Contacts: In Washington: Rachel McColgan-Arnold rmccolgan@worldbank.org In Bujumbura: Marie-Claire Nzeyimana mnzeyimana@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, June 09, 2009 – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a $45 million International Development Association (IDA) grant to help the Government of Burundi to increase access to basic socioeconomic services and short-term employment opportunities in target areas. This five-year grant will focus on a combination of demand-based and trunk infrastructure investment programs covering communes of all provinces and will target municipal support programs to strengthen municipal management and fiscal performance at the local level in the three main cities of Bujumbura, Gitega, and Ngozi. The Public Works and Urban Management Project is a logical continuation of the successful Public Works and Employment Creation Project, which closed in December 2007 following a six-year implementation period. "Burundi is still under-urbanized and suffers from the effects of unbalanced urbanization, with more than three quarters of the urban population in the capital, Bujumbura. This project will significantly boost the governments' decentralisation goals with the objective of re-establishing social services in a more sustainable and equitable manner. While doing so, the project will also provide a large number of short-term employment opportunities, a critical input in an economy with high unemployment. The grant will also support strengthening institutional and implementation capacity which will further bolster decentralisation efforts" said Sylvie Debomy, the Bank’s Task Team Leader for the project. The Project has three components: Component A: Infrastructure will support the rehabilitation and expansion of demand-driven infrastructure in all urban communes of the country and trunk infrastructure in Bujumbura, Gitega, and Ngozi in order to improve their effectiveness as economic growth poles Component B: Municipal and Urban Management component will target the three main cities of Burundi, Bujumbura, Gitega, and Ngozi, to improve governance, municipal management, and fiscal performance through the provision of technical assistance, training, and equipment. Component C: Institutional Strengthening, Monitoring, and Evaluation will finance activities aimed at strengthening: (i) institutional partners to better support and monitor communal development; (ii) the local construction private sector to improve its capacity to deliver quality infrastructure; and (iii) monitoring and evaluation of project results, support to project management, and targeted training for the Technical Secretariat and ABUTIP staff. According to John M. McIntire, Country Director for Burundi, “This project is a high priority operation for the government, communes, and the population to address the need for focused and gradual institutional development in municipal management and to prepare for decentralization. The project directly supports the Government’s objective of improving access to social services and consolidating social stability which in turn reflects the goals of the 2007 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.” For more information on the World Bank’s work in sub-Saharan Africa visit: www.worldbank.org/afr For more information on the World Bank’s work in Burundi visit: www.worldbank.org/burundi For more information about the project visit:
Public Works and Urban Management Project |
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