Disclosable Restructuring Paper - IN Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low Income States - P132173

The World Bank IN Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low Income States (P132173) REPORT NO.: RES33042 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF IN RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION PROJECT FOR LOW INCOME STATES APPROVED ON DECEMBER 30, 2013 TO REPUBLIC OF INDIA WATER GLOBAL PRACTICE SOUTH ASIA REGION Regional Vice President: Hartwig Schafer Country Director: Junaid Kama [...] No I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING A. Project Status 1. The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low-Income States (the Project) has completed five years of implementation and has entered its final year of implementation in a protracted state of unsatisfactory progress. [...] There has been limited progress against the PDO-level indicators and more than 80% of the implementation period has elapsed while disbursements are at only 26% of the US$ 500 million (IDA) allocated to the project. [...] On top of the poor performance of the first four years of implementation, the Project currently faces several challenges: (a) Insufficient contractor capacity to build schemes as designed; (b) Insufficient quality assurance, weak contract management and lack of rigor in the commissioning process (scheme commissioned whilst not matching DPR requirements or partial house connections coverage); (c) C [...] The Bank and national and state counterparts have agreed that State budgets would cover any expenditure related to activities carried out after the closing date of March 31, 2020, as documented in the minutes of the Eighth Project Steering Committee held by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) on July 20, 2018.