PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

 

Overview of Implementing Agencies

• DoWR, RD & GR, MoJS has proposed to introduce a Central Sector Scheme, where the ministry would fully fund establishment of water resources information system, and it would have MoAs with the states to integrate the database. In addition, DoWR, RD & GR, MoJS will establish a permanent independent National Water Information Center (NWIC) to operate and maintain WRIS in long term (NWIC is described further below). This arrangement demonstrates both central and state interest to join the NHP platform and offers several advantages, including that both the center and states will have mutual access to data and knowledge products.
• There will be 49 implementing agencies (IAs): the implementing ministry (DoWR, RD & GR, MoJS); 7 central agencies; 2 river basin organizations; and 39 state/UT agencies. In the state/UTs, the IAs include the irrigation or water resources department for surface water management and minor irrigation/groundwater department/agency for groundwater management. In some states, surface and groundwater are handled in one department, while in others, they fall under different state secretariats. Accordingly, 19 state/UT have one IA and 10 states have two IAs. Eligibility to participate in the project as an IA required establishing a project management unit and submission of detailed project implementation plans (PIPs). All but two states (Tripura and Delhi) have met these criteria. One of the critical central agencies, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has indicated that it would provide ‘external’ support to the project on a fee basis.
• The majority of the states and union territories (UTs) have indicated their keen interest to participate, given the challenges they are facing, including with respect to climate extremes of drought and floods. The states have realized that it is impossible to manage transboundary water resources without integration at a river basin scale. The role of central agencies is critical to providing technical expertise and leadership in water resources information and water resources assessments, coordinating water management issues between states within a basin, and leading the adoption of a river basin approach to water resources management.

 

Strategy for Implementation Arrangements

• National level technical and management support needs to be appropriately staffed and be flexible to match with the technical innovation;
• in centralized procurement, state participation needs to be more effective;
• state level activities should not depend entirely on centralized activities; in the case of delays in centralized activities, state progress also suffers
• reallocation of funds amongst agencies (which will be considered during the mid-term reviews) helps to create healthy competition and incentivize well performing states to test innovative approaches and techniques. Based on the experiences of past two projects, implementation responsibilities have been distributed across the central and sub-national IAs to achieve balanced centralized and state based activities, and minimize interdependence between the central and states while ensuring the integration and standardization of systems.

 

Project Implementation

Central level technical support

• There are seven central implementing agencies: CWC, CGWB, NIH, CWPRS, CPCB, SoI and NRSC. These agencies will be responsible for development of national products (software, river basin decision support platforms, standards and protocols, and guidelines) and for providing support to the sub-national agencies to introduce and apply these products. Each of the central IAs will establish a Central Project Management Unit (CPMU) with multi-disciplinary team (including fiduciary, safeguards and monitoring and evaluation experts). Each CPMU will coordinate with the respective agency’s internal divisions in order to execute activities assigned to it and ensure project guidelines are being followed.

Sub-National level

• Sub-national level IAs consist of state/UT IAs, river basin organizations and regional centers. State IAs will be the water resources or irrigation departments and/or the groundwater department. Because the implementation of project activities cuts across various departmental divisions, State Project Management Units (SPMUs) will be established, preferably in the hydrology center/division where one exists – HP-I and HP-II states have established hydrology data centers or dedicated hydrology divisions and PMUs have been established within them. In new states, the IAs have nominated SPMUs with critical staff. Only some 50% agencies in new states have a division for water resources measurement, while northeast states do not have any arrangement for hydrological monitoring, meaning that these states will be required to strengthen the respective division or establish a dedicated cell following the central structure of NWIC.

Regional / River Basin organizations

• There are two implementing agencies at the river basin level – BBMB and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) – and one regional organization is planned to be established under the project – the North east Center for Water Resources Management. Eight north eastern states have proposed to establish the North east Center, which would serve as the technical hub for the north east region, including operating applications for regional basins. These sub-national implementing agencies would be responsible for executing targeted activities in light of the common challenges and extent of needs in the region. In particular, flood forecasting system will be operated through the North east Center. Similar to state agencies, they will be responsible for implementation of project activities and will have PMUs established for this purpose, with all required expertise.

Project Management & Coordination

• Following the HP-II model, an NPMU has been established in DoWR, RD & GR, MoJS. It will be responsible for overall project planning, management and coordination across the various implementing agencies; fund allocation; technical support; financial and procurement management; monitoring safeguard compliance, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) including the development and operation of a management information system (MIS) and regular progress reporting; and communications and outreach. The NPMU will also provide technical support to central agencies (e.g., developing standardized products) and ensure quality control.