November 18, 2002

We are writing in response to the Draft Compendium of Operational Policies and Procedures Subject to Inspection that was placed on the ADB website on the 30th of October, 2002. We are deeply concerned that the current process is too short to allow for adequate input from the bank's stakeholders, as it will be completed in only 30 days. In addition, we also feel that the process of merely going through the Bank's policies and the current Operational Manuals and allowing ADB management to decide which aspects of the policies and the OMs are implementable have severely limited the portion of policies and procedures that will be enforceable. As a member of the Board of Directors, we urge you to exercise your leadership by withdrawing the compendium and establishing a new process for updating the Operations Manual.

Our understanding is that ADB policies are benchmarks that the bank sets for itself to protect the rights of people affected by Bank funded projects and programs. As such, we believe that all Board approved policies should be subject to the inspection function. The OM serves to translate the language of the policies into a format that can be implemented by ADB management.

However, the Inspection of the Samut Prakarn Wastewater Management Plant project showed several problems with the OMs including (1) that several ADB policies approved by the Board were never translated into OMs, therefore management claimed they were not subject to inspection and (2) that there are contradictions between some of the policies and their OMs. In pushing for a revision of the OMs civil society groups had hoped that these two issues would be addressed, but that has not been the result of this process.

It is therefore crucial that the OM revision be a thorough process that allows for the informed input and participation of the bank's various stakeholders, including project/program affected people, civil society organizations, borrowing and donor member governments, and ADB staff and Board members.

We have followed closely the ADB's Inspection Policy review process, and we have found it to be very good in terms of its transparency and multi-stakeholder participation. We feel this process has demonstrated the Bank's commitment to developing an accountability mechanism that ensures the Bank's accountability. In order for the ADB to be truly accountable for the impacts of its operations its inspection function requires that the Bank strengthen its policies and ensure that they are implementable so that they can be used to assess the Bank's performance and policy compliance. However, if the current OM revision process moves forward, it will render the Inspection Function ineffective.

As a member of the ADB Board of Directors you take part in approving the policies that govern the institution. The current revision process serves to undermine your authority because allows management to simply pick and choose what aspects of the policies you have authorized it would like to comply with. This process also undermines the rights of people affected by ADB operations. The Board, through setting policies on issues such as resettlement, indigenous people, and the upcoming environment policy, establishes policies that protect that project/program affected people. This revision has allowed management to water down those rights which the board has already granted.

We therefore hope that you will withdraw this process so that a new revision process that includes stakeholder participation under the Board's supervision.

Sincerely,

Nurina Widagdo
Manager, Asia Projects
Bank Information Center
733 15th Street NW, Suite 1126Washington, DC 20005, USATel: +1-202-737-7752, Fax: +1+202-737-1155

Cyril Mundy
Gama Surakeema Sandvidhaniya
(Requester for the Inspection of Southern Transportation Development Project in Sri Lanka)
Gelanigama, Bandaragama, Sri LankaTel: +94-38-92840

ISHIDA Kyoko
Program Coordinator, Sustainable Development and Aid Program
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
2F, Dai 32 Kowa Bldg., 5-2-32, Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0047 Japan
Tel: +81-3-3447-9585, Fax: +81-3-3447-9383

FUKUDA Kenji
Adcocacy Coordinator
Mekong Watch Japan
2F Maruko-bldg., 1-20-6 Higashi-Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0015, Japan
Tel +81-3-3832-5034, Fax +81-3-3832-5039

Violeta Perez-Corral
Coordinator
NGO Forum on ADB
RM 402, 107-A Kalayaan Avenue, Quezon City, 1101 Philippines
Tel&Fax: +63-2- 433-1256Fax: +63-2- 929-7987

Mushtaq Gadi
SUNGI Development Foundation
House No. 17, St. 67 Islamabad, G6/4 PakistanTel: +92-51-2273272Fax: +92-51-2823559