Argentina

The Buenos Aires Urban Transport Project objectives will be to support the private-public partnership in improving the service quality and coverage of mass transit;... Show More + b) support the infrastructure improvements defined in the concession agreement between the Government and the private sector; c) assist in improving the conditions of traffic safety and environmental quality; and d) help in developing an integrated urban transport system for the AMBA (Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area). The project will comprise a package of actions and investments aimed at the following: a) finance rail equipment and infrastructure; b) promote the integration of the transport system by upgrading transfer stations among rail lines, building better transfer facilities between rail and road-based transport, and generally improving road access to rail stations; c) improve traffic safety and environmental conditions through the construction of grade separations at high-volume crossing, the enhancement of controls at road/rail grade crossings, the development of a complementary program of road safety actions and the introduction of systematic air pollution monitoring; and d) strengthen the institutional framework. Show Less -

The objective of the Flood Projection Project is to improve the security of economic assets and persons living in flood-prone areas by constructing defense facilities... Show More + to reduce future losses due to floods, and by strengthening national and provincial institutions and systems for dealing with future floods as a next phase after the Flood Rehabilitation Project to restore the assets lost in the recent floods. The specific objectives will be to enhance provincial capacity to deal with periodic flooding by upgrading their flood preparedness and mitigation systems, as well as strengthening coordination within the Basin. The project will support the first phase of a two-stage Flood Protection Program. It will include the following components: a) structural measures; and b) non structural measures consisting of a new institutional framework, upgrading of flood preparedness, early flood warning system and project implementation and administration. Show Less -

The objectives of the Native Forests and Protected Areas Project for Argentina are to: a) help the Secretariat of Natural Resources and Human Environment prioritize... Show More + its actions dealing with native forests; b) facilitate the development of an incentive and regulatory framework to encourage decision makers; both public and private, to more fully internalize within their decision making processes the full range of social costs and benefits associated with their decisions and actions affecting native forests; c) develop a plan for transforming the National Parks Administration into a world- class park management organization; and d) increase the environmentally sustainable level of tourism in four national parks. The project will have three components: a) generation and dissemination of research and information consisting of policy, legal and regulatory reform, a national inventory of native forests and establishment and operation of a related database; and applied research and studies to facilitate management and conservation of native forests and protected areas; b) protected areas comprised of the development of a plan for the modernization of the National Parks Administration and specific infrastructure development and management strengthening in four Patagonian Region parks; and c) project implementation. Show Less -

The primary objectives of the Export Support Project are to help increase the international competitiveness of small and medium scale enterprises in Argentina and to... Show More + improve the performance of export-related public agencies, thus facilitating export growth. The project will help firms to become more internationally competitive through three avenues: 1) the project will help increase awareness among entrepreneurs about export opportunities through the provision of basic information about foreign markets and profitable export strategies; 2) the project will prompt a limited number of enterprises to invest their own resources in productivity improvements and export development expenditures through the incentive of a one-time grant to share these costs; and 3) the project will help to improve the performance of agencies providing quality control and certification services. The project will also facilitate export growth by supporting the simplification and reduction of export procedures. It will have two main components: 1) an enterprise assistance program to develop export competencies in the private sector in manufacturing and service industries; and 2) an institutional strengthening to help improve the performance of export-related public agencies. Show Less -

The objectives of the Forestry Development Project will be to contribute to efficient and sustainable growth of forest plantations and timber processing industries,... Show More + to alleviate rural poverty, and to develop a strategy and consensus for addressing the desertification and soil erosion problems in Patagonia. To achieve these objectives, the project will: 1) create a supportive institutional, policy, legal regulatory framework; 2) generate and disseminate information which will enable all actors, both public and private, to contribute to narrowing the gap between actual and potential levels of output from forest plantations and timber processing industries; 3) target directly with technical assistance and grants, groups of small farmers in which the incidence of poverty is high, agroforestry can play a central role in improving farming practices, and, as a consequence, alleviate rural poverty and better protect important resources of nearby native forests; and 4) complete a comprehensive study on the Patagonia Region, focusing on the development of an appropriate role of the state to help prevent soil erosion and destruction of natural habitat. Show Less -

The Higher Education Reform Project will establish a competitive environment for the improvement of higher education and to provide, through a transparent funding mechanism,... Show More + the appropriate incentives for continuous educational efficiency gains and quality enhancement. The project will support the implementation of legal, management and administrative reforms that the Secretariat of University Policy (SUP) has recently initiated in the university system. Thus, the project will have a: (1) institutional strengthening component; and (2) Fund for Enhancement of Educational Quality (Fondo de Mejoramiento de la Calidad, FOMEC) component. Show Less -

