Infrastructure and Livelihoods Development in a Decentralisation
Context (1/3)
Sub-component A-1 : Infrastructure
Investment
Sub-component A-2 : Equal
and Sustainable Access to Development Benefits
Sub-component A-3 : Local
Institution Building and Community Empowerment
This first component, representing a Programme
investment of approximately USD 22.65 million during
the four-year second phase, comprises four sub-components:
(i) Infrastructure Investment, (ii) Equal and Sustainable
Access to Development Benefits, (iii) District Institution
Building and (iv) Province Institution Building.
As indicated above, the objective of the
component is to improve access by rural households to sustainable
public infrastructure within an equitable, demand responsive
and efficient district planning, resource management and administration
system.
Sub-component A-1 : Infrastructure
Investment (USD 17.9 million)
Output. Public infrastructure responding
to communities’ demand for water and roads is identified,
planned, implemented, operated and managed jointly by districts
and sectors, cells and user groups.
Sub-component Description
The first sub-component replaces the previous
component, Rural Infrastructure, but combines the financing
for water and roads within a flexible financing facility.
This facility will allow districts, in consultation with communities,
to identify priority public/community economic investments.
The financing facility will be divided into two funds: the
District Infrastructure Investment Fund (DIIF) and the Provincial
Water and Roads Balancing Fund.
DIIF. This fund will be the main
source for Programme investment in rural infrastructure for
the districts. Every district will be entitled to the same
4-year DIIF budget allocation, which will be calculated to
take account of current absorptive capacity and will be approved
by the Provincial Steering Committee. The funds will be allocated
for a four-year period, divided equally among the four years.
Following the provision of the first year’s tranche, subsequent
yearly allocations would be based on an assessment of delivery
performance with districts receiving more or less in the subsequent
years. Districts that consistently perform well will finish
their financial entitlement earlier; those with poorer performance
will receive lower annual allocations and will thus require
longer to complete the same amount of infrastructure investment.
By providing the funds to the districts in this way, in essence
in a form of budget support, a number of advantages accrue:
· planning is facilitated as resources become more predictable;
· districts are more readily able to adjust
pre-identified needs (as per master plans) to reality by allocating
resources based on actual demands, with the result that final
distribution among road and water investment might be different
than what was initially planned; and
· procedures can be simplified, bureaucracy
short-circuited and districts held directly accountable.
At present, the main if not the only source
of financing available to the districts for investment in
infrastructure is the Common Development Fund (CDF). CDF is
the national institution mandated by the government to direct
both government and donor resources for economic infrastructure
to the district level. CDF is still a young institution with
limited experience; to-date it has only one year of full operation
and has so far managed limited resources. However, with experience
and upcoming technical and financial support from the Netherlands,
the capacity of CDF should increase and its ability to efficiently
handle a larger volume of funding should rise. As the financial
support from the Netherlands will come in the form of budget
support (along with financing projected to come from one or
two other donors), CDF could become an attractive channel
for UCRIDP infrastructure investment. It is thus recommended
that UCRIDP also channel its resources for district infrastructure
investment through CDF, but in a progressive way. Initially,
a small portion of the DIIF will be channelled through CDF.
The remainder of DIIF funding will be disbursed to the districts
directly by the PCU. CDF-channelled funds will progressively
increase over the four years, assuming a progressive increase
in CDF capacity and performance, with the portion handled
by the PCU accordingly decreasing. The goal is to have all
of the Programme infrastructure investment channelled through
CDF by the end of the second phase.
What would qualify for funding under DIIF?
The main use of the fund is expected to continue to be water.
Water continues to be by far the most demanded assistance
that the communities in all districts and the areas where
there is the greatest need. The specific items of water investment
including an estimate of the construction of each type (for
both DIIF and the Balancing Fund, see below) would be:
· Boreholes equipped with pumps, estimated
to be required in about 134 villages (master plan).
· Boreholes equipped with windmills and
supplying micro-networks, a pilot initiative considered appropriate
for some 47 villages.
· Construction of new piped water networks
and expansion of existing ones, may be considered as a primary
solution for about 50 villages.
· Collective rainwater harvesting, to be
installed in a limited number of villages (possibly 11) where
no other solution is possible.
· Roof catchments for rainwater, for
supplying additional medium quality water to the public facilities
such as primary schools, health centres, districts offices
and sectors offices (number to be determined).
· Valley dams, for livestock watering, with
some 45 valley dams to be rehabilitated and 24 new ones constructed.
· Sanitation, primarily for latrines and the associated
training.
