Findings Good InfobriefPractice Africa Region Number 92 September 2003 · · Findings Infobriefs reports on Good Practice in ongoing operational, economic and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region. It is published monthly by the Knowledge and Learning Center on behalf of the Region. The views expressed in Findings are those of the author/s and should not be attributed to the World Bank Group. http://www.worldbank.org/afr/findings Kenya: Emergency Response to Rebuilding Flood-damaged Infrastructure Between November 1997 and March 1998, heavy rains (the El Nino rains) dumped over 1.5 m on parts of Kenya. Many parts of the country were isolated for months and when the floods receded it was clear that the vital services--health delivery, transportation, and water supply--needed to be urgently restored. The World Bank was requested to assist in the massive recovery efforts. However, given that the Government of Kenya was slotted into a "low case" lending scenario by the Bank, it was only on an exceptional basis that the Bank agreed in July 1998 to approve the El Nino Emergency Credit for US$ 40.0 million (an additional US$ 37.5 million was reallocated from another existing credit towards the reconstruction of urban roads). Quarterly external audits were mandated in approving the credit. During the preparation of the El Nino Emergency Project (ENEP), it was agreed with the Government that the management of the project would be placed under a group of professionals hired from the private sector placed within the institutional structure of the Office of the President. The African Development Bank financed US$ 15 million equivalent and the Agence Française de Développement an additional Euro 28 million of rehabilitation funds, all functioning under the same management structure and arrangements. Impact on the ground · The project aimed to: (i) minimize life-threatening conditions in 35 impacted districts of Kenya and the Province of Nairobi by restoring potable water supply and health facilities; (ii) facilitate improved economic activity through the restoration of key routes badly damaged during the El Nino storms; and (iii) demonstrate that streamlined procurement and payment procedures improved the efficiency of project implementation, and that some of these procedures might be mainstreamed by GOK into their project implementation practices. · At the time of Credit effectiveness in October 1998, there were actually no life-threatening interventions required. All food and drug supplies to the isolated and vulnerable areas had been addressed by GOK and relief agencies more appropriately suited towards disaster response. However, the other stated objectives of restoration of essential services, infrastructure assets, and economic activities were achieved as measured by the agreed targets and outputs. The restoration of essential services was achieved through the implemen- tation of 33 IDA-financed and 15 AfDB-financed water supply contracts, and 54 IDA-financed health facilities contracts. Restoration of economic activities was achieved through the implementation of the 23 IDA- financed and 11 AfDB-financed rural roads and bridges contracts, and 8 IDA-financed urban roads contracts. The "Good Practice Infobrief" series is edited by P.C. Mohan, mail stop J-8-811, Knowledge and Learning Center, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington D.C., 20433. Tel. (202) 473-4114; e-mail: pmohan@worldbank.org · Improved project implementation efficiency was certainly achieved through the reduction of turn-around times for procurement and payments to contractors and consultants. As a result of agreed-upon special procurement and payment procedures for this project, as detailed in the negotiated Manual of Procedures, the turn-around time from bid advertisement to contractor mobilization was reduced by about 50 percent when compared to other similar civil works contracts recently financed by IDA. In relation to payments, the average time for payments to contractors and consultants for ENEP was 40 days compared to 66 days for a similar civil works project. The physical outputs of the derived from the IDA and AfDB investments are summarized in the following table. Lessons learned Components Outputs under IDA Financing Outputs under AfDB Financing Many expectations had been raised Civil Works for: within Kenyan civil society as a - Rural Roads and Bridges 23 contracts 1,634 km of roads and 11 contracts result of the preliminary discus- numerous bridges and drifts rehabilitated sions between GOK and the World - Water Supply 31 contracts 45 water supplies 13 contracts Bank during the January 1998 rehabilitated meeting of regional Heads of State - Health Facilities 54 contracts 112 health facilities Not covered rehabilitated in Kampala, Uganda. The four pri- Goods 2 contracts for water supply chemicals 2 contracts for water supply mary lessons learned over the and equipment plus numerous office chemicals and equipment course of the 2-1/2 years of imple- equipment and vehicles small contracts Consulting Services 10 major consultancy services contracts IDA-financed mentation of ENEP were: including audit · The establishment of the Operating Costs 3 professional staff to manage the Not covered Project Management Unit ( PMU )-- project plus other office support such as rent and traveling costs. recruited from the private sector-- Civil works for Urban roads 8 contracts 67 km of urban roads Not covered and the Project Steering Commit- under KUTIP Credit 2811- rehabilitated or reconstructed tee (PSC) proved to be successful, KE but the replication of this model for future operations should be advo- cated and adopted only in the absence of public sector reforms which would allow similar PMU functions to operate within the organizational structure of established ministries. · With streamlined procurement and payment procedures, GOK was able to reduce the turn-around time for the award on contracts by roughly 50 percent with similar improvements in efficiencies for payments to contractors and consultants realized. · The financial and technical quarterly audits undertaken by a private audit firm greatly assisted the PMU in ensuring that the streamlined procurement and payment procedures did not sacrifice proper oversight of the expenditure of public funds. · Improved public relations efforts were made by the PMU to inform the public of the progress of the project. This should be adopted for all GOK projects but most certainly for all future IDA-financed projects. The raised expectations within civil society mentioned above could have been better managed through improved information flows. This Infobrief was prepared by Joseph Gadek, Consultant, the World Bank, on the basis of Implementation Completion Report No. 24018. The Task Team Leader was Lance Morrell to whom queries for further information shouldbedirected:Lmorrell@worldbank.org Persons accessing the Bank's external website can get more information on PrivateSectorDevelopment by clicking on Topics in Development and then on Private Sector Development. Bank staff can access this information by clicking on Topics and then on Private Sector.