 Original Components: The livelihood of the herder families in Altai Prefecture and Tacheng Prefecture of XUAR is almost always entirely dependent on livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, horses, camels, and other livestock). With large numbers of animals dying, the livelihood of these families was severely impacted.The ability to rebuild this livelihoodand protect it more efficiently from future disasters largely depended on animal housing and feeding.Therefore,the key emphasis of the project was to assist herders in rebuilding damaged or destroyed sheds and establishing a reliable winter fodder base. In addition, a component on technical assistance and project management was designed in order to contribute to an improved management of the livestock and grassland resources in the region, and to ensure effective pro; ect management, including evaluation and monitoring. The project had the followingcomponents: (1) Restoration and Rehabilitation of Livestock Sheds (Altai: US $1.83 million - 42.7 percent of total: Tacheng: US $1.59 million - 49.7 percent of total). This component addressed one of the two most critical needs of the beneficiary population by financing investments for housing of their animals. It was planned that about US $ 3.42 million would be invested in the rehabilitationof about 212,500 sqm of sheds (2,125 units), restoration of 150,000 sqm of sheds (1,498 units), pasture rehabilitation of about 60,000 mu (4,000 ha), and pasture improvement of 110,000 mu (over 7,000 ha). The project planned to promote the improved "greenhouse" design permitting greater retention of heat. For all beneficiaries investing into the reconstruction of sheds technical 2 training was made compulsory in order to improve the economically and environmentally sustainableuse of these major investments for the herders. (2) Housing Restoration (Altai: US $0.56 million - 13.2% of total:). Restoration of houses was planned for Altai Prefecture where a considerable number of families suffered severe house damages or even the total collapse of their houses and where grant fund sources from the Governmentor donations were insufficient.The average size of a house planned under the project was 80 square meters. Assuming average costs of houses between RMB 11,400 for mud-brick construction and RMB 14,700for fired-brickconstructionthe restoration of about 300 houses was planned under the project. (3) Pasture Rehabilitation (Altai: US $1.70 million - 39.6% of total: Tacheng: US $1.54 million- 48.1% of total)). This component addressed the other of the two most critical needs of the beneficiary population: improved winter forage security. The componentplan included 62,750 mu (Altai: 38,900 mu; Tacheng: 23,850 mu) of sown (artificial) pasture, a 110,400 mu (Altai: 7,000 mu; Tacheng: 103,400 mu) of grassland rehabilitation activity, and the provision of forage handling equipment including small tractors, and forage storage facilities (including 1,668 silage pits). Technical training was also made compulsory under this component in order to improve the economicallyand environmentallysustainableuse of the investments. (4): Technical Assistance (TA) and Project Management (Altai: US $0.19 million - 4.5% of total: Tacheng: US $0.07million - 2.2% of total). This component included (i) a Grassland ManagementReview TA to re-assess the prevailing risk mitigation measures for preventing future losses, and to develop the framework for a more sustainable grassland management; (ii) a TA activity for Independent Monitoring and Evaluation of the impact of the project based on four performance indicators (measuring livestock performance, increased winter forage, beneficiary satisfaction, and equitability of beneficiary selection); and (iii) Project Management with responsibilities given to Project Leading Groups (PLGs) and Project Management Offices (PMOS) locatedin Animal HusbandryBureaus (AHB). The componentswere clearly linked to the objectives.Moreover,by targeting the poorer part of the affected herder population, the project ensured the objectives were achieved. The individual components were well designed, complementing each other, and with detailed and practical standards and complementingtraining for the efficient and sustainableuse of the investments.The project took into account important lessons of previous Bank-financed emergency recovery projects such as (i) paying attention to project preparation and simplicity of design: (ii) flexible procurement methods, (iii) disaster-resilient reconstruction standards: and (iv) participation by beneficiaries. Lastly, the simple design of the project took into account the capacity of the implementing agencies, the extremely difficult natural conditions, and the need for expedient implementationrequired for an emergencyrecovery operation. 3.4Revised Project: The design of the project remained unchanged throughout the implementationperiod. Only small reallocations of the various componentsoccurred reflecting adjustments to demand and availability of additional funds due to an appreciationof the SDR against the RMB. 3.5Quality at Entry: Quality at Entry is rated satisfactory because: (i) project objectives were in line with Borrower's priority, the Bank's CAS for China, and the Bank's policies for emergency operations; (ii) timely and quite accurate assessment of the disaster and the situation under which a project would be implemented; (iii) the project's strong emphasis on targeting of assistance to the poorest and the most needy; (iv) a realistic time schedule to meet the project objectives, which also included mitigation measures to strengthen the area's resilience to natural hazards; and (v) the project's 3 design, adequately addressing Bank's safeguard policies, in particular the issues of indigenous people and the environment. 4. Achievement of Objective and Outputs 4.1 Outcome/achievementof objective: The project's objectives and outcomes were substantially achieved. Critical social and economic infrastructure of about 3,950 herder families in Altai Prefectureand about 1,670herder families in Tacheng Prefecture has been restored with a total of about 26,800 people in total benefiting. The disasterresponse capacityof the affectedherdershas been improved substantially. One of the principal reasons for the heavy ruminant livestocklosses from the snow disasterwas the poor quality and design of livestock sheds, which failed to provide livestockwith adequate shelter during the severe weather conditions.The rehabilitated and reconstructedsheds greatly reduce risk of losses from future snow disasters. In addition, sheds with the improved "greenhouse" design provide a warmer housing environmentduring the winter season with advantages such as reduced neonatal mortality, increased lambkid growth rates and improved fertility.Moreover, shed feeding can be better controlled providing improved nutrition. Where livestock is housed and fed inside sheds during the winter season, winter grazing is reduced, resulting in less grazing on dormant winter and early spring grassesand improvedgrowth and recovery of grass cover. The project also greatly enhanced winter forage security by providing herders with alternative sources of forage, mainly in the form of sown (artificial) pasture, a small grassland rehabilitation activity, and the provision of forage handling equipment including small tractors, and forage storage facilities. These investments provide a secure source of good quality feed throughout the winter season. The TA and training provided under the project considerably strengthenedthe achievementsof the project outcomes. For many herders the training provided was the first formal technical training they ever received. The training has contributedconsiderablyto a solid constructionquality, and to economically efficient and environmentally sustainable investments. The TA provided under the project provided the opportunity to re-assess the prevailing risk mitigation measures to prevent future losses, and to develop more sustainable grassland management. A considerable number of officials and herders benefited from the TA activity. Experiences from Bank supervision missions as well as the household survey data of the M&E activity indicates that the project largely targeted the poorer part of the herder population which had suffered substantial losses from the snow disaster. Beneficiaries were highly appreciative of the project. Livestockproduction and therefore livelihoodof the beneficiarypopulation was greatly improved through the project investments in terms of an higher income level and because they enjoy greater resilienceto future disasters. 4.2 Outputs by Components: (1) Restoration and Rehabilitation of Livestock Sheds (US $3.64 million actual; Altai: US $2.04 million, Tacheng: US $1.60 million). The component is rated satisfactory. A total of 246,000 sqm of sheds (2,711 units) was rehabilitated, 187,000 sqm of sheds (1,660 units) was restored. The component exceeded appraisal targets for restoration and rehabilitation of sheds. Overall,constructionqualitywas high both for repairs and rebuilding. (2) Housing Restoration (US $0.66 million actual; Altai only). The project is rated satisfactory. A total of 354 houses have been reconstructed which exceeded appraisal targets by 18 percent. House construction was of generally high quality with beneficiaries often putting substantial extra efforts in the constructionof their houses. 