Document of The World Bank Report No: 67430-NE RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING FOR THE TRANSPORT SECTOR PROGRAM SUPPORT PROJECT P101434 GRANT NO: H378-NE BOARD APPROVAL DATE: APRIL 29, 2008 TO THE REPUBLIC OF NIGER DATE OF RESTRUCTURING: APRIL 13, 2012 Regional Vice President: Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili Country Director: Ousmane Diagana Sector Manager: Supee Teravaninthorn Sector Director: Jamal Saghir Task Team Leader: Aguiratou Savadogo-Tinto NIGER TRANSPORT SECTOR PROGRAM SUPPORT PROJECT DATA SHEET Restructuring Status: Draft Restructuring Type: Level two Last modified on date : 04/13/2012 1. Basic Information Project ID & Name P101434: NE-Transport Sector Program SIM (FY08) Country Niger Task Team Leader Aguiratou Savadogo-Tinto Sector Manager/Director Supee Teravaninthorn Country Director Ousmane Diagana Original Board Approval Date 04/29/2008 Original Closing Date: 12/15/2012 Current Closing Date 12/15/2012 Proposed Closing Date [if applicable] EA Category B-Partial Assessment Revised EA Category B-Partial Assessment-Partial Assessment EA Completion Date 04/10/2007 Revised EA Completion Date 2. Revised Financing Plan (US$m) Source Original Revised BORR 0.00 0.00 IDAT 30.00 30.00 Total 30.00 30.00 3. Borrower Organization Department Location CC/PST Niger 4. Implementing Agency Organization Department Location Cellule de Coordination du PST Niger 5. Disbursement Estimates (US$m) Actual amount disbursed as of 04/13/2012 22.96 Fiscal Year Annual Cumulative 2012 0.00 22.96 2013 7.04 30.00 Total 30.00 6. Policy Exceptions and Safeguard Policies Does the restructured project require any exceptions to Bank policies? N Does the restructured project trigger any new safeguard policies? If yes, please select from N the checklist below and update ISDS accordingly before submitting the package. 7a. Project Development Objectives/Outcomes Original/Current Project Development Objectives/Outcomes The project development objectives are to (i) improve the physical access of rural population to markets and services on selected unpaved sections of the national road network, and (ii) strengthen the institutional framework, management and implementation of road maintenance in Niger. PDO Level Results Indicators are: 1. Improved connectivity: Share of rural population with access to an all-season road (average Rural Access Index) has increased by 3 % in the project area 2. Reduced transport time to operators: transport time decreased by 2 hours from Balleyara to Banibangou, and 30 minutes from Maradi to Madarounfa. Changed to (Kollo-Kirtachi) 3. Share of rural population with access to an all- season road 4. Number of rural people with access to an all-season road 5. Roads in good and fair condition as a share of total classified roads 6. Size of the total classified network 7b. Revised Project Development Objectives/Outcomes [if applicable] There are no changes to the PDO and the outcomes of the project. ANNEX 1: Reallocation of Proceeds 1. Proceeds for the Niger Transport Sector Program Support Project, Grant number H378-NE, P101434 will be reallocated as follows: Table 1: Reallocation of Proceeds Allocation % of Category of Expenditure Expressed in SDR Financing Current Revised Revised (1) Goods, works and consultants services for 13,250,000 15,800,000 100% part A of the project. (2) Goods and consultants services, including for training, audits and 2,600,000 2,600,000 100% operating Costs for Part B of the Project Amount due pursuant to (3) Refund of the Project 400,000 400,000 Section 2.07 Preparation advance of this Agreement (4) Unallocated 2,550,000 0 TOTAL AMOUNT 18,800,000 18,800,000 Project implementation progress 2. The overall implementation performance of the project is rated Satisfactory. As of March 26, 2012, 76 percent of the International Development Association (IDA) grant amount had been disbursed, leaving an undisbursed balance of about US$6.96 million. This disbursement rate is above target. About 93.55 percent of the grant is committed through signed contracts. The closing date of the project is December 15, 2012. Only 750 km out of the 1,056 km initially planned for periodic maintenance will be executed due to an unanticipated financing gap, In order to cover such financing gap, an Additional Financing (AF) is being prepared. 3. Component A. As of today, the periodic maintenance and spot rehabilitation of 600 km of unpaved roads have been completed, 126 km are under execution and maintenance/spot rehabilitation of another 20 km of roads should start by mid April 2012. 1,056 km of unpaved roads of the national road network were originally planned to be rehabilitated or maintained at the beginning of the project. The team estimates that about 750 km (71 percent) will be executed by project completion (December 15, 2012). The balance of the road length, estimated at 306 km, will be financed through the AF currently under preparation. The funds allocated to this component are not enough to finance the current contracts of roads works. The gap is derived from (i) a much higher than originally estimated cost of civil works during the execution of the “first phase� of the roads rehabilitation component; (ii) additional unexpected works caused by heavy floods during the rainy season 2009 which caused a lot of damages to the roads proposed in the project for periodic maintenance; and (iii) higher cost of roads works between the technical studies and the offers received at the bid opening of the “second phase� of roads rehabilitation in 2010. 4. Component B. Most of the activities under Component B have been completed (institutional support to the main transport sector players through provision of capacity building and assistance in management and execution of road maintenance activities). A few activities among which the completion of the update of the transport strategy, are under implementation. Component B is likely to be fully executed by the end of the project. 5. As for the sector reforms implementation, the project design included the reform of road maintenance management and policies. The planned road maintenance program was executed above target in both 2009 and 2010 and slightly below for the year 2008 and 2011. The level of funds dedicated to roads maintenance has varied over the years, but has gradually increased. The increase in the road user charges has not taken place despite pressure from development partners (European Union, IDA) due to a lack of focus of the administration on reforms and the past instability at the political level. The proposed AF will allow the World Bank’s team to continue the dialogue with Government on this matter. Rationale for reallocation: 6. The proposed reallocation is necessary to reallocate the remaining undisbursed and unallocated funds to finance roads works under Component A. The reallocation is necessary to provide enough funds to finance the cost of the roads works under execution as the initial funds allocated to this component are not sufficient to cover all the roads works costs. Funds will be reallocated from the unallocated (category 4) to component A (category 1) to cover the gap derived from cost overrun of this category.