Belize Municipal Development Project (P111928)
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Belize Municipal Development Project (P111928) Third Implementation Support Mission – April 23 – 27, 2012 Aide-Memoire I. Introduction 1. A World Bank team comprising Yoonhee Kim, Team Leader, Stephen Brushett, Lead Transport Specialist, Yingwei Wu, Sr. Procurement Specialist, Afef Haddad, Sr. Country Officer, Maritza Rodriguez, Sr. Financial Management Specialist, Csilla Horvath, Social Safeguards Consultant, and Stamatis Kotouzas, Land Analyst Consultant undertook an implementation support mission of the Project from April 23 to 27, 2012. The mission team held discussions with Ms. Yvonne Hyde, CEO, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Mr. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Labor, Local Government, Rural Development and NEM, Ms. Candelaria Saldivar-Morter, CEO MLLGRDNN, Ms. Beverly Castillo, CEO MNRA, Mr. Wilbert Vallejos, Land Commissioner MNRA, Mr. Crispin Jefferies, Chief Transport Officer, the newly elected mayors of Belize City, Benque Viejo del Carmen, Dangriga, Orange Walk, and Punta Gorda as well as the Project Implementation Unit (PIU). The mission expresses appreciation for the kind support extended to the Bank team during the mission (A detailed list of people met is provided in Annex 2). A wrap-up meeting was held with Ms. Hyde and the PIU staff to discuss the key mission findings. The next full mission is planned for the last quarter of 2012. A technical mission focusing on environmental safeguards supervision is planned to take place before the end of June 2012. 2. This aide-memoire summarizes the findings, recommendations and agreements reached during the mission and it is subject to confirmation by World Bank management. The aide- memoire will be publically disclosed once finalized. 3. Key Project data and Performance Rating Key Project Data Key Performance Ratings Previous Current Rating Rating Board Approval September Progress towards Satisfactory Satisfactory Date 16, 2010 achievement of Project Development Objectives Effectiveness January 25, Overall Implementation Satisfactory Moderately Date 2011 Progress Satisfactory 1 Closing Date November Disbursed US$ 0.91 30, 2015 million Loan Amount US$15 % Disbursed 6% million II. Implementation Status Overview 4. Since the last supervision mission in November, 2011, the mission notes that the Project continues to be on its track to meet the development objectives. The first Phase 1 work contract for building rehabilitation in Punta Gorda was awarded and actual work began early April, 2012. The second Phase 1 contract for Dangriga’s town market is expected to be awarded, subject to the Bank’s review, by May 11, 2012. A bidding process for street works in the remaining six TCCs is expected to commence shortly and a contract award for the first batch of street work is planned for the first week of June, 2012. Revenue enhancement TA is proceeding satisfactorily and demonstrating concrete results and impact on the ground. The scope of other TA components has also been agreed and a procurement process for the TA components will commence shortly. However, the mission also notes challenges associated with keeping the project’s implementation plan and disbursement on target. In particular, there is a room to improve project management and procurement capacity within the PIU. In order to address adequately an increasing demand for the project’s engineering review and procurement process, it was agreed that additional engineer and a procurement officer will be recruited. III. Implementation Status by Project Component Component 1: Municipal Infrastructure Investments 5. Phase 2 Investment The mission discussed the importance of mobilizing Phase 2 investment preparation and starting a consultation process to prioritize municipal investment, in line with the project cycle outlined in the operations manual, before the end of 2012. It was agreed that the PIU will engage with the TCCs for investment prioritization shortly after the procurement process for the first batch of street works (shopping) is completed during the third quarter of 2012, so that the PSC approval for subprojects could be realized during the last quarter of 2012. It was also discussed that BSIF will propose to the Bank a revised index for Phase 2 allocation and updated figures by September, 2012. 6. Review of Street Design and Procurement Process for Works The mission reviewed Interim Report No. 1 dated April 2012 provided by the design consultant ATA, further to which the Bank issued its no objection to the recommendations of this report. The mission 2 provided recommendations in regard to the packaging and sequencing of the works further to which BSIF developed the proposal at Annex 4. The proposal provides for a mix of contracts of interest to small and medium scale contractors through respectively shopping and NCB procurement. A first round of shopping will start its bidding process by May 4, 2012 (within the revised ceiling of $150,000 per package). There will be two NCB packages of around $1,300,000 with a further round of shopping. All the street works packages will be contracted out by early September, 2012. The BSIF will provide a final proposal for the packaging and sequencing to the Bank for the Bank team’s information. It is recognized that though this is an efficient and economic solution for the works, it is likely to increase in the time requirement for supervision services. Based on agreement reached during the mission, BSIF will present two NCB bid packages to the Bank for procurement prior review by May 21, 2012 and June 4, 2012 respectively. 