4 (3) Pasture Rehabilitation (US $3.22 million actual; Altai: US $1.60 million, Tacheng: US $1.60 million). The component is rated satisfactory. About 57,200 mu (Altai: 30,900 mu, Tacheng: 26,300 mu) of artificialpasture (91% of appraisal plan), generally alfalfa, in a number of cases with a nurse crop of barley, wheat or rape, have been established. In general, the quality of artificialpasture has been high. The success was due to seeds of very high quality, the availability of water, and the technical knowledge of the beneficiaries,which was partly transferred under the project. Sometimes in parallel with investments into artificial pasture, the project supported the building of 1,589 silage pits for improved fodder storage (Altai: 530, Tacheng: l,059), which is about 95% of appraisal plan in terms of number and 76% in terms of volume capacity. Of the investment made, about US $0.75 million (US $613,000 for Altai and US $133,000 for Tacheng) was used for purchasing of tractors and forage equipment for improved forage processing. These investments were of high quality and are well used, with many neighbors often sharing the equipment. In addition, a smaller sub-component of pasture rehabilitation, mainly in Tacheng Prefecture,was implementedon about 108,900mu (99% of appraisal plan). (4) Technical Assistance and Project Management (US $0.20 million actual; Altai: US $0.14 million, Tacheng: US $0.06 million). The project is rated satisfactory. Firstly, two rounds of quality TA in grassland management were successfully conducted by a team consisting of an internationaland a national consultant. Secondly, in connectionwith the major investmentsunder the project (shed reconstruction, pasture rehabilitation)beneficiary households received technical training. A total of 9,900 person days (Altai 5,200; Tacheng 4,700) of training were provided, generallyin 2 to 3 day programs. This is a substantial success,given that hardly any of the trainees had any formal technical trainingbefore. Thirdly, the project supportedan independentmonitoring and evaluation. A local consultant team went to the project areas in spring of 2002 and spring of 2003 to assess the project impact, mainly through household interviews. Due to methodological problems of the survey, the consultant report does not measure the impact of the project in a representative manner as envisaged by the project design. For an assessment of project managementplease see Section 7 below. 4.3Net Present Value/Economicrate of return: Since this was an emergency operation, no calculations of net present value or economic rate of return was carried out. However, simplifiedcalculations demonstratethat the economicbenefits for the herders and the overall economic benefits of the project are highly positive. For example, the internal financial rate of return of new shed construction would be offset by a 15% increase in lambhad survival. Increase in neonatal survival in greenhouse sheds has been reported to be well beyond this level. The establishment of artificial pasture cost about RMB 200 per mu with flood irrigationwould bejustified by only about one cubicmeters of incrementaldried alfalfa hay per mu and year (opportunitycosts about RMB 50.) The yield can easily be more than two cubic meters per year. The economic impact of the project is particularly positive because it supports investments without which the continued production by the beneficiaries would in many cases be severelyreduced andnon-sustainable,if not impossible. 4.4 Financial rate of return: Not Applicable(see Section4.3) 4.5 Institutional development impact: The institutional impact of the project is positive. Given the emergency nature of the project, the main focus was on rehabilitation of social and physical infrastructure rather than institutional development.Nevertheless, the project had considerableinstitutional development impact in some areas. Most importantly, the project substantially increased the capacity of the Government agencies involved in project preparation and implementation,in particular the AHBs at all levels. 5 This was the firsttime that the TachengAHB was exposedto a foreign-fundedproject. At all levels the AHB successfully adopted the various design aspects and requirements of the project. Besides becoming familiar in the Bank's financial and procurement methods, the AHB increased its capacity in a number of areas,including:(i) thorough targetingof public services,in this case to the poorer and most needy part of the herder population; (ii) standard definition,implementation,and efficient supervision of high-qualityworks and goods dispersed over a huge project area; and (iii) familiarization with computer and other modern office equipment. The response to any future disasterhas been increasedthrough the implementationof thisproject. 5. Major Factors AffectingImplementation and Outcome 5.1 Factors outside the control of government or implementing agency: While the harsh climatic and geographical conditionsposed a serious challenge to implementation, no major unforeseen factorsaffected the project outcome. 5.2Factors generally subject to government control: The Government'spolicies as well as its support to the project had an overall favorable affect on project implementation and outcome. However, one factor affecting the project negatively was a substantial delay in the availability of counterpart funds. This led to delayed implementation as well as greater financial pressure on beneficiaries and the local private economy in general (suppliers/ contractors). 5.3 Factors generally subject to implementingagency control: The performance of the implementing agencies was overall satisfactory. A slow start of project implementation was partly caused by initial difficulties of the implementing agencies with the unfamiliarrequirements of the project. However, a strong leadership and a few committed key staff in PMOSat all levels combinedwith exemplarysupport from the Regional Finance Bureau ensured a strong project implementation capacity and contributed to successful implementation of the project. 5.4 Costs nndjnancing: The end-of-projectcosts for both components are slightlyhigher (4% and 2% respectivelyfor Altai and Tacheng) than the appraisal estimates,mainly due to additional tasks undertaken permitted by the appreciation of SDR against USD and RMB. The project costs for most project activities exceeded the appraisal plan ranging from 1% to 38% for Altai and 3% to 22% for Tacheng, although, the project costs for some activities were lower than appraisal estimate. Annex 2a presents a detailed project cost by component, project activity and a comparison of actuaVlatest estimate vs. appraisalestimate. Overall project financing is satisfactoryin both Altai and Tacheng with adequate fundingprovided from expanded financing sources.The financingsources include IDA (66%),Regional government (12%), prefecture government (7%), county government (8%) and beneficiary (7%). In Altai, county governmentbecame an expanded financing source upon project effectivenessand provided about 6% of the total financing required for the prefecture. However, one financing source in Tacheng failed to fulfill its full commitment. In addition, not all counterpart funds were provided on a timely basis. Annex 2c presents a detailed financing estimate by source,project activity and a comparisonof actualAatestestimatevs. appraisal estimate. 6 6. Sustainability 6.1Rationalefor sustainability rating: Project sustainability is highly likely. The project design paid considerable attention to high implementation standards and these standardswere generally met and often exceeded. Both, in the case of shed rehabilitation and reconstruction as well as in the case of winter fodder production, these good implementation standardswill ensure the continued use of investments for many years to come. The economic benefits of the investments are estimated to be substantial given that in many cases the activitiesimplementedunder the project are an essential condition for the recovery of subsistence and income of the beneficiary family. The training provided beneficiaries with substantial knowledge to use and maintain their investments. While the environmental sustainability in many of the grasslands areas is fragile, the project investments contribute to an improvement of this sustainability by reducing the winter and spring grazing pressure on the grasslands. 6.2 Transition arrangement to regular operations: The individual household-based sub-projects go into regular operation once they are built. The households own the constructionsbuilt and forage equipmentpurchased under the project, and they have rights over a minimum of 30 years for the use of the land where fodder production has been established. These households have the strong incentive to use and maintain the investments. The Government (AHB) will provide support to the herder families, including through additional training. Moreover, the Government (FB with help from AHB) ensures the recovery of the loan proceeds from the beneficiaries.The finalizationof a fully computerizeddatabase will make these tasks more efficient.The PMOShave been re-integratedinto the general structure of their agencies at the end of the project, and the staff will use the experiencegained for futureactivities. 