South Asia Update

Issue #3: World Bank Pipeline Projects

Friday, November 30, 2007

This Bulletin is a periodic electronic update from the Bank Information Center (BIC) South Asia office to inform civil society about World Bank projects in South Asia before they are approved by the Board of Directors of the World Bank Group.

This Update covers project information, organized by sectors, covering Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka only. It is taken directly from the World Bank’s Monthly Operation Summary (MOS) for South Asia Region.

For feedback on the Early Warning Update or to subscribe, please contact:
Bank Information Center, South Asia Office (New Delhi)
Phone: +91-11-2602-0143; Email: southasia@bicusa.org; Web: www.bicusa.org

For more information on projects listed below, please contact at the World Bank Headquarters:
Public Information Services Program, South Asia External Affairs, World Bank 
Benjamin Crow; Phone: (202) 473-5105; E-mail: bcrow@worldbank.org
Jan Erik Nora; Phone: (202) 458-4735; E-mail: enora@worldbank.org

About Monthly Operational Summary (MOS)

MOS reports on the status of projects in the World Bank’s pipeline — from the point of identification of investment opportunities to the signing of the loan, credit or grant. After loans, credits or grants are signed, entries are dropped from the MOS. Entries are also dropped from the MOS when projects are removed from the Bank’s lending program before approval. Each entry in the MOS indicates at what stage a particular project is in the project cycle.  These are highlighted for convenience.

MOS, along with your country’s Country Assistance Strategy (CAS), serve as the earliest possible indicators of what projects your government and the Bank might be considering for funding.  Advocacy and campaigning experience around the world on Bank projects indicates that the earlier civil society gets involved on proposed projects, the greater the likelihood for impacting them.  It would be useful to understand the Bank’s Project Cycle as summarized below.

Project Cycle

During IDENTIFICATION, both governments and the Bank are involved in analyzing development strategies for the respective country as a whole and in identifying projects that support those strategies. When the project identification is completed, the Project Information Document (PID) will be available through the World Bank’s Project Database. This is the earliest publicly-available project document and provides a summary of the Project Concept. The PID includes contact information for the Project Implementing Agency, as well as the World Bank Task Team Leader.

PREPARATION, the second stage of the cycle, is the responsibility of your government. During preparation, the technical and institutional alternatives for achieving a project's objectives are identified and discussed. Preparation usually requires feasibility studies followed by more detailed studies of the alternatives that promise to yield the most satisfactory results. The environmental assessment is usually carried out during this phase.

Project APPRAISAL, the responsibility of the Bank, provides a comprehensive review of all aspects of the project (technical, institutional, economic, and financial) and lays the foundation for implementing the project and evaluating it when completed. A Project Appraisal Document is published following this stage.

During NEGOTIATIONS, discussions are held between the Bank and the government and agreements reached are contained in the draft loan, credit or grant documents. Upon completion of negotiations, the project is then presented to the Executive Directors of the Bank for their consideration. After approval, the loan, credit or grant agreement is signed.

IMPLEMENTATION of a project usually starts after the loan, credit or grant is declared effective, which can normally be expected to take a few months after signing.

(For more information, see BIC's Tools for Activists: An Information and Advocacy Guide to the World Bank Group, pg 2-12).

MOS Entry Guideline

A typical entry in the MOS is presented in the following order: Country; Sector; Title and project description; Stage of processing  [(R)= Revised (italic text indicates a change from previous month; (N)= New]; Environmental Assessment Category; Project ID, a unique Bank control number for each project, appears in the MOS when the Project Information Document is available; Amount of loan, credit or grant (US$ millions); Name, address, phone, fax, E-mail address, and name and title of contact person of implementing agency.

Current MOS Entries for South Asia

Bangladesh Education (3) Energy and Mining (including Renewable Energy) (2) Environment and Natural Resources Management (2) Private Sector Development (1) Public Sector Governance (1) Rural Development (3) Social Protection (2) Transportation (2) Water and Sanitation (1) Bangladesh Early Warning Update,World Bank Monthly Operation Summary (MOS), Nov 2007 (Acrobat pdf, 68 KB)   India Energy and Mining (including Renewable Energy) (4) Environment and Natural Resources Management (5) Public Sector Governance (1) Rural Development (11) Transportation (4) Urban Development (6) Water and Sanitation (2) India Early Warning Update, World Bank Monthly Operations Summary (MOS), Nov 2007 (Acrobat pdf, 85 KB)

Nepal Education (1) Finance (1) Rural Development (3) Transportation (1) Nepal Early Warning Update, World Bank Monthly Operation Summary (MOS), Nov 2007 (Acrobat pdf, 56 KB)   Pakistan Energy and Mining (including Renewable Energy) (2) Health, Nutrition and Population (1) Information and Communication (1) Law and Justice (1) Rural Development (4) Social Protection (1) Transportation (4) Urban Development (1) Water Sanitation (2) Pakistan Early Warning Update, World Bank Monthly Operation Summary (MOS), Nov 2007 (Acrobat pdf, 71 KB)   Sri Lanka Environment and Natural Resources Management (1) Health, Nutrition and Population (1) Public Sector Governance (2) Sri Lanka Early Warning Update, World Bank Monthly Operation Summary (MOS), Nov 2007 (Acrobat pdf, 55 KB)

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