PRMSC, being a public sector company, brings forth the expertise and efficiency of the private sector while aligning itself with the provincial government. PRMSC effectively contributes towards the goal of improved water and sanitation in rural areas by providing the following services:
- Project Implementation
- Feasibility & Design Review
- O&M Framework
- Trainings
- Contract Management Review
- Procurement (Goods / Works / Services) Review
- GIS Mapping of Infrastructure
- Development Planning
- Introduction of Various Systems to Ensure Effective Governance in Municipal Bodies
- Customized Need-based Trainings
- Development of Training Modules
- Physical Asset Tracking of Municipal Services
1. Project Implementation: The PRMSC will serve as the PIMU during the life of the Project. The setting up of this company will be an important institutional milestone for project implementation. During the Project it will perform typical project management functions including fiduciary, safeguards, contract management, M&E, and coordination function, and simultaneously build capacity to serve as a WSS service provider for rural Punjab. Its service delivery functions will continue after the Project closes. The PRMSC-TOs will be responsible for operating and maintaining the WSS assets built under the Project, coupled with ensuring that reliable WSS services are delivered to consumers and their complaints promptly addressed.
2. Feasibility & Design Review: Component 1 (Water Supply and Sanitation Infrastructure Development) of the PRSWSSP will finance infrastructure to help address the lack of WSS systems in rural Punjab that underlies the low access to safely managed water and sanitation and poses threats to public health and the environment. Specifically, it will: (i) increase reliable access to treated piped water supply inside dwellings, with 100 percent metering to ensure sustainability; and (ii) increase access to safely managed sanitation, primarily by connecting household latrines to a network of covered sewers and by ensuring safe disposal of treated wastewater. During the implementation phase, an engineering design consultant will develop a customized approach for each village. This will involve a thorough feasibility and design review, based on a technical investment options study that takes into account variations in topography, demography, groundwater quality, and distance to freshwater sources, among other factors.
3. O&M Framework: Throughout the implementation period of the Punjab Rural Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Project, the PRMSC-Tehsil Offices in each selected Tehsil will act as central service provision units for the villages. They will also serve as field execution and operations units, ensuring timely and uninterrupted operations and maintenance of the water and sanitation facilities in the project villages. This will be carried out with the composition, resources, and terms of reference satisfactory to the Association.
4. Trainings: Behavior change trainings will be delivered in all project villages with women as the primary beneficiaries. The trainings will focus on WASH-related activities and facilitate social mobilization, especially to reinforce messages from the behavior change campaign. In addition to behavior change and capacity building trainings, there will be complementary household behavior change initiatives. These initiatives are distinct in that they aim to build the capacity of informal village organizations (VOs) to perform tasks that both complement and supplement the O&M responsibilities of the service delivery units established by the Project.
5. Contract Management Review: The reporting of respective procurement activities, steps, and contract management, including transactions, will be made to the World Bank through the online portal STEP as they occur, adhering to all the system’s requirements. Moreover, the Contract Department ensures the timely completion of related deliveries, deliverables, and work schedules with the assistance of the end-user wing/unit/user department to achieve the project goals. The Department also monitors, supervises, and reviews the activities of vendors, contractors, and service providers to ensure compliance with specifications, Design & Bill of Quantities, Terms of Reference, and the prescribed terms and conditions of the contract. In the case of Consulting Services, a monitoring and evaluation mechanism is devised at the inception of the assignment to ensure smooth and timely execution and review of the contract, foresee potential risk factors, and suggest corrective measures or course corrections to the management in a timely manner.
6. Procurement (Goods / Works / Services): Procurement will be carried out in accordance with the WB’s Procurement Regulations for Borrowers for Goods, Works, Non-Consulting and Consulting Services dated July 1, 2016, and revised November 2017, August 2018 and November 2020 (Procurement Regulations). The Bank’s rules apply to the entire budget line, not merely that part financed by the Bank. The Project will be subject to the WB’s Anticorruption Guidelines, dated October 15, 2006, and revised in January 2011 and July 2016. In addition, the Systematic Tracking of Exchanges in Procurement (STEP) system will be used to prepare and manage the procurement plan and procurement transactions. The procurement plan will be updated semiannually (or as required) using the STEP system.
7. GIS Mapping of Infrastructure Detailed GIS perimeter mapping of the village and all settlements will be done. This includes mapping of all existing infrastructure – existing drinking water systems (including water storage systems such as overhead tanks, existing sanitation systems, functioning or stagnant ponds etc.), waste management infrastructure, if any, collective animal management infrastructure, if any, all irrigation related infrastructure (tubewells, piped systems etc.
8. Development of Training Modules and Customized Need-based Trainings: Customized approach for developing need-based training material by the consultant. Areas for capacity building through Customized Need-based Trainings will include solid and animal waste, observation-based monitoring of water, sanitation and wastewater infrastructure for signs of leakage, malfunction, contamination, etc.; coordination and communication with the Tehsil Office of the Punjab Rural Municipal Services Company, community outreach; and data entry into MIS.
9. Physical Asset Tracking of Municipal Services: The project FMS shall maintain separate books of accounts on a cash basis (cash books, ledgers, bank reconciliations, cheque register, invoice register, commitment register as per agreed formats, fixed asset register, and inventory/stock register). Financial accounting software is recommended for transparency, accuracy, and effective report generation. Project management is responsible for ensuring transparency in the use of budgets at the tehsil level. The project’s annual financial statements will be prepared in accordance with the cash basis of accounting. Furthermore, the internal controls in place will comprise relevant GoPunjab rules and regulations, including Punjab Financial Rules and the Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual, which include budget checks, segregated scheme of assignments, delegation of financial power rules, and custody of assets.