TA 58028-002 UZB: Preparing the Resilient Amu Darya River Basin Sector Development Program - Consultants Services for Project Preparation and Relevant Resilience Plans (Consulting Firm)

TA 58028-002 UZB: Preparing Resilience in the Amu Darya River Basin Water Sector Development Program - Consultants Services for Project Preparation and Relevant Resilience Plans (Consulting Firm)

Date Published: 18-Apr-2024

Deadline of Submitting EOI: 02-May-2024 11:59 PM Manila local time

SELECTION PROFILE

Consultant Type: Firm

Selection Method: Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS)

Selection Title: Preparing Resilience in the Amu Darya River Basin Water Sector Development Program

Package Name: Consultants Services for Project Preparation and Relevant Resilience Plans (Consulting Firm)

Engagement Period: 24MONTH

Consulting Services Budget: USD 2,750,000

Source: International

Technical Proposal: Full Technical Proposal (FTP)

Estimated Commencement Date: 02-Sep-2024

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country of assignment: Uzbekistan

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Primary Expertise: agriculture, food, nature, and rural development; water resources management

TOR Keywords: project preparation, feasibility studies, water resources management, agriculture

Objective and Purpose of the Assignment

The proposed Resilience in the Amu Darya River Basin Water Sector Development Program will support policy reforms and develop institutional capacity in water resources management and will undertake investment subprojects to deliver climate adaptive solutions for water resources management in the Amu Darya River Basins in Uzbekistan. The project will develop the capacity of the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) to implement policy reforms and better manage water resources. This is aligned with new president decree indicating the urgent needs for improving the water resources management system and increasing the efficiency of water use in Uzbekistan, and a series of government's priorities for water resource management and irrigation sector.

The project contains several adaptation measures: (i) development of selected multipurpose reservoirs—the Ayakchi and Obizarang, for improved water storage, flood risk management, irrigation, hydropower generation, and other uses; (ii) improved watershed management, including nature-based solutions for flood risk, sediment, and biodiversity management; (iii) productive and modernized irrigation command areas using innovative and digitalized technologies to boost water efficiency; (iv) institutional strengthening and capacity building of water management agencies and water users; and (v) introduction of climate-smart and gender inclusive water and farm management technologies to improve livelihoods.The ensuing project will provide more reliable water resources to enhance agricultural productivity and climate resilient livelihood opportunities in the project area. This is especially for the vulnerable and other economically disadvantaged households, including women. The proposed project sites are the proposed Ayakchi reservoir in the Qashqadaryo region and the proposed Obizarang reservoir in the Surkhandarya region.The proposed Ayakchi subproject will have a dam with an estimated height of 66 meters and a reservoir with a storage capacity of 16.8 million cubic meters. The reservoir aims to: (i) protect settlements, public infrastructure, and private properties from destructive floods and mudflows; and (ii) provide supplementary irrigation supplies to a command area of approximately 25,000 hectares with more diverse and higher value cropping. The proposed Obizarang dam will be 87.5 meters in height, and its reservoir capacity will be 13.15 million cubic meters. The proposed Obizarang reservoir aims to: (i) protecting settlements and public and private properties from destructive mudflows and floods and (ii) provision of supplementary water for an irrigation area of up to 9,800 hectares in the Surkhandarya region. A feasibility study for the Ayakchi sub-project and a pre-feasibility study for the Obizarang sub-project were developed by the design institute under the Ministry of Water Resources and these studies are to be updated further. The TA will review and update the existing feasibility study, social and environmental safeguards documents, prepare the strategic procurement plan, and conduct other due diligence assessments. These will include detailed social and poverty assessments, gender assessment and action plan with a deeper analysis of traditional institutions and how benefits may reach the vulnerable households of the community. The involvement of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the project will ensure technical, economic, financial, social, and environmental due diligence necessary for sustainable management of scarce water resources. It will help the government prepare the project with a high degree of readiness. The modality of the program will be a sector development program (SDP) using a programmatic approach. The government will conduct sector reform in the water resources and the irrigation sector. The policy-based lending component, estimated at $50 million, will support the government with making the necessary reforms in the water resource sector, which are needed to establish efficient and equitable water supply and allocation mechanisms. This technical assistance (TA) will support to prepare policy reforms and develop institutional capacity in water resources sector. This will also prepare the sector study in the field of water resource sector for SDP.The objective of the assignment is i) to update and develop the feasibility studies (FS) for subprojects (i.e., Ayakchi and Obizarang reservoirs, associated irrigation system, watershed management measures including disaster risk management and sediment management) to align with national FS requirements and international best practice, ii) to develop various resilience plans to be operated together with subprojects (i.e., Resilience Watershed Management Plan, Irrigation System Improvement Plan, Agricultural Development Plan), iii) to develop a sector study in the field of water resource sector for SDP to support policy reforms and develop institutional capacity of the government of Uzbekistan. The consultants’ tasks also include conduct of safeguards preparation of technical, financial, economic, procurement, institutional and risk assessments, as well as to carry out safeguard due diligence assessments to meet the ADB and government. The consultants will also assist the ADB team in exploring cofinancing opportunities with development partners and the private sector firm/organization operators by providing the necessary information and documents.For this assignment, ADB will recruit a consulting firm and four international individual consultants separately following the ADB Procurement Policy (2017, as amended from time to time) under.