Critical review of the methods to evaluate the performance of irrigation project

Abstract

The major objectives of the study were to critically review the different methodologies developed and proposed for performance evaluation of irrigation projects and to provide an insight into the present monitoring and data collection status of the projects in Bangladesh through studying seven representative projects. In the face of increasing cost of irrigation and limiting available resources in our country: the proper performance evaluation of the existing projects is a must in order to take necessary measures to attain maximum possible benefits and to learn lessons for future project planning and development. The several approaches and methodologies for irrigation project performance evaluation are discussed. They should be developed and adapted depending not only on the objectives of the evaluation: but also on the resources and time allocation for the purpose: the scope and limitation of data and information generation: the diverse local settings: project type and cost effectiveness. However for rapid evaluation RRA technique and for long term and full evaluation PIE methodology can be used effectively. The findings of the study was that the present monitoring and data collected by the concerned authorities are not quite sufficient for evaluation of the project performance and it is recommended that the monitoring and evaluation should be an integral part of the irrigation project management and emphasis should be given on intensive data collection by the project authority through regular monitoring for the completed projects.