The Second Municipal Development Project will contribute to more effective public sector management at the provincial and municipal levels through improved financing... Show More + mechanisms for municipal investments. It will also help attain more effective fiscal federalism by strengthening the municipalities' capacity to assume the responsibilities being transferred to them. The project will: (a) mobilize external and internal resources in a non-deficit and non-inflationary way in order to finance justified municipal investments - particularly those contributing to productive activities; (b) strengthen municipalities' capacity to plan, finance and execute, in an efficient manner, cost-effective capital investment programs, thus assisting them to develop the capacity to eventually finance their investment needs through the private capital markets; and (c) strengthen the institutional capacity of municipalities and provinces to manage their resources more effectively and to increase the efficiency of their systems for delivery of services. Show Less -

The Government of Argentina has undertaken a major reform of economic policy aimed at price stability and sustained economic growth. Measures to focus the state on core... Show More + public functions and raise the efficiency of revenue mobilization have been essential for improving the fiscal fundamentals. Trade liberalization and the deregulation of domestic markets have improved economic efficiency. These reforms have been strongly encouraged and supported by the World Bank. Complementing earlier public sector reforms, the Bank extended two Public Enterprise Reform Adjustment Loans and a Public Sector Reform Loan (1991-92) along with complementary technical assistance loan (1991). The Government is now in the process of reducing the role of public banks and strengthening private banks. To support these reforms the Bank approved the Financial Sector Adjustment Loan (FSAL) in February 1993. This report proposes a Capital Market Development Technical Assistance (CMTAP) Project that will help provide term finance from private sources. The Capital Market Development Project will support a backstop facility (BF) that will offer prime-rated banks an option to sell to the BF medium-term US dollar-dominated bonds which will be issued for the purpose of rolling over prior dollar-denominated bonds that those banks had issued to support their longer term loan for productive purposes. A policy and institutional development program agreed between the Government and the bank will help increase market confidence. A complementary technical assistance loan will finance improvements in the capital market supervision and regulation, including enforcement; training of commercial banks to undertake project financing; and implementation of the new, recently approved pension system. These will help improve the policy framework for the project. This report discusses how the project will facilitate the implementation of the capital market development project in an efficient manner by supporting the creation of new institutions and the strengthening of others, by ensuring the development of more effective capital market regulations. In particular, the TA loan will support the institutional strengthening of the securities market regulatory Comision Nacional de Valores (CNV) -- and the reinforcement of security market regulations; b) the implementation of the pension reform legislation that reforms the social security system which promotes the development of independent pension funds and creates a new supervisory agency; and c) early establishment by private training institutions of an advanced progr improve local skills in the area of term financing for investment projects. The project will finance expenditures -- mainly for hiring consultants -- to assist the Government in the following activities: a) developing of the securities markets; b) implementation of the pension and the new pension funds system; c)) training program for long-term financial intermediation; and d) institutional framework for project implementation. Show Less -

The project will include a four-year tranche of the National Highway Directorate's (DNV's) routine and periodic maintenance, as well as road reconstruction needs. It... Show More + will also include flood emergency works. The project contains a major technical assistance and training sub-component aimed at: (a) strengthening the Secretariat of Public Works and Communications for its important role in establishing policies and goals in the road sector; (b) strengthening DNV, and particulary its regions, for the new role it has to play with regard to supervision of concessions, technical leadership, coordination and support of the impact assessment; (c) improving the capability of the Provincial Highway Directorates (DPVs) to plan, manage and execute roadwork properly; and (d) reinforcing DNV's capabilities in carrying out national programs for traffic safety, control of vehicle weights and dimensions, and other activities of such scope that it is not advisable to assign oversight responsibility to each province. The project also supports the preparation of a Manual on Environmental Assessment of Road Projects to be systematically used in DNV and disseminated to DPVs. The project will provide for acquisition of related equipment, and technical assistance to study alternative options of a proposed transport link between Argentina and Uruguay. Show Less -

The project objectives are to simplify the legal framework for tax administration and strengthen the administration and collection of the General Tax Directorate (DGI).... Show More + The project finances consulting services, training, office refurbishing, equipment and software required by DGI to: (a) review and codify procedural tax laws and regulations to simplify and make coherent existing legislation, develop a legislative database (hardware and software) and train DGI legal staff; (b) expand automated accounting, personnel and other administrative systems in all DGI agencies nationwide, acquire microcomputers and train staff in their use; (c) carry out taxpayer surveys, implement manual and automated systems and train staff to improve the taxpayer services offered by the DGI; (d) install in all agencies the new automated collection systems for large and small taxpayers, acquire equipment, train staff and refurbish DGI offices nationwide; (e) collect internal and external information, develop methodologies and automated tools for fraud detection and train taxpayer auditors in their use; and (f) project administration and auditing. The project consists of five components aimed at improving: (a) the legal framework; (b) administration; (c) taxpayer services; (d) collection systems; and (e) taxpayer auditing. Show Less -