7. Bank and Borrower Performance Bank 7.1Lending: Bank's performance during project identification, preparation, and appraisal is rated satisfactory. The Bank's input in terms of staffing, shll-mix and time allocation was adequate given the relatively simple structure of the project. The Bank was proactive in identifying the financial resources available from other World Bank financedprojects and the Bank team provided adequate and timely preparation support to the Borrower. Appraisal was done quickly but thoroughly and paid adequate attention to the Bank's fiduciary and safeguard responsibility. The whole process from identificationto appraisal was very rapid in accordance with the emergency response nature of the project. Project design was in line with overall Bank and CAS objectives, adequate to achieve these objectives, and sufficiently simple given constraints in the capacity of the implementingagencies. 7.2 Supervision: The Bank's performance in project supervision is rated satisfactory, Size and frequency of the supervision missions as well as their staff composition were adequate given the size and nature of the project, and staff continuity was contained. The task team identified and addressed implementationissues in an active and constructivemanner, and follow-upaction was successfulin solving problems. Cooperation between Bank and Borrower was close and advice by the Bank team highly valued by the implementing agencies. While the project would have benefited from more intense supervision by the Bank team in the beginning, other factors outside Bank control were far more important. 7 7.3 OverallBankperformance: Overall Bank performance is rated satisfactory. The Bank responded in a timely manner to the emergency recovery needs of the Borrower. Project design was in line with objectives; borrower supportwas strong,and project appraisaland supervision sound. Borrower 7.4Preparation: Governmentperformance is rated satisfactory.The Governmentresponded quickly after the project identification.In a short period of time, it prepared the project according to the agreed framework and presented sufficient quality information to appraise the project in June of 2001. The Government also worked very early with the herders to start implementingproject activities in the first constructionperiod. However, at the same time, some delays, most notably the availabilityof counterpart funds and the strengthening of project management, lead to a relatively late effectiveness of the project and, under retroactive financing,relatively modest implementationin the first constructionperiod. 7.5 Governmentimplementationperformance: The Government implementation performance is rated satisfactory. While the availability of counterpart funds as well as the strengthening of project management capacity was delayed, the considerable commitment given to the project resulted in the full resolution of these issues. This strong Government commitmentwas key to the project success. 7.6Implementing Agency: The institutionalarrangements for project preparation have proved adequate to bring the project to a successful conclusion within the planned time-frame. The PMO in the AHB started from a very difficult initial situationcharacterizedby the need to respond to a natural disasterin remotepastoral areas, low standards of office equipment and insufficient transportation, and inexperience of dealing with the requirements of a project financed by an international agency. However, strong key staff in PMOS at all levels, particularly at prefecture level, were committed and received training, in particular by the Regional Finance Bureau and through a study tour to the Inner Mongolia SnowstormEmergencyRehabilitationProject. The intensive study tour organizedby the regional PMO with participants from both prefecture PMOSand county PMOSto a parallel project in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region resulted in a great improvement in overall project implementation. This ensured that the implementing agencies acquired necessary slulls and strongly improved their capacity so that the project could be completed with satisfactory quality and within the set time-frame. In summary,the performance of the implementingagenciesexcelled considerably,and is rated satisfactoryoverall. 7.7Overall Borrowerperformance: The overall Borrower performance is rated satisfactory. The Government and the implementing agencies have been consistently committed to the project. Overall performance excelled after initial shortcomingand was the key to the overall successof the project. 8 8. Lessons Learned The project has demonstrated the feasibility and substantial benefits of fast-track Bank-financed emergency rehabilitation projects even under extreme climatic and geographical conditions. The project's approach can be utilized for similar emergency for the herder population of remote areas. Important factorsof project success were: 0 Thorough proiect preparation and simplicity in desim. Despite the time pressure during project preparation and appraisal,a lot of attention was paid to design details includingbreakdown of costs and procurement down to county level. Even more importantly, the scope of the project was well focused, and preparation avoided the inclusion of too many or too sophisticated components, The selection of the components centered around the life of the herder communities, i.e., the reconstruction of the basic services and support to their livelihood. This helped make the project relevant to them and increased their commitment and responsiveness.This emphasize on a sufficiently simple designpaid off. The project objectives and its design as originallyproved to be realistic and the project was implemented with satisfactory quality and as planned within the eighteen-month timeframe despite the natural conditions and initially limited implementation capacity. 0 Ouick response. The operation showed that rapid and effective decisions by both the Bank and the Borrower can make a significant positive impact in improving the lives of lower-income Communities,especially in emergency situations.While some time was lost at the beginning of the project and many herders would have benefited even more from an earlier response, the project achieved its objectives because it was fully implemented in the second construction season after a relatively mild winter of 2001/2002. Strong.management structure. In emergency reconstruction programs, early availability of funds or authorization, together with competent business procedures and record keeping are essential to address the disaster repairs in a timely manner. Procurement procedures have to take into account the emergency nature of the project and be implemented by well-trained staff. Dedicatedhigh-level governmentmanagementand close interactionbetween Provincial,Prefecture and County-levelmanagementteams is essentialto achieve success. Formalizing targeting of beneficiaries. Assisting individual households in their recovery from an emergency situation requires considerable attention to a well thought-through targeting of the limited resources. First, this requires that the criteria for selection of householdsbe measurable and simple enough to be applied given the time-pressure of an emergency project and limited capacity available. This aspect was achieved by the project. Second,it requires a selectionprocess that is a priori defined and transparent. A clearer design and better institutionalization of such selection process during preparation would have avoided some delays and mistakes made during the early stagesof the project. Well-targeted training of project management and beneficiaries. Due to its emergency response nature, the project focused on reconstruction of physical and social infrastructure. However, a crucialpart of the successtowards this aim was the trainingprovided under the project. First, training of project management staff was essential to build the capacity for project implementation and, in hindsight, should have been provided even more intensely at the earliest stages of the project. Second, the training provided to beneficiary households, though varying in quality, was very satisfactory.For the vast majority of the trainees this was the first time that they received technical training. It was well received, contributed to an improved construction and sustainability of the investments made, and opened the eyes of many herders beyond these investments to more comprehensive aspects of livestock and grassland management. The AHB is 9 expected to build on this training, and the credibilitythey gained through it for transferring further knowledgeto the herder population. 0 Supervision and Monitoring. A strong emphasis on input and output monitoring, reporting, and supervision contributed to a quality implementation of the project. The transfer of this managementapproacheswill servethe implementingagencieswell in many future activities. 