World Bank Resources on the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project Official Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Website Questions & Answers Sub-Saharan Africa, Official Bank Site Related Stories Oil Revenues Flow to Chad Open Letter Response to Catholic Relief Services and Bank Information Center Interview with World Bank Country Director Changes Are in the Air, Local Chadians Say

With the advent of oil revenues into Chad's accounts in July 2004, expectations from the population are growing. As a result, the government of Chad must significantly improve its ability to implement programs that will show tangible results and benefits to the population within a reasonable time. For example, one concern that you hear when you go to rural areas is that there is no access to potable water. This impacts girls the most: since they are sent to fetch water, they cannot attend school. Children who go to school don't have desks, text books, or even classrooms. The difficult conditions hamper their ability to learn. So, oil revenues provide a unique opportunity to scale up programs and infrastructure so that many more people can improve their living conditions. At a broader level, the government must also rapidly align its ministries' strategies (health, education, etc) with the poverty reduction priorities over the next two years.

On the Bank's side, we are organizing ourselves to attract good, motivated staff to increase our presence in N'Djamena and work more closely with the government teams on capacity building, particularly in infrastructure, public finance and private sector development. We are taking a pragmatic approach to guarantee that our Chadian counterparts remain in the driver's seat while supporting them with our technical knowledge and other relevant experiences.

What is your current assessment of the state of the project?

There are areas of success. The pipeline was completed a year ahead of schedule and in compliance with in compliance with the strict environmental and social requirements that had been established for the project. This is a remarkable achievement for a huge investment project and credit goes to the group of sponsors led by Exxon Mobil, and to the Chadian government which was able to respond in a timely manner to the requirements of such a project (customs clearance, administrative authorizations, etc.). Indeed, for a project of this size with so many actors involved, many things could have gone wrong - but didn't.

The revenue management program is working so far. Money is flowing according to the agreements.

But we cannot speak of total success yet. The main objective of the project is the betterment of the lives of the people, but poverty reduction is not yet visible. On the ground, people are still waiting for concrete results. At the broader economic and financial level, the government still needs budget support to implement its social programs, develop infrastructure, and improve the quality of services. There is also a need to strengthen the governance framework with a more efficient and accountable public administration. Finally, the private sector also needs to reap the rewards by participating in productive activities generated by the oil economy.