The World Bank Forestry Development Project (P147760) REPORT NO.: RES33607 DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT APPROVED ON MARCH 27, 2015 TO THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA Regional Vice President: Cyril E Muller Country Director: Satu Kristiina J. Kahkonen Senior Global Practice Director: Karin Erika Kemper Practice Manager/Manager: Ruxandra Maria Floroiu Task Team Leader: Vladislava I. Nemova, Andrew Michael Mitchell The World Bank Forestry Development Project (P147760) I. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P147760 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 27-Mar-2015 31-Aug-2021 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS Ministry of Forestry,BellesExport Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Project Development Objective is to enhance silvicultural management and reforestation and afforestation, increase the use of felling residues and improve the public good contribution from forests in targeted forest areas. Summary Status of Financing Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IBRD-88210 12-Mar-2018 11-Apr-2018 09-Aug-2018 31-Aug-2021 14.40 0 14.40 IBRD-84740 27-Mar-2015 02-Apr-2015 30-Jul-2015 31-Aug-2021 40.71 34.57 6.15 TF-A1173 02-Apr-2015 02-Apr-2015 30-Jul-2015 31-Aug-2020 2.74 .79 1.95 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No The World Bank Forestry Development Project (P147760) II. SUMMARY OF PROJECT STATUS AND PROPOSED CHANGES 1) Rationale for the restructuring This Restructuring Paper seeks your approval of a one-year, no-cost extension of the GEF Grant (TF-A1173) closing date from August 31, 2020 to August 31, 2021, so as to align the Grant closing date with that of the Parent Project (IBRD-84740) and the recently approved Additional Financing (AF) Loan (IBRD-88210). When the AF was processed, the Borrower requested the project closing date to be extended by one year to August 31, 2021 to allow sufficient time to implement the additional activities. Upon approval of the AF (March 12, 2018), the closing date of the Parent Project was extended automatically by the extra year, whereas the closing date for the GEF Grant remained unchanged. The additional time requested now will allow for the GEF funded technical support of the project to continue until project closure. At the project Mid-Term-Review (April 02-06, 2018), the Bank team and government counterparts discussed the closing date discrepancy and agreed to request restructuring the GEF Grant to allow for this one-year extension. The Project GEF Steering Committee meeting held in April 2018 agreed with the proposed new closing date of August 31, 2021. A formal, written request for the closing date extension has been received from the GEF National Coordinator in the Republic of Belarus, the First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus on July 19, 2018. Overall project implementation has maintained either a Satisfactory or Moderately Satisfactory rating, while progress towards achieving the PDO/GEO has been continuously Satisfactory from the start of the project. Procurement and FM are rated as Satisfactory. 2) Status of GEF Grant activities: The GEF Grant currently is 61% committed (US$ 1.67m), with 29% (US$ 0.78m) disbursed (as of September, 2018). The ongoing and planned GEF funded activities were reviewed by the Bank team during the Mid-Term Review and were found to be appropriate and being satisfactorily implemented. The PDO/GEO remains relevant and unchanged. There are no GEF funded activities under component 1. Under Component 2. Improvement of forest fire prevention, monitoring, detection and suppression: the physical infrastructure of the forest fire protection service of the Polessky Forest Enterprise was enhanced with the purchase of 6 mud motor pumps, 65 fire hoses, 13 combined hand fire nozzles and 40 back-pack sprayers. Specialized equipment for forest fire detection, prevention and suppression has also been supplied. Under Component 3. Capacity building for sustainable forest management: The Republican Educational Centre for Training, Retraining and Raising the Level of Skills of Forestry Personnel has benefited from four simulators for training harvester and forwarder operators. GEF investments also included equipment enhancing the nursery infrastructure. Important technical assignments to improve forest management capacity have been completed, including: i) improving the system of forest management planning; ii) improving the system of forest monitoring and iii) updating the firefighting zoning of Belarus. The final reports for these activities were published on the UE “Bellesexport” website. Currently the Terms of Reference for 10 activities (value: US$ 905,000) are under development and 5 tasks are currently being tendered (value: US$ 496,000). 3) Financial Management (FM) and Audit Arrangements and Status: FM arrangements remain satisfactory and there are no overdue audits under the project. The World Bank Forestry Development Project (P147760) III. DETAILED CHANGES LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline Ln/Cr/Tf Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications IBRD-84740 Effective 31-Aug-2020 31-Aug-2021 IBRD-88210 Effective 31-Aug-2021 TF-A1173 Effective 31-Aug-2020 31-Aug-2021 31-Dec-2021