92014 Projects Under Preparation April 19, 2004 STATISTICAL SYSTEM MODERNIZATION PROJECT   Total Project Cost: US$38 million World Bank Loan: US$32 million Board Date: March 25, 2004 The project will support building of a sustainable state statistical system which efficiently provides timely and accurate data for policy evaluation and decision making in the following directions: strengthening institutional capacity to collect, process, disseminate the data and use it for policy analysis; improving the match between the needs of those who use the data and the work of those who provide it; upgrading the quality and flow of official statistical and administrative data by introduction the methodologies and definitions that can bring Ukraine’s performance in the field of statistics up to international standards. The project includes following major components: a: organizational development & management. b. statistical infrastructure. c. data development. d. strengthening of information basis for decision-making and forecasting at the ministry of economy. e. introduction of modern communication and information technology. The activities in a-d will be supported by installation of modern information and communication equipment for data collection, processing, dissemination, and analyses at SSCU, NBU, MOF, and MOE.     UKRAINE E-DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (pre -effectives)   Total Project Cost: US$6 million   World Bank Loan: US$5 million Board Date: May 6, 2003 The development objective of the proposed project is to enhance efficiency of the Government's decision-making process for public procurement and documentation flow, foster private sector development, and strengthen civil society in Ukraine through the introduction of innovative models of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions. The Project is focused on three areas, E-Government, E-Business Environment, and Public-Private E-Dialogue. The first component, E- Government, will introduce e-procurement and e-documentation flow models, which could substantially improve efficiency in Ukraine’s public administration at the central and regional levels. The E-Business Environment component will create legal and regulatory framework, which will allow on-line transactions in Ukraine to be recognized as legally binding. This legal framework will be based on best practices and compatible with the EU standards. The third component, Public-Private E-Dialogue, will develop on-line models and tools for enhancing public involvement in the governance processes through active participation in the development of public polices and regulatory decision making process.   RURAL LAND TITLING AND CADASTRE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (pre-effectiveness )   Total Project Cost: US$ 350.5 million World Bank Loan: US$ 195.1 million Board date: June 24, 2003 The primary objective of this project would be to allocate land parcels to individuals in rural areas on an equitable basis, establish their property rights by issuing state deeds for land, develop a national cadastre and encourage the restructuring of farms into more efficient units, with due consideration for environmental and social safeguards.     RURAL FINANCE PROJECT   Total Project Cost: To be determined World Bank Loan: US$ 200 million The purpose of the program is to develop economically competitive and sustainable rural areas with significantly less incidence of poverty. The program aims to fulfill its purpose through increasing access by all segments - especially farmers, entrepreneurs, and small and medium enterprises - of the rural (agricultural and non-agricultural) population to financial services. The development objective of the project is to increase access - by farmers and rural entrepreneurs and enterprises - to financial services. The project aims to achieve this objective through: (a) increasing the supply of long-term capital in the rural economy; (b) increasing the interest and enhancing the ability of regulated financial intermediaries to provide financial services to rural clients; and (c) developing and instituting legislation that contributes to creating a policy environment conducive to rural finance.     SOCIAL ASSISTANCE REFORM ADMINISTARTION PROJECT   Total Project Cost: To be determined World Bank Loan: To be determined The project development objective is to effectively support of vulnerable groups in the population and efficiently manage social assistance system reform, while improving the image of social assistance and targeting programs to reduce errors of inclusion and exclusion. The project provides technical assistance and information technology support to improve the administration of social welfare offices and support government policy reforms. The project would include three components: (1) administrative improvements in the social welfare offices at regional level; (2) poverty monitoring and communications and (3) project management.     EQUAL ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION REFORM PROJECT   Total Project Cost: To be determined World Bank Loan: To be determined The World Bank will support Ukraine efforts of reform to provide equal access to quality education. While there are many needs, the government and the Bank agreed that in principle the first project would focus on general secondary education and possibly vocational education reform. Issues dealing with the quality and relevance of education, as well as access, efficiency, and planning and management capacities at central and local levels, will likely be addressed. Improving energy efficiency and optimizing the rural schools network could also be supported.     MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT LOAN   Total Project Cost: US$180 million World Bank Loan: US$150 million The main goal of the project is to build a sustainable system for financing municipal investments with the purpose of improving the quality of public services provided to the people of Ukraine. This goal shall be achieved by making long-term loans to creditworthy Ukrainian municipalities and municipally-owned enterprises that provide public services. The project design balances three objectives: (i) to create a financially viable lending institution (the Ukrainian Municipal Development Fund, or UMDF), (ii) to help municipalities become good borrowers, and (iii) to put in place a sound policy and regulatory framework for sub-national lending. Under the project, specific components are being designed to address each of the objectives, with consultancy activities funded by the PHRD grant.   CRIMEA COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT AND NUTRIENT REDUCTION PROJECT (GEF BLACK SEA/DANUBE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM)   GEF grant: US$70 million for all Black Sea countries. A Strategic Partnership between the Bank and GEF focused on the recovery of the Black Sea, is proposed as a means for catalyzing an investment response necessary to accelerate urgent action by a wide group of stakeholders. This proposed Partnership would involve a commitment by the GEF to pre-approve an envelope of funds, to help jump start and further accelerate key investments from an identified program of investments. Currently the Bank and GOU are discussing the scope of potential project for Ukraine (Crimea) and sources of local financing.