9. Partner Comments Borrower/implementing agency: The ICR drafted by the World Bank is a comprehensive one that reflects the reality. We basically do not have any objectionsto the document. Our general comment about the project is as follows: The project is an emergency assistance project. From project preparation, appraisal and design to implementation,the World Bank has adopted timely action plans that correspond to local realities. Project preparation and appraisal were quick and accurate; project design was simple and concise; project procurement methods were flexible and easy to use; and project implementation was fast and efficient. During the process of implementation,the World Bank has also responded to project demand and local actual conditions and made timely adjustmentsto someproject activitiesand investment. The project has always put an emphasison providing support to herders hard hit by the disaster who needed urgent help. It has also required active participation by project beneficiaries. Project Manager and officers came to visit project areas on many occasions to provide supervision and guidance and help resolve, in a timely manner, the problems and difficultiesthat came up during the process of implementation. All these have made it possible for all project activities to be completed on schedule and for two most important issues facing the herders hit by the disaster to be resolved, namely, restoration and reconstruction of damaged and collapsed animal sheds, and improvement of fodder and feed supplyduring the springand winter seasons. We all believe that the project was a successful emergency assistance project and it was warmly received by the governments at various levels,the cadres and the farmers andherders. Training and technical assistanceactivitiesunder the project were also successful. The farmersand herders from minority ethnic groups who live in remote and disadvantagedareas received, for the first time, technical assistance and professional training by well-known Chinese and international experts. They gained practical knowledge and technique and benefited tremendously fkom the project. At the same time, the staff of the PMOSat various levels and other personnel involved in the project in the ten counties (cities) learned about the advanced and scientific project management techniques and experiences of the World Bank, thus laying a sound foundation for future implementation of World Bank as well as domestic projects. However, due to our lack of experience with World Bank projects, as well as other inadequacies such as understaffing,poor office conditionsand shortageof funds, there were problems during the project preparation and implementation period. The problems included delay of project process, slow progress regarding procurement and disbursement, and late supply of counter-part funds. Thankfully, with the help of World Bank officials and experts, we managed to overcome those difficulties and solved the problems in time so that the project was implemented smoothly and according to the plan. We hereby would like to thank the World Bank and the project manager and officers. Project Management Office,Xinjiang LivestockBureau 10 Annex 1. Key Performance Indicators/LogFrame Matrix Annex 1a. Outcome/ImpactIndicators Outcome at End of Proiect Project Activity Indicator Means of Verification Altai Tacheng - W/O Project With Project W/O Project With Project A. Improved Weaning To be 98% survival 99.9% 96% survival Increased to livestock rate of determined at rate for sheep survival rate rate. 98%. 8-10 days production sheep and end of the and 125% for for sheep and earlier of efficiency. \a goats lambing season. goat. 130%for weaning period housed in Divide number goat. in average. greenhouse of lambskids sheds. weaned by total breeding females in flock. Survey 10% project households with sheds. B. Improved Available Total tonnage of 9 ton of 15 ton of 45,000ton of Increased winter forage winter hay and silage forage stored forage stored forage and storage by security. \b forage at available at end for each for each 15,000ton of 10,000ton of onset of of grazing household in household in silage for hay and 20,000 winter season. Survey average. average. of animals. 160,000head ton of silage. season. 10%of project households. C. Project Beneficiary Survey report of Very No Very satisfied Management response to 10%ofproject satisfied. knowledge with project Effectiveness, project households per about implementation interventio project county. procedures of and quality, Implementation 1. World Bank appreciated effectiveness.\c supported strict project project. management: Project PMO Yes Some Only those gelection. D.Beneficiary :redits Beneficiary ineligible eligible argeted to selection report. households households hose with Selection selected. selectedwho need yeatest .argeted to those loan urgently with ieed. n the lower 213 per capita income ncome bracket. below RMB 2000. increased lamblkid survival due to better shed environment. \b Measures increased winter forage reserves from increased hay production, artificial pasture production, and silageproduction. \c Includes response rapidity; and suitability and sustainability of project inputs. 11 Annex lb. Output Indicators Altai Prefecture I TachenrrPrefecture I Indicators Unit I 4ppraisa ,ctual/Latest % of Appraisal Actualhtest % of Zstimater Estimate Appraisal Estimates Estimate Appraisal 4.Rehabilitationand Restoration of Animal Sheds 1. Rehabilitation of Sheds mz 121,021 135,236 112% 91,500 111,040 121% 2. Rehabilitation of Sheds No 1,21c 1,437 119% 915 1,274 139% 3. Restoration of Sheds m2 74,80C 118,732 159% 75,000 68,592 91% 4. Restoration of Sheds No 74E 915 122% 750 745 99% 3. Pasture Rehabilitation 1. Artificial Pasture mu 38,90C 30,925 79% 23,850 26,268 110% 2. Artificial Pasture a No 868 620 71% 477 816 171% 3. Pasture Improvement mu 7,000 7,000 100% 103,400 101,938 99% 4. Pasture Improvement No 140 140 100% 517 680 132% 5. Silage Pit m3 18,960 4,770 25% 31,080 33,283 107% 6. SilagePit No 632 :.Restoration 530 84% 1,036 1,059 102% of Housing 1. Reconstruction of Housing (new) No 300 354 118% 2. Reconstruction of Housing (new) mz 26,246 29,913 114% ). Technical Assistance and Project Management I . Technical Assistance xson daq 30 35 117% 30 48 160% I . Trainingto beneficiaries :rson daq 2,398 4,927 205% 8,340 4,574 55% 3. Training to PMO staff xson da) 250 120 86% :.Beneficiaries I. Beneficiary Households No. 1,670 !. Beneficiary Population person 7,830 12 Annex 2. Project Costs and Financing Annex 2a Project Cost by Component (in US $ thousand equivalent)\a Project Component \a The totals may not match due to rounding. 13 Annex 2b-1. Project Costs by Procurement Arrangements for Altai Prefecture (in US $ thousand equivalent)\a Total 391 1,647 2,045 79 119 4,281 (294) (1,082) (1,344) (79) - (2,799) 14 \a The totals may not match due to rounding. \b Figures in parentheses represent the amounts financed by the IDA credit. \c NBF denotes non-Bank financing. 15 Annex 2b-2. Project Costs by Procurement Arrangements for Tacheng Prefecture (in US $ thousand equivalent)\a \a The totals may not match due to rounding. \b Figures in parentheses represent the amounts financedby the IDA credit. \c NBF denotes non-Bank financing. 16 \a The totals may not match due to rounding. \b Figures m parentheses representthe amounts financed by the IDA credit. \c NBF denotes non-Bank financing. 17 Annex 2c-1. Project Financing by Component for Altai Prefecture (in US $ thousand equivalent) Project Component .. Regional Prefecture 'refecture County IDA Government Government Government overnment Beneficiaries Total A. Rehabilitation and Restoration of Animal Shed 1,202 208 208 2081 208 1,826 1.Rehabilitation of Shed 4851 485 841 84 841 84 84 I 737 2. Restoration of Shed 718 124 124 124 1,089 \a The totals may not match due to rounding. I . Artificial Pastu 2. Pasture Imurovernent 21 61 21 3. Animal Forage Processing and Storage 3531 83I 211 141 211 491 C. Restoration of Housing 4361 961 601 341 351 661 D. Technical Assistance and Project Management 30.6 75 0 37 142 TOTAL PROJECTCOSTS 2,971 468 459 282 202 4,443 18 Annex 2c-2. Project Financing by Component for Tacheng Prefecture (in US $ thousand equivalent) Project Component 2. Pasture lmprovement 2891 52 1 52I 52) 444 3. Animal Forage Processingand Storage 2651 41 41 41 387 C. Restoration of Housing D. Technical Assistance and Project Management 22 16 16 16 69 TOTAL PROJECT COSTS 2,074 377 377 377 3,205 1 Artificial Pasture 2. Pasture Improvement 306 55 10 44 56 471 3.Animal Forage Processing and Storage 284 41 11 31 50 416 C. Restoration of Housing I).Technical Assistance and Project Management 26 9 3 24 62 TOTAL PROJECT COSTS 2,135 377 69 336 362 3,278 19 Annex 3. Economic Costs and Benefits not applicable Annex 4. Bank Inputs (a) Missions: Stageof Project Cycle No. o Persons and Specialty Performar e Ratinn MontWYear Count Specialty Implementation Development Progress Objective IdentificatiodPreparation 05/01 AE, OP AppraisaVNegotiation 06101 AE, OP, LS, E, FS, PS Supervision 04/02 AE, OP, LS S 06/02 AE, OP S 10102 AE, OP, LS S ICR 03/03 AE, OP S AE =AgriculturalEconomist LS =Livestock pecialist E =Economist OP =Operationsofficer FS Financial Specialist = PS ProcurementSpecialist = Stage of ProjectCycle ActualILatest Estimate No. staff weeks us $(`OOO) IdentificatiodPreDaration 5 11.6 AppraisalINegotiation 16 32.8 Supervision 23 54.8 ICR 5 12.5 Total 50 111.7 20 Annex 5. Ratings for Achievement of Objectives/Outputs of Components (H=High,SU=Substantial,M=Modest,N=Negligible, NA=Not Applicable) Rating 0Macropolicies O H oSU O M O N o N A Sector Policies O H oSU O M O N o N A [XI Physical O H *SU O M O N o N A KI Financial O H *SU O M O N o N A El Institutional Development O H *SU O M O N o N A Kl Environmental O H oSU * M O N o N A Social [XI Poverv Reduction O H *SU O M O N o N A 0Gender O H oSU O M O N o N A Other (Please specifi) O H oSU O M O N o N A 0Privatesectordevelopment O H oSU O M O N o N A 13 Public sector management O H oSU O M O N o N A 13 Other (Please