Moldova

The objective of the Emergency Agriculture Support Project for Moldova is to mitigate the negative effects of the 2012 drought by helping to restore corn and wheat ... Show More + production and prevent livestock destocking in the most affected districts. The credit will help finance the costs associated with alleviating the emergency in the country's agriculture sector caused by the 2012 drought. The drought caused extensive losses to the country's field crops, i.e. wheat, sunflower, and particularly corn (for example 60 percent losses in corn production), leading to a shortage of animal feed. Without immediate support to affected farmers the livestock sub-sector will be under significant risk for destocking and loss of capital, with potential long-term negative consequences. The project will help to reduce the risk of destocking by providing conditional cash transfers and technical assistance (awareness and training) to farmers in the most affected districts, so as to maintain their ability to plant spring crops, and particularly corn and wheat. Corn is an especially important crop because pastures are scarce in Moldova, and corn is the main animal feed, both in the form of grain and silage. Corn is also an important staple for Moldovans, as it used in the local diet for the traditional dish called mamaliga. Show Less -

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) requested an extension of the closing date for the Moldova Public Financial Management Technical Assistance Project (PFMTA) for twelve... Show More + months, from December 31, 2012 to December 31, 2013. This will allow for the completion of the Financial Management Information System (FMIS) and achievement of the Project Development Objective (PDO). The new budget classification, chart of accounts, internal audit practices supported by the project can only be fully implemented with the FMIS in place. The implementation of the FMIS will benefit the public financial management (PFM) system of the country and has major implications on the budget support provided by the World Bank, the European Union (EU) and other donors. The high-level commitment of the management of the MoF, as evidenced by appointment of the Deputy Minister as Project Manager in 2012 and improved project management practices, provides a basis for the successful completion of the FMIS in 2013. Given that all the efforts will be directed towards the implementation of the FMIS and that non-FMIS related objectives were achieved, the portion of the IDA credit not related to FMIS development will be cancelled as part of this restructuring. Show Less -

The development objective of the Second Social Investment Fund Project for Moldova is to support the implementation of the national development strategy by empoweri... Show More + ng poor communities and vulnerable population groups to manage their priority needs, and to contribute to employment and wage incomes in selected poor rural communities during the current economic contraction and during the recovery. The changes concern reallocation of proceeds of the first additional financing for the project, which are required to allow the Moldova Social Investment Fund (MSIF) to invest reallocated proceeds into small-scale community infrastructure and, thus, deliver more sub-projects than originally planned. The reallocation reflects the fact that the impact assessment was not undertaken under the first additional financing and will instead be financed from the second additional financing. Furthermore, the project achieved some real cost savings from consulting services, goods and operating costs. The first additional financing agreement will be amended to reflect this. The changes do not affect the project development objective. The MSIF II project performance is rated satisfactory because of well-advanced project implementation and good progress made in achieving project outputs and outcomes. The first additional financing credit of USD5 million supports the rehabilitation of small-scale community infrastructure in villages and small towns, which suffered from 2008 floods on the Prut and Dniester Rivers, and the preparation of community development plans. Show Less -

The objective of the Regional Development and Social Protection Grant Project is to reduce the economic and social disparities among regions. The closing date for t... Show More + he project will be extended from September 30, 2012 to November 16, 2012. A six week extension will allow the project to meet its development objectives and for full disbursements under the roads and Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). This does not require an extension of the completion date of the administrative agreement, which remains December 31, 2012, but an amendment stating that the end dates of activities provided are extended until November 16, 2012. The first two components of the project managed by the Moldova Social Investment Fund (MSIF) have been completed satisfactorily and fully disbursed. This will be the third and last extension. The first in June 2011 was for three months to allow time for the administrative agreement and framework/financing agreement between the Government and EC to be amended. Once the framework agreement was approved, in July 2011, the administrative agreement was extended by one year to December 31, 2012 and the grant agreement to September 30, 2012. There is no possibility of further extension due to the fact that the EC cannot extend the administrative agreement. Show Less -

The main objective of the Quality Education in the Rural Areas of Moldova Project is to increase the quality of education in rural areas in Moldova. This restructur... Show More + ing paper extends the closing date of the Project from May 30, 2012 until October 31, 2012. This will be the Project's second extension for a cumulative period of 29 months. In line with its Project Development Objective (PDO), the Project has continuously contributed to improving the quality of education in the rural areas of Moldova. Since its approval, the Project has steadily moved toward achieving its PDO which has, throughout its lifetime, oscillated between the ratings of moderately satisfactory and satisfactory. The latter has been the rating for the past twelve months. The PDO is measured through the improvements in average learning in rural schools and the reduction in the gap in achievements between rural and urban schools. The Project has, moreover, served as a catalyst in jumpstarting education efficiency reform measures outlined in the Government's Education Reform Program. This five-month extension is being sought in order to avoid a financing gap for the Project as the Additional Financing (AF) of the Project, which was approved by the Board on March 20, 2012, is not expected to be effective before the current closing date of May 30, 2012. The AF will be effective once it is ratified by the Parliament of Moldova which could take up to five months. The original Project was financed through a Grant and a Credit in the amounts of SDR 3.6 million each (US$5 million equivalent, for a total of US$10 million equivalent) to be implemented over a four-year period. The Project was approved on February 14, 2006, and became effective on August 7, 2006. Show Less -

