Announcement of Philippines Third Municipal Development Project on April 2, 1992

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.* Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 92/66 Contact: Pastor Sison Tel: (202) 458-0344 PHILIPPINES: THIRD MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT The following is additional information about a project announced in this week's issue of World Bank News. DATE: April 2, 1992 WORLD BANK GROUP SUPPORT: World Bank loan: $68 million. The World Bank loan is for 20 years, including five years of grace, with a variable interest rate, currently 7.73 percent, linked to the cost of the Bank's borrowings. It also carries an annual commitment charge of 0.25 percent on the undisbursed balance. TOTAL COST: $113.7 million OTHER FINANCING: Local governments, $16.2 million; Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), $12.3 million; Municipal Development Fund, $17.2 million IMPLEMENTING AGENCY: Central Project Office, DPH ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: 1999 PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The objective of the Third Municipal Development Project is to upgrade the infrastructure, services, and facilities of cities and municipalities by: (a) strengthening the national government's institutional framework for assisting local governments; (b) improving the local govern- ments' capacity for investment planning, financing, and implementation; (c) strengthening the maintenance capacity of local governments; and (d) improving local fiscal performance. The project consists of: (a) subprojects ($85.4 million), including construction and rehabilitation of basic infrastructure and facilities, procurement of equipment, and hiring of consultants; (b) a maintenance program ($9.8 million) to improve maintenance planning and implementation in selected pilot cities and municipalities; (c) real property tax administration (RPTA) ($14 million) to prepare tax maps, improve real property tax records management, increase real property tax collection, and computerize the management of real property information; (d) a municipal training program ($3.1 million) to train local officials in municipal plan- ning, fiscal management, contract management, and environmental assessment; and (e) technical assistance ($1.3 million) for a study of institutional options for further lending to local governments and for an environmental sanitation and solid waste study.