specifi) O H oSU O M O N o N A Annex 6. Ratings of Bank and Borrower Performance (HS=Highly Satisfactory, S=Satisfactory, U=Unsatisfactory,HU=Highly Unsatisfactory) 6.1Bank performance Rating [E3 Lending oHS *S o U o HU Kl Supervision oHS OS o U o HU Kl Overall oHS *S o U o HU 6.2Borrower performance Rating KI Preparation oHS *S o U o HU iXI Government implementation performance oHS OS o U o HU El Implementation agencyperformance oHS *S o U o HU [XI Overall oHS *S o U o HU Annex 7. List of Supporting Documents Aide-Memoire of the ICR mission QuarterlyManagementReports ConsultantReports for M&E Activity ConsultantReports for GrasslandManagementActivity Borrower'sICR Regional PMO, Altai Prefecture,and Tacheng Prefecture 21 Annex 8. Borrower'sImplementationCompletion Notes 8.a. Altai Prefecture Implementation Completion Note 1. Introduction Project Background, During the period of October 2000 to the beginning of 2001, Xinjiang Altai Prefecture had a serious snow disasters of one in more than 60 years frequency.The average snow depth in plain areas was 0.5-lm, and it was 1-2m in mountainous areas. The period with snow cover was as long as 5 months. The continuous low temperature was the first during the past 50 years. Critical disasters made the immense damage to the animal husbandry of Arleta prefecture and to the herdsmen's yield, living as well. There were 155 thousand herdsmen sufferers, 2.122 thousand frozen people, 2.952 million damaged animals, 12.3 thousand various kinds of dead animals, 2.248 animal sheds and 3.35 thousandherdsmen'houses fallen in the disastersarea, which caused a direct economic loss at 90.067 million. In order to assist herdsmen sufferersin regaining their husbandry manufacture as early as possible and strengthen their ability to protect them from the natural disasters, supported by senior departments,Arleta prefecture gained the emergency aid funds from the World Bank and enforced rehabilitation & rebuilding projects in Altai City, Qinghe County,Fuyun County,Jimunai County and Habahe County. Targeting. The aim of the project is to help herdsmen sufferers who are accordant with the aid terms of the World Bank and observe agreements relate to the project, help them normalize their production, and help them with their living order and improve herdsmen' fundamental facilities as early as possible, so as to increase their ability of withstanding the natural disasters. The targets of the project are to rebuild 300 new houses for herdsmen and 244 animal sheds, maintain 1437 animal sheds, construct 38.9 thousand artificial grasslands, improve 7,OOOmu of grasslands, build 632 silages,purchase 238 pieces of machinery and equipmentand train 2,398people. Project Investments. The total investment funds of the project is 33.5661 million Yuan, at a loan of 20.7555 million Yuan from the World Bank among it; domestic fund is 9.1068 million Yuan which includes government fund: 6.5351 million Yuan and herdsmen self-raise fund: 2.5717 million Yuan. Funds arrangement: invest 5.467 million Yuan to rebuild 354 houses for herdsmen; invest 1.07million Yuan to rebuild 915 new animal sheds; invest 6.173 million Yuan to maintain 1437 animal sheds; 8.9634 million Yuan to construct 30925mu artificial grasslands; 235.1 thousand Yuan to build 530silages;266 thousand Yuan to purchase 48 machineries. 2. Project Implementation The project was approved in spring in 2001 and the implementationwas launched out on 25* July 2001. The chief achievements in 2001 were: had rehabilitated animal sheds; had completed the upgrading of animal sheds and constructionof most of the silages. The chief achievement in 2002 was that: rebuilt houses for herdsmen; rebuilt animal sheds and artificial grasslands; improved grasslands,part of silagesand machinerypurchasing. Reconstruction of Housing for Herdsmen. The herdsmen' houses in Habahe county, Fuyun county, Qinghe county started building on 5~ Jun. 2002 and completed in Nov. 2001, it passed through the check from checking & accepting team because it's technique and quality were up to standard. Invest 5.467 million Yuan to build 354 herdsmen' houses and it's total size was 26,246 square meter. Animal Sheds Rehabilitation and Reconstruction. Shedsrehabilitationproject started on 25" Jun. 2001 and finished at the end of the year, it took self-manage engineering formula in its progress. The actuate investment was 6.173 million Yuan which was to be used to finish repairing 1437 animal sheds, repairing size was 135,236square meter. Sheds rebuilding project started in 5* Jun. 2002 and has finished completelynow, it has been checked and accepted. The project invests 1.07 22 million Yuan and which is to be applied to finish rebuilding 915 animals sheds, construction size was 118,732squaremeter. Grasslands Construction. Silages,artificialgrasslands and grasslands improvementall were going on with self-manage engineering formula. Silages project started in Jun. 2001 and finished completely in Nov. 2002, invested 1.429 million Yuan for 530 silages. Artificial grasslands and grasslands improvement projects started to construct in April 2002 and completed in Oct. 2002, invested 8.963 million Yuan to complete 309250mu grasslands (51250mu sprinting grasslands among it); invested 235.1 thousand Yuan to improve 7000 mu grasslands; the total investment funds of the projectswere 9.1981million Yuan. Technical Assistance and Project Administration, In March 2002, a speech hold by prairie specialists Dan Miller (American) and Cui HenXin (Chinese) in Urumqi, the topic of the speech was adventurous administrationof the west prairie area of China, adventurous administration of " the husbandry area and shift herding "; whole members from all ranks of the project offices attended the speech.In September2002, two specialists,Dan.Miller and Cui HenXin, made an on- the-spot investigationand directionin Arletaprefecture. In order to carry out the project smoothly,leading teams and project administrationbranches were established in counties (cities). There were three subsidiary work groups in county project administration branches: financial group, purchasing group and file group. Since the project ha been established, in accordance with the requirements of the World Bank, directed by senior project leading office, the project leading team and administrationoffice developed their work in aspects of programmer design, organization & administration, superintendent & inspection, engineering superintendent and technical training. The organization was operating well so that assures the aim of the project had completed smoothly. In order to develop project work better, in accordance with the requirements of the World Bank, the project officesin each county and Arleta prefecture ever sent staff to attend the project training three times, they also went to Inner Mongolia for investigation and studying which organized by municipal project office. The project office equipped with the computer, scanner, photocopier and other modern office equipments. Project Adjustment. In order to make the implementationof the projectbe in keeping with the real circumstance of each county (city), the World Bank Office of Arleta prefecture handed over a report to the World Bank in April 2002, in which they asked to adjustprojects and statereasons. In May 2002, they received the reply from the World Bank, adjusted "the silages project" in Jimunai county to "sprinting grasslands project", changed Arleta shi and Qinghe county' "processing facility" into "rebuilding animal sheds project", adjusted "artificial grasslands project" in Fuyun county to "herdsmenhousing and rebuilding shedsprojects". Procurement for the Project. In April 2002, the World Bank Inspecting Group inspected the circumstanceof 2001'engineeringconstructionof snow disastersproject, all of the project counties started to collect quotations for bids on small-scale constructions (rebuilding of the herdsmen houses, animal'ssheds)and goods purchasing. All of the enquirieswere answered at the beginning of May. Bidding Evaluation Team was setup and all of the quotations were evaluated. 25 May and 4* June 2002, the World Bank approved the first contract of Jimunai for sprinklers and the first contract of Altai municipal for rebuilding the animal sheds, prefecture PMO checked all of the project counties' contracts, a total of 19 contracts were signed on small scale construction and goods procurement. And then the project implementationwas started. During the period of June to the July 2002,the Arleta prefecture project office purchased some office equipments:5 computers, 6 photocopiers, 6 scannersand 1portable computer. 