7. Compliance with eligibility criteria for Phase 2 Investment: The mission observed that most of TCCs have complied with the eligibility criteria such as sending monthly reports to the MLG and publishing their budgets or reducing overdraft facility maintained by the TCC. However, it was also noted that other eligibility criteria such as the adoption of municipal growth plans or asset management plan and budget may not be feasible considering current status of the procurement process for the relevant TA consultancy. Hence, the revision of the criteria may be warranted, for instance, from ‘adoption’ of municipal growth plans, to ‘initiating’ the formulation of municipal growth plans. In addition, it was discussed that the eligibility criteria related to monthly council meetings should be clarified and modified so that it is consistent with the existing national law. Finally, it was agreed that the eligibility criteria for Phase 2 investment will be further reviewed and agreed during the next supervision mission planned for the last quarter of 2012. 8. Technical review of ongoing works a. Pilot Works in Belmopan and San Ignacio/Santa Elena (W1/W2 and C1) The mission carried out a site visit on April 26. The pilot projects have helped to bring about site specific traffic management improvements and also provided useful lessons to be applied in the design and contracting of the street improvement works. Specific note is made of the following: redesign and construction of the vehicle ramps has been completed to provide a more acceptable gradient based upon the experiences in Santa Elena; and pending task to redo street marking in Belmopan and San Ignacio/Santa Elena due to deficiencies in the quality of paint. b. Punta Gorda Town Hall Building Improvement (C2 and W3) and Dangriga Town Market Improvement and Expansion (C3 and W5). Work on the reconstruction of the Punta Gorda town hall and administrative buildings began April 3 10 with Coleman Construction Ltd as the contractor. The contractor has raised the need for increased work on the roof, but this will fall within the current line items and provisional sum provided in the contract. Agreement has been reached with the council to vacate the buildings during construction which should help to keep construction on time schedule. For the rehabilitation and extension of the Dangriga market, the procurement process is still ongoing (see Procurement section for more). Since the previous mission the design has been revised and the decision was made to complete the project in one rather than in several phases with an estimated cost of BZ$1.47 million. Component 2: Technical Assistance and Capacity Building for TCCs, MLLGRDN and MNRA 9. Revenue Enhancement TA The mission was pleased to note an excellent progress in the implementation of revenue enhancement TA. The mission was informed that revenue enhancement work plan will be first implemented in Dangriga as a pilot and the same will be rolled out to the remaining municipalities. Next mission for the international consultant is planned for the third quarter of 2012. Furthermore, during the meeting with the newly elected mayors, the mayor of Belize City expressed a keen interest in receiving the Bank’s support on accessing to local capital market. To continue to support the credit worthiness of Belize’s TCCs, the Bank team will explore mobilizing additional resources through a Trust Fund (e.g. PPIAF) by August, 2012. 10. Asset Maintenance Plan The mission reviewed the terms of reference which had previously been agreed. The mission recommended that the activity be pursued as a two phase process – a first phase to focus on the institutional and legal dimension in order to properly and fully identify infrastructure for which the municipalities are responsible and for which national government is responsible, and also to analyze the existing draft national maintenance plan; a second phase to carry out the required inventory and estimations. BSIF will submit end of first week of May the revised TOR and proposed work plan for no Bank objection. There is no change to the overall budget for the activity. 11. Municipal Growth Plans. The mission was informed that consulting service for “development of growth plan” under QCBS procedures is pending with finalizing short- listing report by BSIF, since receiving 16 EOIs on February 9th, 2012. BSIF will expedite the process and submit both the report and draft RFP for Bank’s clearance by May 11, 2012.