Burkina Faso - Second Urban Project

 ICRR 10052 Report Number : ICRR10052 ICR Review Operations Evaluation Department 1. Project Data : OEDID : OEDID: C2067 Project ID : P000279 Project Name : Second Urban Project Country : Burkina Faso Sector : Urban Management L/C Number : Credit 2067-BUR Partners involved : Prepared by : Kyu Sik Lee, OEDST Reviewed by : Hernan Levy Group Manager : Roger H. Slade Date Posted : 06/08/1998 2. Project Objectives, Financing, Costs and Components : The objectives were to: (i) build gradually the organizational, technical, and financial capacity of the municipalities of Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso for maintenance of urban infrastructure and supply of urban services; and (ii) improve the infrastructure of these two cities to an adequate level of services . These objectives were to be achieved by six components: (a) improve municipal administration through establishing new accounting practices; (b) improve municipal financial resource mobilization through tax reforms; (c) establish an urban information system with street names and addresses; (d) strengthen the operational capacity of the cities' technical departments; (e) rehabilitate urban infrastructure, mainly road and drainage networks; and (f) improve solid waste management. The credit amount was US$22.2 million. An additional credit of US$10 million was approved in 1994. The project cost was US$28.9 million. A balance of US$4.3 million was canceled. 3. Achievement of Relevant Objectives : The project achieved, and in some cases exceeded, its main objectives of strengthening municipal government capacity and improving infrastructure maintenance works . 4. Significant Achievements : In both cities, the program computerized the accounting systems and trained 322 municipal accounts. Between 1985 and 1996, assessment and billing of business taxes increased by more than two folds in both cities, and the collection rate reached over 90 percent from less than 50 percent before the project. The urban information system improved markedly by installing 16,625 street signs in Ouagadougou and 5,300 in Bobo Dioulasso in excess of the appraisal target of 8,000. Technical assistance for procurement procedures and road maintenance services were provided to the technical departments and the private sector was used for equipment maintenance . Municipal road rehabilitation met or exceeded the appraisal targets . The garbage collection equipment was financed and the household garbage collection services improved . The ex-post economic rate of return for the urban street rehabilitation was very close to the appraisal estimate of about 30 percent. 5. Significant Shortcomings : Shifting the garbage collection responsibility from the municipal authorities to the national maintenance agency (ONASENE) in 1986 was inconsistent with the project objective of municipal capacity building and adversely affected project preparation. The disagreements between the Bank and the Borrower over the role of ONASENE delayed project preparation for almost five years . Also, the failure of the cofinancing by the Italian government prevented accomplishing the drainage construction objective . Although the local project director appointed in 1988 remained on the job until the credit was closed, the project engineer was not appointed until 1992, which necessitated contracting out engineering services. 6. Ratings : ICR OED Review Reason for Disagreement /Comments Outcome : Satisfactory Satisfactory Institutional Dev .: Partial Modest "Partial" is classified as "modest".  Sustainability : Likely Likely Bank Performance : Satisfactory Satisfactory Borrower Perf .: Satisfactory Satisfactory Quality of ICR : Satisfactory 7. Lessons of Broad Applicability : Implementation of urban sector reform cannot be dealt with a single project . It will require several projects over a longer time period. Also, overly complex operations involving multiple agencies should be avoided for successful implementation. 8. Audit Recommended? Yes No 9. Comments on Quality of ICR : The ICR could have been substantially improved if it had described project components and show how they were intended to achieve project objective . The ICR does not report the extent of cost recovery if there was any .