23 Project Payment. In order to enhance the fund administration,accordingto requirements fromthe World Bank & the project administrationregulations,special account for WB loan and counterpart fund account were opened at prefecture and each of the project counties. At the end of Nov.2002, the accumulative total investment made was 33.5661 million Yuan, the accumulative total available funds were 29.8623 million Yuan in which 20.7555 million Yuan was WB loan, and 6.5351 million Yuan was counterpart fund from province, prefecture and county. And 2.5717 million Yuan was herdsmen labor investment. The accumulated payment was 25.4068 million, including herdsmen labor account 3.4657 million Yuan, small-scale construction 18.8071 million Yuan, 99.9thousand Yuan was spent on project managementand office facility. The prefecture PMO applied for reimbursement from the World Bank four times and got 2.07555 millionback that reached 86.4% of the World Bank investmentplan. Project supervision & assessment. According to the requirements from the World Bank, "project administration regulations" was made in Arleta prefecture. In the process of carrying out the project, people from municipal project office and prefecture project office had gone down to project counties (city) to inspect and to supervise. project staff also made strict inspection, supervision and checking at work. As for inspection, we adopted regular method and mixed with irregular method, inspected major areas thoroughly, and inspect scattered project sites by random way. And this played an important role in project supervision. All the data collected during the inspectionwere filed to guaranteea smoothproject implementation. 3.ProjectAchievement and Impact Main Achievement. Because every task of the project was conducting with on-the spot inspection and adopting the herdsmen' opinion as a base, the project constructionwas conductingobjectively and has gained a good effect. The World Bank snow disasters project in Arleta prefecture has constructed 530 silages, repaired 1437 animal sheds and 30925mu artificial grasslands, improved 7000mu grasslands, rebuilt 244 animal sheds and 254 herdsmen houses. The project has trained 4927 herdsmen. There are 3946 beneficiaries' families and 19,004 beneficiaries covering 3 counties, 1 city and 35 towns. Successful project implementationhas assisted the beneficiaries in normalizingtheir production. TechnicalInfluences. In autumn, 2001 and the spring, 2002, with careful preparation the project office in every county (city, town) made the training cause to the beneficiaries regularly, the contents of the training involved the World Bank project introduction, the standard of the project construction, the silages construction & its maintenance, the scientific farming, the forage manufacture, the preserve slulls, scientific herding etc. They also organized beneficiaries to have an on-the-spot inspection and visiting. There were 4927 herdsmen trainers and beneficiaries were satisfied with the training. In 2002, the county (city) project offices made after-supervisionabout the completed project and found that most of the herdsmen hap applied the facilities and practical techniquesthey had learnedto their production,which had a positive on surroundingpeople. Environmental Influences. Implementation of the project has offered beneficiaries' herdsmen houses, animals' sheds, grasslands, silages and other living facilities. In winter, part of animals can be fed inside the sheds without marching to winter pasture far away; this has cut down destroy towards grasslandsextremely,and has protectedthe biological environmentefficiently. Social Influences. By means of news medium, wide publicity of the World Bank, the communication between herdsmen and visible construction site, all of these make sufferers and people of all social ranks understand the project deeply. It's beyond all doubts that the World Bank' aids to majority of herdsmen sufferers are especially on condition that our area suffered a series of disasters. This inspire sufferers with their enthusiasm to regain production and rebuild their houses, they participated in the project construction actively. By means of training courses, 24 the herdsmen have mastered the advanced husbandry technique, improved the scientific herding level, increasedtheir income and caused wide-ranging social influences. 4. Experience We have accumulatedrich working experience by means of project implementation,especially in terms of internationalproject. We hardly ever carried out this sort of international project before, but by way of the practice,we cultivatesome project talents and have establisheda good basis for a smooth development of the World Bank project which topic is "grasslands comprehensive development project". In addition, face-to-face speaking with the herdsmen in the process of project implementation offered us an opportunity to accumulate our working experience; in the meanwhile, it's also an opportunity that the herdsmen gave more credit to the government. According to the World Bank requirements for technique and quality,we have made a progress for the quality of the sheds construction. Certainly there were some problems in the process of the project implementation that we need to draw admonishments.First, at the initial stage of the project, our work was developing passively because our worlung staffs were unfamiliar with the project implementation regulations of the World Bank. Be aimed at this point, the town project sent people for reach and further studying, made the worlung situation changed inside out. Secondary, during the process of the artificial grasslands construction, there was migratory problem existed because short of consideration (comprehension)towards the snow disastersproject,but we corrected it in time. 5.Project evaluation During the project implementation, great help was offered by the World Bank. A) during the preparation period, missions had been sent by the World Bank to come to the project counties to inspect. And set the clear objectives for the project. B) During the implementation, World Bank showed great concern and suggestionswere provided to solve the problems. C) When the project was completed, training was provided on the preparation of the final report. And gave clear requirements.Their hard working spirit deeply impressedus. Though it is the first time for the prefecture and county leaders to implementWorld Bank project, they have been strictly doing the job according to the World Bank requirement, project management regulations were carefully studied, and the loan was distributed to the herdsmen as required by the World Bank. And repayment plan was also made. They frequently checked the progress of the implementation.Counterpartfunds were allocatedtimely as planned. Project implementation was done according to the World Bank requirement, and it has already playing importantrole in the production in the project area. Requirementswere given to the project counties to do a better job in later on management of the project to ensure bigger project benefit. Good cultivationmanagement should be done to the artificial and upgradedpastureland to increase grass yield. Further cares should be given to the newly built and upgraded animal sheds and houses of the herdsmen. And more training should be provided to the herdsmen. And the loan repayment should be done according to the plan. Data bank of the project herdsmen and their production shouldbe establishedby using the available computers. ALETAIPREFECTUREPMO 13TH,Nov. 2002 25 8.b. Tacheng Prefecture Implementation Completion Note There had been very heavy snowfalls and abruptly temperature falling happening in TaCheng region since the beginning of the winter of 2000.There had been 35 heavy snowfalls happening in more than 80 days. The depth of the snowfall in plain area is about 1 meter deep and in mountain area is about 2 meters deep. The snowfall did not thaw until 5 months later. And the lowest temperature reachedthe minus 37 degree centigrade. Because the snowfall calamitieshad hit a vast area, the city of TaCheng and the county of TouLee, the county of Emin, the county of YuMin, the county of HeFeng were hit by the snowfall calamitiesbadly. At the same time, the areas mentioned above suffered from the strong destroying gale and abruptly temperature falling and the heavy snowfalls in the first ten days of the April of 2001.The grade of the strong destroying gale reached to the 9th to 10* grade and even to the 12& grade in some areas.Thesenatural calamitiescost our TaChengregion a great deal. There had been 174 thousand people influenced by the snowfall calamities, and 1.9 million domestic animals influenced by the snowfall calamities. 9 herdsmen were killed in the snowfall calamities and 50 herdsmen were injured badly. There were 21 thousand domestic animals were llled in the snowfall calamities. In the snowfall calamities, 1137dwelling houses were destroyed in the snowfall calamities and 2959 dwelling houses were damaged. 7890 cattle pens were totally destroyed or badly damagedby the calamities,which cost the loss of 165million Yuan. There had been 84.6thousandpeople hit by the snowfallcalamities in most seriously influenced areas such as the county of Emin, the county of YuMin and the city of TaCheng. And 1.026 million domestics animals were hit by the natural snowfall calamities. And there had been 5 herdsmen were killed in the snowfall calamities,and 12.8thousand domestics animalswere killed in those areas, in addition to those losses, 6757 dwelling houses and cattle pens were totally destroyed and badly damaged. The areasmentioned above sufferedthe losses of 100million Yuan. Objectives. The objectives of rebuilding items in TaCheng region after the snowfall calamities were to solve the problems that the herdsmen in the city of TaCheng and the county of Emin, the county of YuMin, the county of HeFeng, the county of TouLee had with their production and their lives, and to solve the problem of the production of snowfall calamities-stricken areas and help the beneficiarieshouses to give enough forage to their domesticsanimals in the biting cold season and helpingthem to enhancethe abilityof protecting againstthe snowfallcalamities. Implementation Plan There was the whole investment of 3.28 million dollars according to the planning of carrying out the items, in which there was 2.14 million Yuan form the World Bank's aiding loans (1630000 SDR), and in which there was 1.14 million Yuan from the domestics funds. At present, we have finished all construction items under the all investment of 26.8303 million Yuan. And we have finishedthe constructiveitems under 25.0862 million Yuan. And the amount of the drawingof the application was 16.306 million Yuan. And the amount of the rendering the account of the purchasing goods was 1.6372 million Yuan; the amount of the drawing of the application was 1.2279 million Yuan. The amount of the rendering the account of the offices of items and the trainingthe herdsmen was 167.1thousand Yuan. Repair of cattlepens The cattle pens had been repaired completelyby the Nov. of 2001. And rendering the account had been done to the World Bank by the middle of the April of 2002. The total amount of the rendering the account was 5.1079 million Yuan, in which the amount of drawing of the application was 26 3.3203 million Yuan. There had been 111.0405square meters of the cattle pens repaired and there had been 1274beneficiary households in the whole region. 