Objective and Purpose of the Assignment
 | In December 2024, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved TA 10463-REG: Southeast Asia Facility for Resilient and Water Secure Cities to support the following activities: (i) sector diagnostics leading to a pipeline of climate-focused, low-carbon urban and water sector investments suitable for sovereign, nonsovereign, and public–private partnership (PPP) modalities; (ii) design of sovereign projects that maximizes ADB’s value added through the adoption of innovative approaches such as nature-based solutions, digitalization, last-mile connectivity to underserved areas, gender inclusion, and contracting modalities to strengthen engagement with private sector operators; (iii) institutional reforms and capacity development that support creation of a favorable enabling environment; and (iv) follow-on support for ADB-financed projects to ensure sustainable operation and maintenance arrangements are in place. Through this TA, ADB is providing $2 million support to the Philippines, which is focused on the following outputs: Output: 1 Climate-resilient investment planning undertaken. The support will build the capacity of Water Resources Management staff to undertake business case/pre-feasibility studies for priority water sector investments. A key output is a long list pipeline of viable potential projects with a focus on addressing water scarcity and lagging services in sanitation and wastewater management. Options on financing and the means to which various water service providers can access them will be considered to enhance the likelihood of projects moving forward to implementation. Output 2: Priority urban and water investments prepared. The TA will provide guidance to appropriate government agencies as they pursue more PPP in the water sector. The Water Resources Management Office (WRMO) is currently identifying surface water sources for potential bulk water schemes, and ADB will selectively support in this initiative including advice on the best means to address cross- jurisdictional issues. The support will be specifically designed to stimulate investments in bulk water management programs and projects with the goal of preparing pre-feasibility studies for potential climate resilient water security projects. For example, the TA will provide support to the National Irrigation Agency to support the design of bulk water PPPs, for which ADB is providing transactions advisory services. Output 3: Enabling environment and institutional capacity strengthened. Due to the fragmented nature of the Philippines regulatory environment, there has been no comprehensive benchmarking program for all water utilities in recent years. The Local Water Utilities Administration undertakes benchmarking programs for water districts under its purview, National Water Resource Board does not perform benchmarking programs for the private waterworks it regulates, and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System-Regulatory Office benchmarks both Manila Water and Maynilad, both in Metro Manila. However, there has not been a benchmarking program covering all water districts, privatized water districts, private waterworks, cooperatives, local government run water systems since one was made by National Water Resource Board in 2006. The support will develop a benchmarking program that will encompass all models of water utilities in the country, benchmarking each utility against industry standards and against other utilities. The study, when completed, should provide the government with a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each type of utility and more importantly, encourage or compel each utility to improve performance. The objective of this output is to strengthen the regulatory environment and the organizational capacities of the central and provincial government to manage the water supply and sanitation sector in a sustainable and resilient manner. This information will improve the processes for sector planning, enforcement and monitoring, and promote sustainable, climate-resilient operations, and reliable service delivery by developing greater understanding to improve asset planning, management and operations of water supply and sanitation infrastructure. The data sets will facilitate the concepts and principles of climate change to be considered and incorporated in the design of the water supply and sanitation infrastructure. The objective of the assignment is to support the WRMO to oversee the implementation of the TA in the Philippines, including activity planning, delivery and quality control of under each TA workstream. The expert will also provide on-demand policy advice, analytical support, and training for WRMO on various water sector topics. |
Scope of Work
| The expert will provide support to the WRMO and other government agencies to provide policy advice and undertake analytical work to support priority water sector reforms, and oversee and guide the development of key workstreams under the TA, namely: (i) development of a comprehensive, but simple digital benchmarking system and roadmap for wide-scale roll-out in the Philippines for the next five years; and (ii) development of business cases/pre-feasibility studies to support identification and initial viability assessment of priority water sector investments. |
Detailed Tasks and/or Expected Output
| The consultant will undertake the following tasks: TA Management (i) Coordinate the team inputs and outputs and review the quality and consistency of the deliverables (ii) Lead the preparation of reports, and assume responsibility for deliverables (to time and quality) (iii) Provide strategic guidance on the overall implementation of TA activities in the Philippines (iv) Support executive-level engagement with various government agencies and stakeholders in the water sector (v) Provide ad hoc support to government as requested (vi) Assist in addressing any critical issues or bottlenecks that need high-level attention. Capacity Building and Business Case Preparation (i) Work with client to design the business case capacity development work stream for WRMO staff (ii) Identify areas of expertise required to assess various priority water investment proposals, to clearly define consulting services requirements (e.g. water resources management, flood management, water supply and sanitation, irrigation), considering operational, institutional, governance, sustainability (financial and climate), technical, economic, safeguards and financial aspects (iii) Convening of key government agencies and executive level international and national resources specialists and consultants to assist in dialogue and optioneering, and development of business cases (iv) Oversee the planning and design of focused training sessions needed as part of capacity building activities (v) Work with the client to assess investments that may be suitable for financing through public-private partnership arrangements. Water Performance Benchmarking: (i) Plan and design a benchmarking system to gauge and monitor the performance of water districts, LGUs and private operators; based on international best practice and existing national models (from the water sector and other related sectors, e.g. energy). (ii) Manage and deliver a high-level optioneering workshop with the client and key stakeholders to highlight objectives, options and preferred approach, to secure buy-in. (iii) Agree on smart key performance indicators to be monitored and reported. (iv) Work with client to procure suitable IT system to enable electronic inputting of data, and analysis of consolidated inputs from all reporting water districts. (v) Support the pilot testing of benchmarking system in 2-3 target water districts. (vi) Prepare plan for roll-out of benchmarking system across water districts. |
Minimum Qualification Requirements
| The consultant should have: • A degree in water management, environmental engineering, economics, law, business or a related field. • At least 20 years of professional experience in water management, including at executive level in government, with at least 8 years’ experience in the Philippines. • Proven track record of developing strategic plans or similar documents in the water sector required. • Proven track record of developing strategic plans or similar documents for similar development partners to ADB in the water sector of the Philippines required. • Strong analytical, research, and report-writing skills. • Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills. • Flexibility to go on missions in the Philippines, as needed. |
