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Our Bureau

Hyderabad , May 4

An independent review panel on ADB's water policy has asked the bank to promote `business unusual' by sharing risks and encouraging public-private partnerships (PPPs).

The panel suggested that it was time to move away from traditional sovereign guaranteed loans toward risk-sharing arrangements with investors. "We should find financial instruments that allow sharing risks that often pose challenges to PPPs," Mr Pradeep Singh, President and Chief Executive Officer of IL and FS, who is also on the panel, said.

The panel, chaired by Ms Erna Witoelar of Indonesia, has submitted the 72-page report to the ADB board here at the 39th annual meeting of the bank.

Presenting the salient features of the report, Ms Erna said the panel had reviewed the bank's water policy. "We began the process with the metaphorical question, is the glass half full or half empty? But we found that the glass is both `half full' and `half empty'.

Calling for a thorough revamp of its policies to tap opportunities and expand the reach, the panel had recommended that the bank needed to promote robust O&M (operation and maintenance) arrangements. "Improve efforts to integrate financial and institutional arrangements to ensure the quality of O&M and the preservation of physical assets," it said.

The panel felt that the bank should double and sustain an increase in water sector financing in the next four years. It also pointed out that the bank needed to improve the in-house capacities to meet its goal of `water for all'.

It called for efforts to work more closely with knowledge management organisations and civil society to improve monitoring of social and environmental impact of ADB projects.

Mr Pradeep said that the bank should focus on five river basins in five countries.

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