| General Information |
Project/Program |
Project |
| Project Name |
Provincial and Rural Infrastructure Project |
| Duration |
Board of Approval: 09/11/2013 Closing Date (original): 9/30/2007; (actual): 12/31/2011 |
| Donor |
World Bank |
| Implementiong Organization |
Ministry of Public Works and Transportation |
| Sector and/or Subsector Classification |
Infrastructure |
| Region |
Kampong Thom, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, and Siem Reap |
| Financing |
The borrower and the International Development Association was to finance USD 3.34 and 6.94 million respectively; actual costs were USD 20.00 and 17.35 million respectively. |
| Analytical Information |
Stakeholders |
Asian Development Bank, International Development Association, World Bank, Policy and Human Resources Development (Japan), Project Implementation Unit, Project Preparation Facility, Integrated Fiduciary Assessment and Public Expenditure Review (Bank), International Labor Organization, Department of Institutional Integrity (World Bank), Independent Procurement Agent, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Ministry of Rural Development, Non-Governmental Organization, Royal Government of Cambodia, Affected people in the targeted five provinces (total population of 12.6 million people), road users (farmers, business people, transport providers, customers, provincial towns, local contractors, unskilled laborers from project provinces and consultants), civil society |
| Cross-cutting Issue |
Environment |
The project scope was too complex and thus limited the scope to the sub-national projects in a specific geographical area. However, the PDO still remains to overly broad. The Bank failed to identify the lack of capacity; the local staff were unfamiliar with the Bank systems and procedures. |
| Gender |
There were no gender related issues found in the Implementation Completion Report. |
| Impact Analysis |
The project aligns with the Royal Government of Cambodia's National Poverty Reduction Strategy (2003-2005) and the Integrated Fiduciary Assessment and Public Expenditure Review (2003). In addition, the project is supported by the World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy (2005). |
| Effectiveness |
Ownership/Partnership |
Evaluation |
During the preparation and the stage before suspension, implementation agency had appeared to look fully committed. After the suspension, local staff commitment and enthusiasm had been lost. |
| Rating |
3/5 |
| Policy Coherence/Harmonization |
Evaluation |
No information regarding policy coherence and harmonization was raised in the Impementation Completion Report. |
| Rating |
N.A. |
| Evaluation Framework |
Evaluation |
When the new IPA was selected in December 2006, they did not hand in their inception report in January 2008. This performance did not improve and eventually created an evaluation of unsatisfactory. |
| Rating |
2/5 |
| Alignment/Composition of Finance |
Evaluation |
Procurement complaints were filed around February 2005 and the investigation of the World Bank's Institutional Integrity was conducted. They had found corruption and fraud in four of the ongoing World Bank assisting projects and this project happened to be one of them. The project disbursements were suspended from June 5,2006 to February 1,2007 with the exception of contracts that were associated with the preparation of the financial audit and the construction of two essential bridges on a district road. According to the Implementation Completion Report, a total of USD 2.29 million was cancelled and thus reduced the total amount to SDR 12.724 million. Despite these problems, the overall financial management was satisfactory; relevant remedies were initiated by the Project Implementation Unit. |
| Rating |
2/5 |
| Other Remarks |
The project's second restructuring was due to poor alignment; thus on December 31,2010 project changes included to take out indicating measures that could not be directly attributed to the project and output targets were revised to show realistic accomplishments. This project is the middle project of the three project sequence; the three projects are the Road Rehabilitation Project, the Provincial and Rural Infrastructure Project, and the Road Asset Management Project. |
