7.3.4 Project Implementation Phase

Categories: 7.3 Community Participation Activities
Time of issue: 2022-04-28 20:16:10
Views: 0

Description:

Information

Procurement

Once the engineering design plans are approved, the project will likely be “put out to bid” to select a contractor to build the project. The VC should have representatives involved in this process to review the bid documents and to assist with the selection of the contractor. This is important so that the VC and community understand and support the bidding process. Including the VC in the selection process will create a transparent and fair procurement process that hopefully avoids any doubt or conflicts in the final selection of the contractor.

Construction

During the project construction phase, the VC is the community representative and will negotiate any logistical, financial or construction related matter between the contractor and the community.

Inhouse Sewerage and Household Connection Pipe Installation. In China, installation of household connection pipes has always been a challenge in rural wastewater management. As a result of insufficient recognition on the significance and necessity of domestic wastewater management, as well as insufficient capacity and willingness to pay for the household connection pipes and inhouse sewerage, villagers always refuse to install the pipes, which leads to failure of wastewater collection. Against this background, the VC shall organize community assembly meetings to introduce the necessity of installation of household connection pipes and inhouse sewerage, relevant installation procedures, the governmental compensation standard and technical specification requirements of the inhouse sewerage installation to villagers before construction of any wastewater treatment systems. The villagers can choose to do the inhouse rehabilitation by themselves or by construction company hired by the VC.

Community Labor Force Management. Once a project started construction, the VC is responsible to coordinate and supervise the local labor force. This will likely require that the VC prepare a construction schedule and a record keeping system to track the community labor force inputs. The VC is also responsible for collecting and recording funds from the individual households participating in the project. Funds collected are used to pay for recurring expenses, such as monthly wages, electricity bills, and/or other costs to repair or replace equipment or materials.

Capacity Development. During project implementation, technical support shall be provided to the members of VC through trainings to enhance their capacity in project construction supervision. When identify problems during construction, the VC can communicate with onsite supervision engineers for feasible solutions. If the problem is unsolved, the VC can further report to the project management office or county government for support.

Routine Meeting. Providing routine project updates via meetings and public notices is an important role of the VC. Committee reports should be regularly scheduled, e.g. monthly to keep the community well informed of the progress of the project and to inform them ahead of time of any unresolved issues or matters being considered that would affect any or all of the households.

O&M Phase

Once the project has been constructed, the role of the VC will shift to that of caretaker/administrator. During the commissioning and startup, a representative from the VC should participate in the inspection of the new system(s) and the startup and testing of the system. The VC will be the system administrator and will be responsible to oversee the project and inform the community about the condition and status of the project.

System Operation

If the new project includes the installation of a centralized wastewater treatment system, the VC will hire a local person from the village to conduct daily check and recruit a private operator for routine operation and maintenance activities. In many instances the contractor who installed the new treatment system may be responsible to operate and maintain the system for a prescribed period of time, such as, the first year. During this initial operating period the locally hired villager should work closely with the private operator to become trained and knowledgeable of the system.

Project Administration

The administrative activities of VC will include:

Managing the funds and accounts for the wastewater project;
Setting and collection of monthly users’ fees or tariffs;
Progress update of project implementation for the community.

Ongoing meetings

The VC should conduct regular community meetings to report on the status of the project, including performance of the treatment works, the financial state of the committee and project in general and any other issues or matters that need to be discussed and resolved. Conducting routine community meetings is important to maintain open and transparent communication with the community at large and as a way to involve the community and residents in a participatory process related to the wastewater project.