World Bank spent only third of donors fund for South Sudan – report
February 17, 2010 (LONDON) – The southern Sudan recovery fund has just spent a third of its money since 2005, angering western donors who provided most of the capital.
Administrated by the World Bank, the South Sudan Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTFs) is funded by donor countries to fund projects and programs that are pro-peace and pro-poor.
By the end of 2009, only $181 million of the $524 million donors had committed to the Multi-Donor Trust Fund had been spent and more than four years into the fund’s six-year lifespan, $343 million is still to be used, the Financial Times reported.
The southern Sudan case is seen as reflection of the World Bank’s stringent rules on distribution of funds, says the report.
“The case highlights a dilemma of relevance to many efforts to help developing countries: a stringent approach towards spending money may result in large sums lying unused, but a more relaxed policy risks wasting the funds. Either option leaves the World Bank exposed to ¬criticism.”
The two MDTF for north and south Sudan originate from the Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) coordinated by both governments with support from the World Bank and UN, which assessed the needs of Sudan over the six-year interim period after the signing of the peace accord.
The result of the assessment, developed with government authorities, was a “Framework for Sustained Peace, Development and Poverty Eradication.”
Since 2006, the World Bank was accused of delay in the implementation of development projects in southern Sudan.
In an interview with Sudan Tribune in February 2007, Ishac Diwan, World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia and Sudan at the time, attributed the slow implementation of development projects financed by the Multi-Donor Trust Funds (MDTF) in southern Sudan to the slowness of peace implementation and the absence of a well established administration.
The MDTF projects are implemented by the regional government of southern Sudan; the WB funds its program through GOSS budget.
Due to the lack of expertise and experience, Salva Kiir requested the WB to apply its procedures of procurement and financial management rules in southern Sudan to prevent corruption and build institution for good governance.
Laurence Clarke, the manager of the World Bank’s south Sudan program said that expenditure figures did not tell the whole story. The amount of money disbursed to ministries and the number of service contracts signed last year revealed an improving picture.
“The realities on the ground dictated a slower start-up and a certain maturing process,” he said.
(ST)
BUSTA 2
World Bank spent only third of donors fund for South Sudan – report
Money for buying Hummers,
I wish the World Bank know where the money they are donating is going, it is simply being used in buying Hummer and sleeping with ladies from East Africa and from Ethiopia.
It is pity that five years haa finished without any development seen in South Sudan surely why should one decide to back to South?
Brother in Christ,
Busta 2
Time1
World Bank spent only third of donors fund for South Sudan – report
This reports raise an important urguement, If you see the infrastructure development funded byt the donors is almost non existence, no projects like roads, water & sewage systems, electricity or security project that is being funded by donors, if there is any let them point it out, we have not seen non, most project shave been funded by GOSS budget exclusively, the only donor funded project known at large scale is the USAID road and transport project in coodinate with GOSS, this is one of the biggest project physically visible but also very slow.
The beaurocracy within the world-bank is terrible, first of all the multi-donor fund is suppose to be grants by donors to support infrastructure in south sudan, world banks came in saying it would administer the funds but instead has slept over the money and using it for its own investments while ignoring the real purpose of the money, this clearly show that we should nhot relay on money from abroad, we have to relay on our own resources, but we should welcome any good will contributioons from abroad.