1,7007million Yuan was invested in the city of TaCheng.36.971 thousand square meters of the cattle pens was repaired and there had been 473 beneficiary households in the city of TaCheng. 1.4592million Yuan was invested in the county of Emin. 31.7215 thousand square meters of the cattle pens was repaired and 303 beneficiary households in the county Emin. 462.3 thousand Yuan was invested in the county of TouLee.10.049thousand meters of the cattle pens was repaired and 100beneficiaryhouseholds in the county of TouLee.1.1007 million Yuan was invested in the YuMin County. 23.928 square meters of the cattle pens was repaired and 305 beneficiary households in the county of YuMin. 385.1 thousand Yuan was invested in the county of HeFeng. 8.371 squaremeters of the cattlepens was repaired and 93 beneficiaryhouseholds in the county of HeFeng. Construction of cattlepens The cattle pens had been totally finished accordingto the planning by the 11' of Nov. 2002 in ow region. The cattle pens had been checked and accepted and put into use. 8.1408 million Yuan had been invested totally into the constructionsof the cattle pens, in which 5.29 million Yuan was used fkom the loans of the World Bank. 69.592thousand squaremeters of the cattle pens was built under the funds and there had been 745 beneficiary households. 2.64 million Yuan was invested in the city of TaCheng. 29.040 square meters of the cattle pens was built there and there had been 264 beneficiary households in the city of TaCheng.2.1045 million Yuan was invested in the county of Emin.15.440 square meters of the cattle pens was built there and there had been 193 beneficiary households in the county of Emin. 961 thousand Yuan was invested in the county of TouLee.6.746 thousand squaremeters of the cattlepens was built and there had been 97 beneficiaryhouseholdsin the county of TouLee. 1.673 million Yuan was invested in the county of YuMin. 11345 square meters of the cattle pens was built and there had been 116beneficiary households in the county of YuMin. 762 thousand Yuan was invested in the county of HeFeng. 5.521 thousand square meters of the cattlepens was built and there had been 75 beneficiariesin the county of HeFeng. Construction ofgrasslands The constructions of the artificial grasslands had been finished completely by the June of 2002 under the investment of the 5.5985 million Yuan, in which 3.639 million Yuan was used form the loans of the World Bank. There were 26.286 thousand mu of the newly-built artificial grasslands that had been finished and there had been 816beneficiary households in our region. 1.7725million Yuan was invested in the city of TaCheng. 8306 mu of the newly-built artificial grasslands was finished and there had been 286 beneficiary households in the city of TaCheng. 1.4673 million Yuan was invested in the county of Emin. 6.962 thousand mu of the artificial grasslands was finished and there had been 218 beneficiary households in the county of Emin. 1.1623 million Yuan was invested in the county of YuMin. 5.508 thousand mu of the artificial grasslands was finished and there had been 111 beneficiary households in the county of YuMin. 561.7 thousand Yuan was invested in the county of HeFeng. 2.442 thousand mu of the artificial grasslands was finishedand there had been 126beneficiaryhouseholds in the county of HeFeng. Construction of reforming of grasslands The construction of reforming the grasslandshad been totally finished by Septemberof 2002. The amount of the investment for the reforming the grasslands was 3.8859 million Yuan, in which 2.5258 million Yuan was from the World Bank's loans fund.101.938 square mu of the grasslands had been reformed and there had been 680 beneficiary households in our whole region. 1.2156 million Yuan was invested in the city of TaCheng. 29.650 square mu of the grasslands had been reformed and there had been 147 beneficiary households in the city of TaCheng. 1.0701 million Yuan was invested in the county of Emin. 26.1 thousand square mu of grasslands was reformed and there had been 262 beneficiary households in the county of Emin. 446.9 thousand Yuan was 27 invested in the county of TouLee. 10.9 thousand square mu of the grasslands had been reformed and there had been 55 beneficiary households in the county of TouLee. 805.8 thousand Yuan was invested in the county of YuMin. 24.455 square mu of the grasslands had been reformed and there had been 122beneficiary households in the county of YuMin. 347.5 thousand Yuan was invested in the county of HeFeng. 10.833squaremu of grasslands had been reformed and there had been 94 beneficiaryhouseholdsin the county of HeFeng. Purchasing of thepasture seeds We had signed the contract that we bought the 30 tons of the seeds of pasturage from the XinJiang CAOYE technical company (worthy of 444 thousand Yuan). Then we had allocated the pasture seeds to the city of TaCheng,the countyof Emin, the county of YuMin,the countyof TouLee. And we had finishedrenderingthe account.We had alreadygot 333 thousand Yuan. Purchasing of grass-mowing machines We had purchased the grass mowing machines according to the purchasing procedures of the World Bank in the Sep.20* 2002. And we had sign the contractsthat we bought 85 17-horsepower tractors and 48 grass-mowingmachines and 109 disintegratorsfrom TaCheng NONGJU company, TaCheng FengYuan Company, TaCheng farming-machines company respectively. At the same time, the county of TouLee had signed the contracts that the county of TouLee purchased 35 17- horsepower tractors from the TaCheng FengYuan Company and the county of TouLee had signed the contracts that the county of TouLee purchased 51 disintegratorsfrom the TaCheng farming - machines company under the permission of the World Bank on the second time. The purchasing mentioned above totally cost 1.07million Yuan, in which 802.5thousand Yuan was used from the loans of the World Bank. At present all machines purchased are put into use under the request of the World Bank. Training of herdsmen By far 4574 people have been trained. According to the plans, 100%herdsmen have been trained. Because the trainees were trained on-site, the expenses spent were less than the ones we had planned. Altogether we have spent 136.1thousand Yuan. 1550 herdsmen have been trained in the city of TaCheng. 914 herdsmen have been trained in the county of YuMin. 1286 herdsmen have been trained in the county of Emin. 408 herdsmen have been trained in the county of TouLee. 416 herdsmenhave been trained in the county of HeFeng. Someherders were trained twice. Plan Adjustments During the time of carrying out the items plans, because the actual cost was different from the planning cost and the beneficiaryhouseholds selected in the county of HeFeng didn't live up to the requirement of the World Bank, we had adjusted some items into purchasing goods under the permission of the World Bank. The items had been adjusted from 1.52 million SDR to 1.505739 million SDR and the goods had been adjusted from 77 thousand SDR to 111.791 thousand SDR and the training had been adjusted from 25 thousand SDR to 12.5thousand SDR on the condition that the whole amount of the loans was 1.63 million SDR unchanged. And the money form domesticshad been adjustedby 35 % under the require of the World Bank. Procurement All the purchasingitems were done by the require of the World Bank. But when the clerks from the county of Emin they had signed the purchasing contracts, they had signed the contracts the expenses of which were beyond the limit of the World Bank without understanding the require of the World Bank. The engineering contracts' expenses they had signed about the cattle pens were beyond the limit of the World Bank. And the contracts' expenses they had signed about the reforming the grassland were beyond the limit of the World Bank. The county of Emin had 28 explained the events to the World Bank and the World Bank had already accepted the accounts forwardedby the county of Emin. Disbursement The purchasingitems had been done accordingto the require of the World Bank carefully. We paid the money after the items had been finishedand checked and accepted. Supervision and evaluation Because the engineering items were done by the beneficiary houses themselves,the supervising of the items was in the charge of the qualified departments. The departments mainly checked the qualities of the mending cattle pens and the newly-built cattle pens. And the departments checked the qualitiesof the reforming the grasslands and the newly-built grasslands,and the qualitiesof the newly-built vaults for the storing the green forage. The whole items were finished by the constructive standards of the World Bank carefully, so every subordinate item lived up to the standardsof the World Bank. Main achievements and impact The main achievements. 