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The World Bank HT Center and Artibonite Regional Development (P133352) REPORT NO.: RES35859 Public Disclosure Authorized RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF HT CENTER AND ARTIBONITE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT APPROVED ON MAY 19, 2014 TO Public Disclosure Authorized MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND FINANCE TRANSPORT LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN Public Disclosure Authorized Regional Vice President: Axel van Trotsenburg Country Director: Anabela Abreu Senior Global Practice Director: Guangzhe Chen Practice Manager/Manager: Juan Gaviria Task Team Leader: Andrew Losos, Malaika Becoulet Public Disclosure Authorized The World Bank HT Center and Artibonite Regional Development (P133352) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS CAL Center Artibonite Loop CBO Community-Based Organization CD Country Director CERC Contingent Emergency Response Component CIAT Inter-Ministerial Committee for Territorial Development CIAT-es CIAT’s Executive Secretariat CIF Climate Investment Funds CPF Country Partnership Framework EU European Union FY Fiscal Year GoH Government of Haiti HT Haiti IDB Inter-American Development Bank IDA International Development Association ISR Implementation Status & Results Report M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MEF Ministry of Economy and Finance MTPTC Ministry of Public Works, Transportation, Energy and Communications PAD Project Appraisal Document PDO Project Development Objective PIU Project Implementation Unit PPCR Pilot Program for Climate Resilience SDR Special Drawing Rights TF Trust Fund UCE Unité Centrale d’Exécution from MTPTC UNOPS United Nations Office for Project Services UTE Unité Technique d’Exécution from MEF The World Bank HT Center and Artibonite Regional Development (P133352) BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P133352 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 19-May-2014 28-Feb-2020 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Unite Technique d'Execution (UTE),Unite Centale Ministry of Economy and Finance d'Execution (UCE) Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The objectives of the Project are to: (a) support the development of the Centre Artibonite Loop region, primarily by enhancing all-weather connectivity and logistics for producers, and the region’s resilience to climate change; and (b) support the Recipient’s capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an Eligible Emergency, as needed. OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IDA-H9500 19-May-2014 09-Jul-2014 06-Oct-2014 28-Feb-2020 50.00 20.35 24.43 TF-17021 09-Jul-2014 09-Jul-2014 06-Oct-2014 28-Feb-2020 8.00 1.10 6.90 The World Bank HT Center and Artibonite Regional Development (P133352) Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING Background: 1. The Haiti Center and Artibonite Regional Development Project (the Project) was initially designed as part of a long term development vision, “Haiti Tomorrow, Center and Artibonite Loop, Territorial Development Opportunities and Strategies” (2011), prepared by the Government of Haiti (GoH) in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake. This vision sought to rebalance spatial and territorial development in departments and, with regards to Center Artibonite Loop (CAL) as a strategic region, to unlock its potential to: (i) contribute to economic growth, generate jobs and host growth poles; (ii) improve food security through agricultural production; (iii) absorb demographic growth; and (iv) serve as an attractive region for public and private sector investments. The World Bank had supported this development vision in the CAL in two areas – agriculture and health – with investments in agriculture production1 and in access to water2. Other development banks like the EU and the IDB supported similar objectives through transport and agriculture investments. The Project was designed to support the same development vision with investment in the transport sector based on the following Project Development Objectives: (a) support the development of the CAL region, primarily by enhancing all-weather connectivity and logistics for producers, and the region's resilience to climate change; and (b) support the Recipient's capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an Eligible Emergency, as needed. The Project included five components: A: enhancing logistics, transport connectivity, and climate resilience, including four sub-components: A.1: improving the “structuring” road network; A.2: improving the rural road network; A.3: strengthening road maintenance capacity and mechanism at the local level; and A.4: supporting the application of best practices addressing the issue of climate change. B: improving infrastructure and management capacity of key selected urban and rural markets, including two sub-components: B.1 urban markets and associated facilities; and B.2: rural markets. C: supporting the development or regional knowledge, planning capacity and local participation, including two sub-components: C.1: improving regional knowledge; and C.2: supporting the development of regional planning capacity and local participation. D: Contingent Emergency Response. E: Project implementation, monitoring and evaluation. 2. The PDO was fully consistent with the World Bank Group’s Haiti Interim Strategy Note for FY13-FY14 (Report No. 71885-HT), notably with Objective 1 (reduce vulnerability and increase resilience) and the expansion of the 1 Relaunching Agriculture: Strengthening Agriculture Public Services II Project (P126744) (approved in December 2011). 2 HT Sustainable Rural and Small Towns Water and Sanitation Project (P148970) (approved in May 2015). The World Bank HT Center and Artibonite Regional Development (P133352) Objective 4 (revitalizing the economy), which includes regional development. The PDO remains relevant for the current CPF FY16-FY19 (Report No. 98132-HT), especially for the Area of Focus 3 on Resilience and the Objective 9 – Improve Disaster Prevention and Strengthen Climate Resilience. Status of Implementation: 3. Project implementation was hampered until early 2018 due to a number of factors of which (i) Haiti’s fragile political environment and its negative impact on coordination between different institutions involved—(a) the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), namely the Unité Technique d’Exécution (UTE) responsible for Components A-E and (b) the partner institutions - the PIU of the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communication (MTPTC), namely the Unité Centrale d’Exécution (UCE), and the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Territorial Development (CIAT-es); (ii) lack of clear responsibilities and coordination between the MEF-UTE and the partner institutions, and their limited capacity for implementation; and (iii) persistent challenges stemming from design complexity. For example, Component A suffered from a lack of involvement and inputs from the MTPTC, resulting in significant delays in the preparation, processing and approval of procurement packages. Component B benefited only from limited coordination with the CIAT-es, a critical partner with the expertise in regional and territorial development. Component C, which was designed to facilitate collaboration and coordinate inputs from associated technical ministries, was hampered by lack of clarity of roles and did not generate expected results. 4. Implementation progress began to improve in mid-2018, especially after the first project restructuring was approved on June 27, 2018, and has continued overall at a moderately satisfactory pace since then. The Project’s overall disbursement ratio increased from 10.4% at project restructuring to 41% in August 2019. Disbursement ratio for the IDA and CIF grants varied: it increased from 13% (July 2018) to 45% (August 2019) under the IDA Grant, while it remained at 13.75% under the CIF (see paragraph 10 for reasons). Nine work contracts were signed under Component A following project restructuring, equivalent to an additional US$ 23.6 million of commitments for road infrastructure works and maintenance and bridge construction3. A number of factors contributed to improving the implementation progress since mid-2018. This includes actions carried out prior to restructuring, most notably the adoption of the Regional Maintenance Strategy which allowed to lift the disbursement condition of Component A. The 2018 restructuring itself streamlined implementation arrangements for institutional coordination and strengthened ownership and involvement of partner institutions and simplified the project design. MTPTC-UCE became responsible for the implementation of Component A (and D.2), while MEF-UTE became responsible for overall coordination of the project and for the implementation of the revised Component B (and D.1). The revised Component B (Improving selected markets and supporting the development of regional knowledge & planning tools) consolidated the original activities under original Components B and C. The target for number of markets to be improved under the new subcomponent B.1 (Urban and Rural Markets and associated facilities) was also reduced based on the remaining project implementation period. A revised subcomponent B.2 (Improving regional knowledge & planning tools) consisted of all original