39861

PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID)

APPRAISAL STAGE

Report No.:

Project Name / Natural Disaster Mitigation - Additional Scale Up Financing
Region / Latin America and the Caribbean
Sector / Flood protection (70%); Sub-national government administration (30%)
Project ID / P105386
Borrower(s) / REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS
Implementing Agency
Environment Category / [ ] A [X] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD B
Date PID Prepared / May 09, 2007
Estimated Date of Appraisal Authorization / May 04, 2007
Estimated Date of Board Approval / June 21, 2007
  1. Key development issues and rationale for Bank involvement

In 1998, the devastating effects of Hurricane Mitch brought public attention, in a dramatic way, to the need to take action to reduce vulnerability to disasters in Honduras. As part of a concerted effort, the Government of Honduras (GOH) requested assistance from the World Bank, and an IDA Credit (3361-HO), in the amount of SDR 8.10 million (US$10.82 million equivalent) was approved on May 3, 2000 to support the Natural Disaster Mitigation Project. The project was formally restructured in August 2004, and its Project Development Objective (PDO) redefined as improving the capacity of the Borrower to reduce its vulnerability to natural disasters at the municipal level. This restructuring allowed broadening the project’s scope beyond technical assistance to include financing of small scale mitigation works in eligible municipalities, and providing capacity building to a larger number of municipalities than originally planned. It should be noted that an eligible municipality, as defined in the Development Credit Agreement (DCA), is one of 60 located in an area subject to floods and landslides, and selected by the Borrower on the basis of criteria agreed in the Project’s Operational Manual.

Project implementation arrangements will be adjusted under the additional financing to reflect the new institutional framework for disaster risk management in Honduras, and GOH's commitment to institutionalize the disaster risk management activities promoted under the project. As such both the technical and financial administration teams (UTC and GAAEX respectively) will be incorporated into Honduras' Permanent Commission for Contingencies (COPECO) which will be in charge of project implementation

The Government is committed to continuing this effort, especially considering that the country’s historical vulnerability is increasing as a result of climate trends which are linked to a greater number of high-impact storms. Accordingly, GOH has requested the World Bank additional financing of US$7 million equivalent to scale up activities to enhance the development impact of the Natural Disaster Mitigation Project, particularly regarding investments in mitigation measures at the local level.

  1. Proposed objective(s)

Within the scope of the restructured Project Development Objective, the additional financing would enhance project impact by: (a) strengthening national government’s institutional disaster risk management capacity; (b) enhancing technical capacity to gather, share and disseminate knowledge concerning natural disasters; and (c) building local capacity to assess hazards and vulnerability, identify mitigation measures, and prepare and respond to emergency situations.

  1. Preliminary description

Proposed activities to be supported by the additional financing would fall under the original project components as follows: Under Component A (Monitoring, Forecasting, Early Warning and Geographical System-based Information Management), the project would support the further improvement of the integrated national flood forecasting and warning and decision support system, as well as improvement of national capacity to manage information on droughts and landslides. Under Component B (Strengthening of National Capacity to Support Emergency Response at the Municipal Level) the project would support identification of emergency equipment needs, and establishment of an emergency assistance system. Under Component C (Building Capacity in Disaster Mitigation at the Municipal Level), the project would support development of a national database on municipal vulnerability to disasters, carrying out of disaster risk analysis in eligible municipalities, and investments in mitigation measures, including feasibility and engineering studies, design and civil works. Implementation of the new activities would take approximately three years.

Project implementation arrangements will be adjusted under the additional financing to reflect the new institutional framework for disaster risk management in Honduras, and GOH’s commitment to institutionalize the disaster risk management activities promoted under the project. As such both, the technical and financial administration teams (UTC and GAAEX respectively) will be incorporated into Honduras’ Permanent Commission for Contingencies (COPECO) which will be in charge of project implementation.

  1. Safeguard policies that might apply

The proposed activities are not expected to change the environmental category of the project, which is currently B. Only OP/BP 4.01 (Environmental Assessment) is expected to be triggered. As has been the case so far, mitigation works are not expected to have negative environmental impacts and will not include any investments described in the negative list agreed with the Borrower and included in the current Development Credit Agreement (DCA). Continuing with the ongoing requirement under the project, no mitigation work will receive financing until it has been given a written clearance from the Social Investment Fund of Honduras (FHIS) confirming that such work is environmentally sound.

  1. Tentative financing

Source: / ($m.)
Borrower / 0
International Development Association (IDA) / 9
Total / 9
  1. Contact point

Contact: Tova M. Solo

Title: Sr. Urban Specialist / Sr. Disaster Management Specialist

Tel: (202) 473-4760

Fax:

Email:

wb50111

L:\Tova\Tova's Personal Docs\Tova's Work Docs\Honduras\supplemental\DraftPMDNIIPID.doc

03/28/2007 3:36:00 PM