Expertise: Water Supply Specialist
Expertise Group: Engineering
Consultant Source: National
TOR Keywords: National Water Supply Specialist
Objective and Purpose of the Assignment
Objective
The Kingdom of Cambodia, through the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation (MISTI)
and Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) has requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to
support the Government in further improving the country’s coverage of water supply and sanitation
services in urban areas. An additional financing to the ongoing Provincial Water Supply and Sanitation
Project (PWSSP, the ongoing project) has been included in the pipeline approval in 2024. To support the
preparation of the proposed additional financing (PWSSP AF), a team of experts (the project preparatory
team, PPT) will be recruited. The PPT will be recruited or contracted as individual consultants.
However, they will work as a team to support ADB and the government in carrying out due diligences and
preparation of reports and/or documents required for the processing of the proposed additional financing
until its approval by the ADB-Boards of Directors (expected in Q4 2024).
B. Project Description
- The PWSSP (ongoing project) was approved on 7 December 2017. The original financing of the ongoing
project initially came from the following sources: (i) a loan of $50 million from ADB’s concessional
ordinary capital resources, (ii) administration of a grant of $10 million from the Japan Fund for the
Joint Crediting Mechanism (JFJCM), and (iii) partial administration of a €40 million ($43.54 million)
loan from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD). A parallel collaborative cofinancing grant of
€4.67 million ($5.09 million) from the European Union Asia Investment Facility (EU-AIF), administered by
AFD, is also provided for the project. The ADB loan and JFJCM grant agreements were signed on 9 January
2018, became effective on 15 March 2018. The ADB loan will close on 31 December 2024 after the first
extension from 30 June 2023. The AFD loan and EU-AIF Grant were approved on 22 November 2017 and became
effective upon signing on 24 January 2018 and were extended once to 31 December 2024. The JFJCM grant
was cancelled effectively from 25 March 2021. After cancellation of the JFJCM grant proceeds, the total
project cost is reduced from $119.17 million at approval to $109.17 million. - Originally, the project aimed to expand and improve urban water supply and sanitation services in
four of Cambodia’s three selected provincial cities, Battambang, Kampong Cham and Siem Reap. However, in
2022, government requested to cancel a subproject in Sihanoukville in 2022 from the project scope, with
amendment to loan/grant agreement was signed on 26 February 2020. - The project is aligned with the following impact: improved urban environments and quality of life for
the urban residents. The project has the following outcome: sustainable piped WSS services provided in
selected provincial cities. The project has the following 3 outputs with indicators (original targets)
as specified in the Report and Recommendations of the President to the Board (RRP). - Output 1: Improved piped water supply. The project will finance two water supply subprojects (in
Battambang and Kampong Cham), including two new water treatment plants with a combined capacity of
61,600 cubic meters per day (m3 /day) and new distribution networks with a combined length of 161
kilometers (km), which will also assist in reducing nonrevenue water. The expanded systems will serve an
additional 209,000 people (about 40,000 connections) by 2022 (achieving a population coverage of about
90%), increasing revenues and reducing unit costs through increased economies of scale. The project will
assist the government to develop a subsidized connection policy to encourage connection by poor and
disadvantaged households (covering about 15% of connections). New laboratory equipment will improve
monitoring and water quality testing. - Output 2: Improved sanitation. The project will finance four sanitation subprojects: (i) a new 10,625
m3 /day capacity WWTP at Battambang and 15.4 km of new sewers; (ii) a septage management system
(collection, treatment, and disposal) in Kampong Cham; (iii) expansion of the Sihanoukville WWTP from
6,900 m3 /day to 20,500 m3 /day and 32.1 km of new sewers; and (iv) a new 3.7 km trunk sewer in Siem
Reap, constructed using trenchless technology to limit disturbance to business and tourism activities. - Output 3: Improved institutional effectiveness. The project will strengthen institutional
effectiveness through improved coordination between MISTI and MPWT, provide continued support to help
provincial waterworks and PWUs achieve financial autonomy, and support the MIH to develop its regulatory
role. It will improve staff capacity in project implementation of urban WSS projects and O&M through on-
the-job training. The project will help develop a new master’s program in water and wastewater
engineering with the Institute of Technology of Cambodia to support future graduates in the sector. - Change in scope. In 2020, a change in project scope was approved, which include the following (i)
removal of the Sihanoukville WWTP and sewer network; (ii) adjustment to the Battambang wastewater
system, which include the change in WWTP location, separation of sewer network from the storm water
system, additional wastewater transmission pipe; (iii) removal of Kampong Cham septage management work;
(iv) inclusion of the construction of laboratory and provision of equipment for the Siem Reap wastewater
treatment facility. In 2024, another change in scope was approved to accommodate changes agreed during
the project mid-term review mission, which include adjustments of several output indicators due to cost
overruns. - Cost overrun. During project implementation (the preparation of detailed engineering designs, DEDs
stage), it was apparent that the available loan proceeds were insufficient to cover the targeted
outputs. Adjustments of targets were made. - Proposed Additional Financing. To ensure the achievement of the outcome, which will contribute to
the target of 100% access to water and 90% of piped water for urban population, the government has
requested an additional financing to finance the facilities or items that will not be covered under the
ongoing project due to insufficient fund. ADB will finance the required amount of $56.0 million. - Proposed Additional Financing. To ensure the achievement of the outcome, which will contribute to
the target of 100% access to water and 90% of piped water for urban population, the government has
requested an additional financing to finance the facilities or items that will not be covered under the
ongoing project due to insufficient fund. ADB will finance the required amount of $56.0 million.
