Strengthening Resilience of the Road and Drainage Network in Nepal’s Secondary Cities (Selection #1274867)

Client: The World Bank
Funding Agency: The World Bank
Period:Nov 2021 to Oct 2022
Consulting Association:Joint Venture of ICEM Asia and GEOCE Consultants (P) Ltd
Approx. Value of Services: Total US$ 299,500, GEOCE’s part- US$ 46,285
Professional Staff Input: ICEM- 9 person months and GEOCE-12 person months

Salient Details

The objective of this Technical Assistance is to support selected municipalities to address the issue of insufficient planning, design, quality, and high vulnerability of urban transport infrastructure to climate-related disasters in Nepal’s urban areas.

The work will contribute towards safeguarding the quality and sustainability of infrastructure investments under Nepal Urban Governance Infrastructure Project (NUGIP) (funded by World Bank) and improved capacity to develop and implement design guidelines at the national level.

The scope of consultant’s services comprises the following activities:

(1) Support City of Pokhara (second biggest city of Nepal) in the development of Road Assets Management System (RAMS) including integration of climate and disaster risk and vulnerability assessment;

(2) Support a selected strategically important municipality to undertake hazard mapping and vulnerability and risk assessment, in alignment with Risk Sensitive Land Use Plans and to help inform current and future investment and urban planning decisions. Urlabari is selected as the strategically important municipality for this. Both Pokhara and Urlabari are NUGIP cities.

(3) Support Nepal’s Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC) to be introduced to the best international practices in guidelines and standards for the design of resilient roads and drainage; and (4) support for strengthening the institutional systems of municipalities for sustainable asset management and O&M of selected municipalities, including capacity building and training of federal level stakeholders and provincial staff.

TA-6568 NEP Priority River Basins Flood Risk Management Project – TACF TA Consulting Firm for Flood Risk Management and Asset Management Support (52195-001)

Client:Asian Development Bank
Funding Agency: Asian Development Bank
Period:May 2021 to May 2023
Consulting Association:Joint Venture of ICEM Asia and GEOCE Consultants (P) Ltd
Approx. Value of Services:Total US$ 926,759, GEOCE’s part- US$ 142,995
Professional Staff Input: ICEM-31person months and GEOCE-36 person months

Salient Details

The main objective of the TA assignment is to support the government to implement the project by strengthening flood risk management planning of Department of Water Resources and Irrigation (DWRI) and develop a flood infrastructure asset management system.

The key outputs of the TA consultant’s services include:

⦁ Output 1- Strategic Flood Risk Management Planning Improved

The TA will build capacity of Department of Water Resources and Irrigation (DWRI), provincial governments and local governments (municipalities) in prioritizing flood protection works through consultant support and tailored training program. The TA will support the implementation of the ADB funded Priority River Basin Flood Risk Management Project (PRBFRMP) of DWRI.

⦁ Output 2- Flood infrastructure asset management system Improved

The TA will (i) support the DWRI to develop a simple asset management system for embankments (geographic information system-based open freeware), and (ii) provide guidance to the DWRI on improving monitoring, evaluation, and maintenance of the flood management infrastructure.

PRBFRMP focuses on six priority river basins in the Terai Region: West Rapti, Mawa-Ratuwa, Lakhandehi, Mohana-Khuriya, East Rapti, and Bakraha. Collectively, 29,356 hectares of the priority river basins and 70,428 people are exposed to 1-in-50-year flood. Between 1991 and 2014, these river basins experienced 199 floods affecting 143,486 people, with 273 reported deaths and destruction of 4,284 households. The project aims to reduce flood-related economic and social losses in these river basins by constructing flood control infrastructure, such as embankments and river erosion protection measures, strengthening integrated disaster risk management approaches, mainstreaming community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) within the project areas, and installing flood forecasting and early warning systems (FFEWS). The direct project beneficiaries include local communities in the Terai that experience flooding. The project cost is US$ 50 million.