179.632 thousand square meters of cattle pens had been finished and repaired, which can make sure that 250 thousand sheep live through the biting cold winter. 101.938 square mu of the grasslands had been reformed and 33.283 square mu of the grasslands had been newly built, which can be estimated to yield 24 thousand tons of the hay which can meet the require of 80 thousand sheep. 33.283 thousand square meters of the vaults for green forage had been finished which can store 24 thousand tons of the green forage which can meet the require of 40 thousand sheep to live through the winter. 4574 herdsmen were trained to let them acquire the knowledgeabout the making the forage and raising the domestic animalsin winter and the planting the pasture grass. Environmental and Social Benejits. We has solved the problems that the herdsmen hit by the snowfall calamities wanted the forage to feed their domestic animals. And we had bettered the ecology environments by protecting and newly built the grasslands. And the grasslands were protected well. The grasslandsnow can yield more pasture grass. We had helped the herdsmen to live through the biting cold winter and we had kept the society stable. More and more people come to know the World Bank and the people in our region show great enthusiasmto the World Bank. Lessons and experience. We have learnt a lot of scientific methods of management and the strict handle procedures and the careful attitudes of the officers from the World Bank. And at the same time, a lot of clerks were trained to learn the handle procedures of the World Bank. We have accumulatedlots of experience to handle the items of the World Bank. There had great differences between the World Bank and us in the items management and the handling procedures. There were some problems existing in the handling the procedures because we had contactedthe foreign capital of the World Bank the first time. The selectingthe beneficiary households in the county of Emin and HeFeng didn't accord with the require of the World Bank. We reselected the beneficiary households in the counties of Emin and HeFeng after the World Bank had found the beneficiary households chosen didn't accord with the require of the World Bank. And we reselected 33 new beneficiaryhouseholdsin the county of HeFeng to help them with goods instead of constructionwith the permission of the World Bank (greater area). And the areas of some newly built cattle pens in the city of TaCheng were too large beyond the require of the 29 World Bank. And 12 cattlepens were built with the soil tampered walls in order to reduce the cost, which would reduce the consistence of the walls of the cattle pens. We had asked the city of TaCheng to rebuild the walls of the 12cattlepens mentioned above. And the expenses of the newly built cattle pens in the county of Emin were excess of the permission of the World Bank, at the same time, the expenses of the reformingthe grasslandswere excess of the permission of the World Bank, from which we understand that we must obey the rules of the WorldBank to make surethe items go smoothly. Assessments WorldBank Though the emergent aiding items from the World Bank to our region were not in the large scale, the World Bank had given us an ocean of helps when the clerksof our region had some difficulties in understanding the require of the World Bank. The officers of the World Bank had come to our region 4 times to check our work and offer us a great deal of helps in the whole 2001. They had pointed out the mistakes which we made in the handling the items and they had taught us how to handle them correctly. We had communicated with the World Bank frequently and got the useful information in time, which was the key factors by which we had finished the items successfully. Borrower. The emergent aiding items from the World Bank to our TaCheng region were greatly supported by the communism committees and the communism governments. The beneficiary households and the company carrying into execution they had showed great enthusiasm to the World Bank. They had tried their best to carry out the items with the require of World Bank. There were still some problems existing in the processing of the handling the items for the opinions we hold differ from the WorldBank's. We immediatelycorrect the mistakes which we made in the handling the items when the officer of the World Bank pointed them out. Administering agencies were founded accordingto the require of the World Bank ranging from the prefecture to the village & town to manage the handling the emergent aiding items. Special clerks were sent to see to the handling the items. And the TaCheng prefecture had know the 20% of the processing information about the beneficiary households and the handling items. And the counties and the villages & towns had know the 100% of the processing information about the beneficiary households and the handlingitems. At present we had finished all the constructive items under the order of the World Bank. And we deal with the surplus fundswhich came form the changed interests by purchasingthe pasture grass- processing machines and handing them out to the beneficiary households or new beneficiary households. At present all constructive items had been checked and accepted, which have been handed over to the beneficiary householdsto use. According to the informationwe have collected, the beneficiaryhouseholdswere very satisfiedto the qualities of the constructiveitems.The newly- built and the repaired cattlepens make sure that the herdsmen could let their domesticsanimals live through the winter. Compared with the traditional cattle pens, the newly built cattle pens will husband 20% forage. And the survivingrate of the lambs was improved.The reforminggrasslands have taken on a new look, which yield 20% to 30% more grass than the last year. 90% herdsmen are using the newly-built vaults for the green forages. There are about 20 thousand tons of forages stored to make sure that the domestics animals in our region can live through the winter. The herdsmen were very satisfied to the pasture grass processing machines, which can help the herdsmen mow, transport, disintegratethe pasture grass and help the other herdsmen to mow and transport the pasture grass to benefit. The artificial grasslands will benefit well in the future if they are managed well. 30 Costs and Benefits. The deathrate of the domesticsanimalshave been reduced and the survivingrate of the lambshave been increased.And the periods of the domestics animals'getting maturing have been shorten.The output of the pasture grass has been increased.Every beneficiary household must pay 10 thousand Yuan back to the World Bank, which can be paid off in 5 to 8 years for the survivingrate of the domestics animals has been increased and the cost of the forage has been reduced by the aiding items of the World Bank. Every animal can get 15 to 20 Yuan more than before, by which every beneficiaryhouse can pay off the 10thousandYuan in 5 to 8years. Behavior of the WorldBank and Borrower The strict and scientific methods of management and the handling procedures embody the open, fair and square, transparent principles, especially the careful attitudes and the precise workmg of officers of the World Bank gave the local clerks deep impressions. And the diligence and the hardworkmg of the officers of the World Bank were the key factorsto the finishingthe items. The herdsmen showed the great enthusiasm to the World Bank's items, so did the local governments and communism committees. Though there were some problems existing during the items were handled,the World Bank and the whole TaChengregion have overcomethe problemstogether. Future Plans. In order to make sure the items can yield the most benefit and help the beneficiary households overcomethe problemsthey would meet in the future. The items offices in our region will be lasted for a long time to sever the beneficiary households and train the herdsmen and help the treasury departments in our region to reclaim the loans from the World Bank. And we will sum up the experience and the lessons form the processing the items with the World Bank in order to do the best work with the World Bank in the future. TaChengPrefecturePMO March, 2003 31 Annex 9. Photographs Animal shed destroyedby snowstorm,early 2001. Constructionof new brick shed. 32 Severelydeterioratedgrassland,spring 2001. New alfalfaproduction. 33
World Bank Group · Implementation Completion and Results Report
China - Xinjiang Uyghur (Altai) Snow Disaster Recovery Component, and Xinjiang Uyghur (Tacheng) Snow Disaster Recovery Component Projects
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World Bank Group
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Implementation Completion and Results Report
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China
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World Bank