Contacts In Sarajevo: Srećko Latal (+387 33) 251509, slatal@worldbank.org In Washington: Steven Jouy (+1 202) 473 4215, sjouy@worldbank.org SARAJEVO, June 19, 2007 – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved three projects for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will be financed through concessional lending in the amount of US$29.35 million. The projects will support activities in the development of the forestry and agriculture sectors, rural areas, urban infrastructure, and service delivery. “Some of these projects have been in preparation for more than a year and their approval was delayed by the 2006 elections of the new governments,” said Toby Linden, the World Bank’s acting country manager in BiH. “Now that the governments are up and running, we are expecting the authorities to start implementing the projects quickly, so that further improvements can be made to the lives of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” An Agriculture and Rural Development Project, supported by the World Bank with US$21 million, will assist BiH to strengthen the capacity of its state and entity institutions in delivering a more efficient and effective agricultural services and support programs. It will also help accelerate the country’s eligibility to access money under the European Union Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for Rural Development (IPARD). Meanwhile, a Forest Development Project (US$3.35 million) will assist BiH with the implementation of reforms in forest organization and management, both at the entity and canton levels. It aims at helping increase revenues, improve forest management, and enhance biodiversity conservation through participatory approaches in planning for the use of forest land. In addition, an Urban Infrastructure and Services Delivery Project (US$5 million) will help foster deeper social cohesion through improvements to the population’s living conditions and by enhancing the availability, quality, and reliability of basic municipal services, in particular, water supply and sanitation. The project will also strengthen the ability and institutional capacity of cantonal and municipal governments to improve management and infrastructure development through Urban Management Development Plans. All three projects are financed through so-called “soft loans” given under International Development Association (IDA) terms, without interest and with a 25-year repayment period including a 10-year grace period. In addition to these three projects, the World Bank will on June 28 discuss the progress report of BiH’s Poverty Reduction/Medium Term Development Strategy. Since 1996, the World Bank has committed $1.1 billion to BiH through 52 projects. In the coming period, the World Bank will be discussing with the country’s governments a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) program for the period 2008-2011. ### |
RSS