The development objective of the Second Rural Investment and Services Project for Moldova is to provide long-term support to accelerate agricultural recovery and gr... Show More + owth so that Moldova's agricultural and rural sectors can play their full role in providing the underpinnings for future income growth and poverty reduction. The closing date for the project will be extended from June 30, 2012 until June 30, 2013. While the original project was approved in 2006 in the amount of US$16.00 million, The 2008 additional financing was made available following a disastrous 2007 drought that resulted in a nearly 80 percent loss of the country's crops. The resources were provided for targeted investments for the rehabilitation of small-scale on-farm irrigation systems, and for dissemination of knowledge to farmers on techniques for adaptation to drought. The 2009 additional financing was made available to assist the Government of Moldova in staving off the impact of the global economic downturn on the country's rural economy by securing additional long-term credit resources in order to avoid a contraction of commercial lending to rural businesses, at a time when the original project's credit line was nearly fully disbursed. The project continues to make satisfactory progress towards the achievement of the Project Development Objective (PDO). Approximately 85 percent of the overall project resources were disbursed as of March 31, 2012. In light of this, the project was restructured in October, 2011 to expand the eligibility of subprojects eligible for financing under this source from on-farm irrigation equipment only, to financing a wider array of faster-disbursing, rural-based investments eligible under the rural finance component. The extension is necessary to allow for additional time for the absorption of resources from the International Development Association (IDA), under the project's rural finance component, in order to provide additional credit resources to potential beneficiaries in an amount nearing US$4.5 million. The extension will allow the restructuring undertaken in October, 2011 to have a more meaningful effect by covering a full agricultural season. This will be the second extension of the project. The first extension of the closing date from June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2012 was required when the IDA was made available as an additional financing in 2009. Show Less -

The development objective of the Additional Financing for the Quality Education in the Rural Areas of Moldova Project is to assist the Recipient in improving the qu... Show More + ality of education in the rural areas in Moldova. The Additional Financing (AF) will finance supplementary technical assistance critical to ensuring the smooth implementation of the Government of Moldova's education reform program. In the medium term, the bank also envisions a follow-up operation which would continue to support the Government's mandate to improve the quality of education within a more efficient education sector. The AF will support activities that are consistent with the project's development objective and the country partnership strategy. The AF will neither trigger a new safeguard nor change the current environmental category. The project be given an extension of 18 months making the new closing date for the project and this AF November 30, 2013. Show Less -

The Second Energy Project in Moldova, aims to improve the security and reliability of the electricity transmission system, and wholesale electricity supply, and, th... Show More + erefore, facilitate commercial operations of the power system, both domestically and internationally; and in addition, to improve the ability, quality, and efficiency of heating in selected, priority public buildings, schools, hospitals, and residential buildings for the disabled, and other vulnerable groups. This paper seeks your approval to extend the closing date for the project. With the exception of the System Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and telecommunication contract (the largest under the project), all contracts under the electricity component of the project are completed and have contributed to significant improvement of the power transmission network quality indicators. Project completion is behind the implementation schedule, in particular, due to delays in the: (i) implementation of the telecommunication system; (ii) delays in installation of work stations and rectification of relay protection equipment (REF panels) to remove manufacturing defects; and (iii) substation systems installation and testing . The extension is necessary to allow the completion of the final system testing and the operational acceptance under the SCADA and Telecommunication contract. The remaining critical activities, prior to commencing the final system testing, are the completion of installation works and pre-commissioning currently scheduled for December 20, 2011. Show Less -

The revised project development objective is to support the implementation of the national development strategy by empowering poor communities and vulnerable popula... Show More + tion groups to manage their priority needs, and to contribute to employment and wage incomes in selected poor rural communities during the current economic contraction and during the recovery. The Second Moldova Social Investment Fund Project (MSIF II) demonstrates good implementation progress. After having completed the implementation program for the original credit MSIF has disbursed about 80 percent of the (first) additional financing credit and fully committed the part of the credit allocated for subprojects. Implementation of the most recent second additional financing credit of USD20 million has reached a very intense phase. The restructuring is undertaken to amend the provisions in the financing agreement for credit to allow utilization of the Government of Moldova (GoM) list of schools that will not be closed under the schools optimization program as a basis for investing the credit proceeds in school-related subprojects. Show Less -

The objective of the Second Rural Investment and Services Project is to provide long-term support to accelerate agricultural recovery and growth so that Moldova's a... Show More + gricultural and rural sectors can play their full role in providing the underpinnings for future income growth and poverty reduction. The amendment of the financing agreement is to add a new activity under schedule one, project description, namely rural finance. In light of the multiple sources of funding, this particular change (not category reallocation) is necessary to allow for resources currently earmarked only for investments in on-farm irrigation equipment under the drought adaptation component, sub-component one to be used for financing of other types of investments that are eligible under the rural finance component. The extension of the concessionary terms that are currently applicable to irrigation sub-loans (20 percent grant), to loans financing investments in low-till equipment and technology, as requested by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI). These terms will help to stimulate the adoption of conservation agricultural practices. Show Less -