Funding Agency/Client: Asian Development Bank
Date: November 2021 – June 2022

The objective of this assignment is to support the Ministry of Water Supply (MWS), Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Management Board (KVWSMB), and Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) to carry out a comprehensive institutional assessment of all agencies (KUKL, KVWSMB, Water Supply Tariff Fixation Commission (WSTFC), Project Implementation Directorate (PID) and Melamchi Water Supply Development Board (MWSDB)) involved in the water supply and sanitation services in the Kathmandu Valley covering legal, regulatory, board functioning, financial, operational, HR, management, technical, customer service, IT operations, etc and suggest options for institutional strengthening/ restructuring or complete business process reengineering, including challenges, opportunities and resource requirement of such options. While the overall study shall cover all the institutions responsible for water supply and sanitation service delivery in the Kathmandu Valley at the policy and sector governance level, but major focus of the detailed assessment shall be on the services currently managed by KVWSMB, KUKL, and PID.

1. Diagnostics Assessment

Review (i) all studies, available reports, and documents (iii) the business plan of KUKL and KVWSMB, including financial models.
Collect secondary data, including technical operation, HR, finance, management, policy, and legal aspects of water supply service delivery operations in the Valley; and validate the same.
Conduct consultations with the Ministry of Finance, MWS, and other concerned stakeholder institutions at all levels of the organization i.e., not restricted to the Head office but also field/ branch operations.
Review past and ongoing reform initiatives to strengthen the capacity of KUKL and KVWSMB; prepare a summary of key recommendations; assess their status of implementation effectiveness; and identify lessons on their effectiveness.
Review of Institutional Assessment (RIA) report:

o Study Rapid Institutional Assessment report and reform measures recommended during the first phase.

o Suggest modifications, if any, to the proposed medium and long reform measures based on clear rationale and evidence-based assessment/ findings.

2. Deep dive Diagnostics

Carry out a deep dive institutional assessment of agencies (majorly for KUKL and KVWSMB, while others should be broad-based to understand their impact on the sector in the Kathmandu valley) involved in the water supply and sanitation sector in Kathmandu, including MWS, KUKL, PID, MWSDB, WSTFC, and KVWSMB, based on the above methodology to cover the policies, processes, procedures, and inter-relationships of the following aspects:

Governance
Financial management
Human Resources
Operations

ADB TA 9171: Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Improvement Project - Detailed Assessment of Institutional and Regulatory Arrangements for Water and Wastewater Services Delivery in the Kathmandu Valley.