Under the sanitation/wastewater component, the additional financing will cover the ongoing project’s
scope which cannot be covered due to insufficient budget. In addition to the original scope, the
additional financing will also include new work (not included under the original project scope). New
works being proposed are the drainage/storm water collection systems. About 4,500 new house connections
will be installed and two new drainage systems will be constructed to address flooding issues in
Battambang. Under the water supply component, the additional financing will include the construction of
new distribution networks and new water treatment plant (WTP) in Kampong Cham (WTP of 7,000 m3/day) to
meet the projected demand in 2030 (the current WTP is designed to meet the demand until 2025) and about
11,600 new house connections will be installed.
Works to be Covered Under the Proposed Additional Financing -Water Supply Components - Booster Pumping Station (Phnom Pros) [Within the ongoing project scope]
- 33.472Km pipeline in the original design in Phase 1a [Within the ongoing project scope]
- 31.843Km pipeline in the original design in Phase 2 [Within the ongoing project scope]
- Additional pipeline P3 (55.44km) [New work/not under the ongoing project scope]
- Additional WTP (7,000 m3/day) [New work/not under the ongoing project scope]
- Additional Intake Works (7700 m3/day) [New work/not under the ongoing project scope]
- Additional Transmission Pipe [New work/not under the ongoing project scope]
- Additional Raw Water Pipeline (5km x 315mm HDPE) [New work/not under the ongoing project scope]
- DED and supervision (2 years), and project implementation support.
Under Wastewater Component
- Drainage work within the existing service area (Phase 1A) [New Work]
- Sewer network in Phase 1B area [Within the ongoing project scope]
- Drainage work in 1B area [New Wor]
- Siem Reap laboratory (including equipment) [Within the ongoing project scope]
- Septage collection truck (Kampong Cham) [Within the ongoing project scope]
- Consulting services (DED, supervision and implementation support).
- Project management
Scope of Work
Under this assignment, a group of individual consultants will be recruited to support the preparation of
project including (i) conduct stakeholder consultations, including technical, safeguards, socio-economic
surveys, and other investigations as deemed necessary to support the preparation of the project; (ii)
conduct assessment of safeguards, poverty, and social arrangements and define Project risk and
mitigation measures; (iii) prepare the technical, financial, economic, social, poverty, gender and
safeguard due diligence documents required to support the processing of the project; and (iv) identify
and formulate measures to improve governance, management, and technical capacity of government agencies,
including the MPWT and MISTI. Even though these consultants will be recruited individually, the
consultants should work as a team and coordinate closely with all consultants recruited for this
assignment. This position is for the Co team leader of the team, who will also be required to supervise
and ensure the timely submission of inputs of other consultants.
Detailed Tasks and/or Expected Output
The consultant for this position will act as the national Co-Team Leader as well as national water
supply specialist. The consultant will be recruited for 3 person-months (intermittent) from March –
December 2024. The consultant will carry out the following, but not limited to the following tasks:
(i) Act as the national Co-Team Leader of the team in managing, coordinating and supervising all
consulting inputs of both international and national consultants, ensuring the deliverables are of high
quality, and all components are properly coordinated;
(ii) Coordinate and collaborate with other experts including the international water supply specialist
in field visits, site surveys investigations, and stakeholder consultations;
(iii) Lead the preparation of the water supply component of the proposed project, in close coordination
with International Water Supply Specialist, the client and existing project implementation consultants.
(iv) Support the preparation of the due diligence reports as required under this assignment;
(v) Assisting ADB’s project team lead in finalizing the documents and providing technical advice during
loan fact finding and negotiations.
(vi) In collaboration with the TL, lead in the preparation of draft RRP link documents and other
documents relevant to project preparation and assume responsibility for deliverables.
(vii) In collaboration with the TL lead in the preparation and submission of technical reports, due
diligence report, RRP link documents and final report.
(viii) In collaboration with the TL, lead the comprehensive review of existing documents and establish
an information database including existing planning standards, population projections, demand forecasts,
design criteria, and unit costs and shall prepare recommendations for updating as necessary.
(ix) In close coordination with the financial specialist and procurement specialist assess adequacy of
detailed cost estimate and identify appropriate procurement packaging and procurement plans for the
project component;
(x) Schedule and prioritize the critical surveys including coordinating the request for quotations and
submitting the proposed surveys for ADB approval.
(xi) Synthesize project findings, key project issues, trade-offs, bottlenecks, and risks and prepare
presentations outlining these issues with recommendations.
(xii) Together with the Team Leader, manage all interfaces with government counterparts.
(xiii) Other relevant tasks to be decided by ADB and the Government.
Minimum Qualification Requirements
The candidate is expected to hold a postgraduate degree in engineering, or equivalent, with at least 15
years of experience in water supply projects. Experience as a team leader or equivalent in ADB-financed
project processing is required. Experience working on urban water supply projects in Cambodia and ADB-
financed project processing in the sector would also be required. Experience working with other
multilateral organizations and/or with water utilities in project processing and implementation is
preferable. Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
Minimum General Experience: 15 Years
Minimum Specific Experience (relevant to assignment): 10 Years