Roads, as identified in project appraisal,
are the second most important area where infrastructure investment
is required. The amount and implementation of the roads proposed
in project appraisal has been maintained as an indicative
figure that clearly would be adjusted based on the demand
from communities and the presentation of individual segments
of roads for financing within the individual district development
plans and investment plans. Thus, a total of 479 km of
road rehabilitation and new construction has been provided
for in the Programme budget, collectively represented in DIFF
and the Balancing Fund (see below), with the annual requirements
estimated as follows: 150 km in 2004 (the technical
studies were completed in Phase 1), 151 km in 2005, 100 km
in 2006 and 78 km in 2007. To ease the management, project
annual buget and workplan will have to differentiate 3 categories
: 1/ road maintenance, 2/ road rehabilitation and/or heavy
maintenance, 3/ new roads.
Funding provided under DIIF will include
the cost of producing the designs and work programmes and
delivering the infrastructure, as well as the infrastructure
itself.
Provincial Water and Roads Balancing
Fund. (“fonds provincial de péréquation”) As the amount
of funding available for investment in economic infrastructure
– in particularly water and to an extent feeder roads – is
most likely to be more than the districts could manage effectively
with their current and foreseeable implementation capacity,
a provincial-level fund would be established – the Water and
Roads Balancing Fund – to provide flexibility and to allow
the Programme in consultation with provincial experts to either
facilitate implementation directly or to allocate money to
those districts that have demonstrated both the need and capacity
to use them productively. The amount to be allocated to the
Balancing Fund would be determined in 2004 in conjunction
with the assessment of the amount to be allocated to the districts
through DIIF. The Balancing Fund will be a temporary structure
put in place to facilitate channelling UCRIDP funds. Based
on an evaluation of district performance in managing DIIF
funds made available through the district allocations, the
next interphase evaluation would determine whether the Balancing
Fund would be maintained in the third phase, or whether all
remaining resources could be allocated directly to the districts
through DIIF/CDF budget support mechanisms.
Technical Support for Water Investment
Programme. The Programme will support a strengthening
of the capacity of the districts to implement the water programme
and of the province to provide technical support and backstopping
to the districts. A qualified NGO or other institution will
be contracted to carry out this work on behalf of the Programme.
This support will focus on three main activities:
· Mobilisation of communities for the management and maintenance
of the water infrastructures.
· Monitoring and reporting on performance and impact of
the water activities.
· Technical support and capacity building at district level.
Monitoring of the Environmental Impact
of the Water Programme. A regular programme for monitoring
the environmental impact of the different water facilities
funded by the Programme will be financed. It will include
the following types of monitoring: spring discharge monitoring,
groundwater monitoring, surface water (Muvumba River) monitoring
programme.
Roads Maintenance Programme. During
the second phase, a major commitment to sustainable road maintenance
will be made through the organization and training of district
road maintenance brigades and sector road maintenance teams.
The Programme will provide financing to train and equip these
brigades and teams. There will be one brigade per district
and one to two teams per sector depending on the density of
roads to be maintained. Each sector maintenance team will
be composed of 10 labourers with each being responsible for
20 km of road. The brigades and teams will be equipped with
simple equipment and materials.
The training programme will include:
· district level seminars in planning of roads programmes
and for maintenance of the roads constructed.
· formal and on-the-job training of the heads of the brigades
and teams in basic road maintenance techniques.
· seminars for contractors in labour intensive construction
techniques.
Technical Support for Road Programme.
The Programme will provide technical support at both the district
and province level. In the districts, eight roads technicians
(‘techniciens A1’) will be recruited – one for each
district. At the province level, a senior civil engineer with
a strong background in labour intensive road construction
techniques will be recruited as part of the Programme management
team but posted to the provincial office of the Ministry of
Infrastructure. S/he is budgeted under the Provincial Institution-Building
sub-component below.
Sub-Component Investments
. The investments under the sub-component are the following:
· DIIF and the Balancing Fund (USD 15 million):
two complementary funds to finance road and water investments.
· Technical Support for Water Investment Programme
(USD 2.1 million): contracts with a specialised NGO/consulting
firm, 4 to 6 months/year of international consultant, training,
motorcycles for water specialists.
· Monitoring of the Environmental Impact of the Water
Programme (USD 49 000): measuring equipment, local sub-contracts,
national hydrologist consultancy.
· Road Maintenance Programme (USD 109 000): training/seminars,
motorcycles (heads of brigade), bicycles (heads of teams),
small equipment, salary for a grader conductor, operating
costs.
· Technical Support for Road Programme (USD 156 000).
Salaries and allowances for four district technicians (one
for 2 districts), one month/year of international consultant,
3 months of a national HIMO consultant.
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