Cambodia

The objective of the Road Asset Management Project for Cambodia is to ensure continued effective use of the rehabilitated national and provincial road network in support... Show More + of the economic development in Cambodia. It will do so by improving the institutional and technical capacity of the ministry of public works and transport for road maintenance planning, budgeting and operations, and by expanding and strengthening maintenance activities. The changes include: (i) a nine month extension of the credit closing date from September 30, 2013 to June 30, 2014 to complete the ongoing project activities; (ii) a re-allocation of the project proceeds based on the disbursement forecasts; and (iii) an adjustment of International Development Association (IDA) road maintenance target. The project is now in a good dynamic to achieve its development goals. The Project Development Objective (PDO) and the overall implementation performance have been rated moderately satisfactory and satisfactory. Show Less -

Following a request from the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), the proposed restructuring will extend the Demand for Good Governance (DFGG) project from March 31,... Show More + 2013 until March 31, 2014. It will also reallocate proceeds across components and categories in order to enhance efforts to reach the Project Development Objective during the extension period. This is the first extension, and is justified as follows: i. Unforeseen events have caused delays in some critical activities. ii. The lesson learning objective of the project will only be partially achieved by the current closing date. iii. The development of partnerships would benefit from more time. iv. Post-project sustainability will be enhanced by supporting institutional transitions. v. Consolidation of monitoring and evaluation - delays in monitoring and evaluation, caused by difficult procurement processes, have been made up in part, but completion of the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) and measurement of results needs additional time. All project implementing agencies have prepared action plans to complete the project by end of March, 2014. No audit reports are currently outstanding and there are no unsatisfactory audit reports. Show Less -

Ratings for the Trade Facilitation and Competitiveness Project for Cambodia were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was... Show More + significant, the Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and the Borrower performance was also moderately satisfactory. Some lessons learned included: the higher risk can sometimes produce higher return; the success of customs automation has led to systemic and institutional changes in the way customs clearance is operated. IT may be a good tool for institutional and structural changes. It can bring about a more transparent and predictable way of conducting transactions which can lead to growth of trade and of the economy. The crucially important factor in this success was the strong ground team, with close and frequent exchanges with the client. The Bank may not want to implement the same type of project in a country where there isn't such a strong field presence. This kind of customs automation/modernization project serves and supports the backbone of the private sector, and Cambodia's national poverty reduction strategy emphases that the private sector is the engine of economic growth. The project responded well to that. It may be useful for other LDCs to learn from that approach. Another lesson was learned when stakeholders in this project accused the Bank of excessive rigidity in its management of procurement, resulting several times in the rejection of all bids. In such cases rebidding delayed implementation by 6-12 months, which has been costly to the Government. Show Less -

The development objective of the Public Financial Management and Accountability Project is to strengthen public financial management by strengthening the: 1) mobilization... Show More + of public resources, 2) management of public resources, 3) management of human resources, and 4) external audit. The closing date for the project will be extended from January 15, 2012 until January 15, 2013. The closing date for the project will be extended from January 15, 2013 until November 15, 2013 with a 4-month disbursement grace period. This extension is necessary to allow the Project to complete key activities being performed by three working groups established to support the preparation and implementation of the Financial Management Information System (FMIS) that focus on line accountability, accounting standards, and budget execution. Other activities include the finalization of the uniform account code structure (posting rules); IPSAS cash basis implementation; and budget entity implementation for the 2013 budget. While the extension period will not be long enough to finance the FMIS contract (which will be financed under a new trust fund, Public Financial Management Trust Fund), it will support all activities related to the system procurement. In addition, the requested extension will provide essential resources to undertake (i) on-the-job training and capacity development, and (ii) change management and communications related activities to support implementation of the reforms. These include (but not limited to) the uniform account code-structure, the implementation of the budget entity reforms, and the implementation of newly established district (and Khan) funds both at the central and provincial levels. Finally, the extension will allow the completion of the contract for the services of the International Procurement Agent. The borrower has in place an action plan to complete the project. This will be the second extension of the project and a cumulative extension of 22 months. Show Less -