Four initiatives from the World Bank Group in Brazil were listed among the 100 most innovative projects in the world: Bahia Integrated Health and Water Management, São Paulo Metro – Line 4, and the IFC-supported public-private partnerships for Bahia Suburbio Hospital and Belo Horizonte schools. The recognition was given by KPMG, one of the world’s largest management consultancies.
An independent panel of judges analyzed hundreds of projects against the criteria of scale, feasibility, technical or financial complexity, innovation and impact on society.
"The projects are inspiring in that they use innovative funding models to tackle infrastructure problems and improve the well-being of Brazilians," said Debbie Wetzel, World Bank director for Brazil.
Accountable results
One of such models, called results based financing, will be applied in Bahia’s Integrated Health and Water Management Project, signed last July. Its main goal is to increase access to clean water and sanitation to the population of 10 municipalities, and to improve the quality of neonatal health care in 25 hospitals of the Northeastern state.
“This is a project that pays for results, but only after a third party certifies achievements of interventions aimed at reducing key causes of the state’s infant mortality rate”, explained project manager Fernando Lavadenz.
A different funding model was used for São Paulo Metro – Line 4: a public-private partnership (PPP). “It was the first project in Brazil using a 2004 PPP legislation and one of very few urban rail PPPs in the world. Also, it is a landmark project in terms of urban development”, stated project manager Georges Darido.
When it is fully up and running, in 2013, the line will increase Metro ridership by over 1 million passengers per day, to a total of 4.8 million.
