World Bank, Sudan finance projects to develop war affect areas
August 29, 2007 (KHARTOUM, Sudan) — Sudan and the World Bank today signed an agreement to finance jointly the first phase of an emergency programme to reconstruct and develop three war affected regions in the country, the WB announced today.
The Sudanese government and the World Bank-administered National Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF-N) today committed to jointly fund two new projects to support reconstruction and improved service in South Kordofan, North Kordofan, Blue Nile, Sinnar and White Nile States.
An MDTF-N Grant of US$ 7.9 million and GNU funding of US$ 6.9 million will finance Phase 1 of the Start-Up/Emergency program of the recovery and development of South Kordofan State which will fund a number of emergency needs in basic services and capacity building.
Phase 1 of the development project in South Kordofan will start in September 2007 and end in December 2008). It aims to provide basic services in improving access to water, improvement of the rural roads, acceleration of humanitarian demining, and provision of basic education and primary health care services, and a vocational training center.
Various partners will participate in the implementation of the project including government agencies (State Ministry of Economy and Investment, South Kordofan State, and relevant line ministries) and UN agencies (UNICEF and UNIDO).
The second MDTF-N Grant of US$4 million and a GNU contribution of US$3.7 million will support phase 1 of livestock production and marketing project in two poor and conflict ridden areas in Central and Eastern Sudan in selected localities in North Kordofan, Blue Nile, Sinnar, and White Nile states.
This project aims to improve livelihoods dependant on livestock as a mean to ensure peace dividends, mitigate natural resource-based conflict and improve food security. The project will be implemented by Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries and State Governments.
Sudanese minister of Finance and National Economy, al-Zubair Ahmed al-Hassan, welcomed in his speech the newly appointed World Bank Country Director for Sudan, Mr. Kenichi Ohashi. “The South Kordofan and livestock projects are pillars in helping Sudan to improve the livelihoods of its people and it is a collaboration between four agencies that include federal and state governments, UNIDO and UNICEF.” He further said.
The minister further said that Sudan’s relatively strong macroeconomic performance and buoyant oil revenues have allowed GNU to contribute nearly two-thirds the funding for these programs from its own resources.
Kenichi Ohashi, World Bank Country Director for Sudan said “These projects are milestones in consolidating peace and support pro-poor initiatives following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005.”
The World Bank is assigned the role of administering two Multi-Donor Trust Funds (MDTFs) that were established with an initial pledged amount of US$500 million following the Oslo Donor Conference in April 2005 to support priority activities for post-conflict Sudan.
The MDTF National supports the Government of National Unity, primarily in the reconstruction and development of war-affected and marginalized areas in the Northern states while the MDTF South supports the decentralization, recovery and development initiatives undertaken by the Government of Southern Sudan.
As of July 31 2007, The MDTF-N has signed eight grant agreements totaling US$114.6 million. The GNU contributes about US$263.9 million. The MDTF-S has signed 11 grants and supplemental grants totaling $164.0 million. The Government of Southern Sudan contributes about US$191.1 million to these projects.
(ST)