MANAGEMENT CONTRACT DIRECTORATE:
PREFIX
Water Authority of JORDAN (WAJ), had been facing big financial, technical and managerial problems in managing water and sanitation systems in the kingdom. WAJ decided to call in the private sector to share in development and improve performance to ensure technical efficiency and cash flow improvement.
In order to achieve the above targets PMU/WAJ prepared a MANAGEMENT CONTRACT (MC) with an international firm highly experienced in managing water and sanitation systems under particular and specific conditions.
A special department was established, called Management Contract, within the PMU, to monitor the operator’s activities from a technical and financial point of view.
STAFF
1) One project Manager (Engineer).
2) Two financial internal auditors.
3) Technical auditing, One Engineer and six supervisors.
4) Expatriate expert (consultant).
TASKS
Technical Monitoring:
Water distribution
: Ensure operator compliance with water distribution request through regular site checks.
Maintenance: Ensure operator commitment to maintenance standards in water and wastewater facilities through site checks.
Customer complaints records: Following up all complaints and check operator response quality and timeliness.
Drinking Water and wastewater quality: Ensure compliance with Jordanian standards through sampling results check and compare them with contract documents.
Water quantities: Monitoring quantities pumped from individual resource.
Water projects: Following up all activities related to projects under operator supervision and ensure their compliance with the management contract.
Facilities Operation: following up operator commitment in issuing and applying instructions for operation, maintenance, and safety.
Emergency Plans: Approve and following up the operator emergency plans.
Standard Operation Procedures (SOP’s): Review and approve facilities and network’s SOP’s.
Energy Management Plans: The operator has to submit plans for Energy saving, which has to be approved by MC.
Illegal Connections: Following up and ensure operator plans to discover and minimize the illegal connections.
Wastewater plants: Review all wastewater plants works and ensure their compliance with Jordan Standard.
Resources and wells: review and following up all water resources reports from quantity and quality point of view.
ZAI water treatment plant: Zai water is a major water resource in the service area of the operator in which we supervise operation, maintenance, and water quantity and quality.
Coordination: coordinate with all WAJ departments for consultations and getting the approvals to facilitate the operator works.
External Audit: Share in the external audit sessions and review their reports from the technical auditing side.
Inventory systems: Checking randomly the operator inventory systems to ensure efficiency.
Training: Review and approve training plans to ensure compliance with contract.
Safety: Approve general safety plans.
Maintenance: Review and approve the maintenance management systems.
Water meters: Ensure the replacement of old and damaged meters according to agreed plans.
Customers: Oversee the operator procedures for customers' objections, new subscriptions and customers' complaints.
Financial and Managerial Monitoring:
Annual Budgets: Review and approve the operation and maintenance budget and any capital budgets needed to carry out the works.
Billing: Monitor the bill issuing and money collection process to ensure timeliness.
Payments: Following up the operator payments process in WAJ and ensure timely receipts.
Other Parties' payments: Monitoring the operator commitments toward other parties’ payments (e.g. JEPCO).
Procurement Policy: Ensure operator’s compliance with procurement, supplies and inventory (store).
Financial Reports: Study and analyze all financial reports received from the operator and the financial auditor related to annual budgets and incentives and issue comments and notes.
Coordination: Insure proper coordination with all parties including WAJ for any financial matters and conciliations.
Human Resources: Ensure operator commitments toward all staff including staffing policies, incentives, and recruitment.
In order to achieve a consensus on the content of the above Management Contract (MC) many meetings and workshops and even conferences were held, and similarly to discuss options after the end of the management contract. We prepared terms of reference (ToR) for the period following the end of the LEMA contract, and these were submitted to USAID for evaluation and with a request for financing.