The World Bank Cheesemanburg Landfill and Urban Sanitation Project (P159961) REPORT NO.: RES56775 DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF CHEESEMANBURG LANDFILL AND URBAN SANITATION PROJECT APPROVED ON JUNE 28, 2017 TO THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA URBAN, RESILIENCE AND LAND WESTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA Regional Vice President: Ousmane Diagana Country Director: Pierre Frank Laporte Regional Director: Simeon Kacou Ehui Practice Manager/Manager: Sylvie Debomy Task Team Leader(s): John Stephen Ajalu, Robert Curle Jesse Reid The World Bank Cheesemanburg Landfill and Urban Sanitation Project (P159961) I. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P159961 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 28-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2023 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Project Implementation Unit (PIU) at Monrovia City The Republic of Liberia Corporation (MCC) Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The development objective of this operation is to support increased access to solid waste management (SWM) services in Monrovia. Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed TF-B2864 30-Jun-2020 19-Jul-2020 15-Oct-2020 30-Jun-2023 3.30 2.09 1.21 TF-B2994 30-Jun-2020 19-Jul-2020 19-Jul-2020 30-Jun-2023 6.00 3.48 2.52 TF-A5269 28-Jul-2017 28-Jul-2017 20-Sep-2017 30-Jun-2023 10.50 10.50 0 The World Bank Cheesemanburg Landfill and Urban Sanitation Project (P159961) Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No II. SUMMARY OF PROJECT STATUS AND PROPOSED CHANGES 1. The Project Development Objective (PDO) of this project is to support increased access to solid waste management (SWM) services in Monrovia. This will be achieved by: (i) Construction of the new Cheesemanburg Regional Landfill, Closure of the Whein Town Landfill, and remodeling of the two transfer stations under the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC); (ii) Waste Collection and Disposal, for improved service delivery and acquisition of additional waste management equipment and introduction of a Results-based Financing (RBF) for waste management in Greater Monrovia; and (iii) Institutional Capacity Development and Technical Assistance, including enhanced monitoring and supervision. 2. The restructuring of the Cheesemanburg Landfill and Urban Sanitation (CLUS) Project is required to extend the project closing date by 12 months from June 30, 2023 to June 30, 2024 in order to advance foreseen works and achieve the project's PDO. The proposed restructuring is the second level 2 restructuring for the project (the first level 2 restructuring was approved on June 18, 2020). The cumulative extension period including this proposal would be 48 months. 3. The project is currently rated moderately satisfactory both for overall implementation progress and for progress towards the PDO. As of May 2023, 671,489 tons of waste have been collected against target of 480,000 tons, 1,366,539 beneficiaries (26 percent women) have been provided with access to regular solid waste collection under the project against the target of 1,200,000, but the construction of the Cheesemanburg Landfill is completed 45 percent only against the target of 100 percent. A downgrading is expected in the next Implementation Status and Results Report due to insufficient progress towards the construction of the new landfill, poor performance on safeguards and funding gap challenges. The challenges are expected to be addressed during the period of extension with some agreed actions indicated in Tables 1 and 2 . An agreement has been reached between the Government of Liberia and the World Bank on how to address the funding shortfall and to ensure completion of some critical activities required for the operations of the new landfill. The proposed restructuring is to enable the implementing agency to complete the activities already committed, address the funding constraints and ensure that all the Global Partnership for the Results Based Approaches (GPRBA) grant funds are fully absorbed. Good progress has been made in the procurement of a consortium to undertake the design and construction of the Cheesemanburg landfill, under a design and build arrangement. The consultant has undertaken the necessary studies (topographical studies, hydrogeological studies and geotechnical studies) and prepared a draft detailed design report. The safeguards documents, including the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) Report and the Abbreviated Resettlement Action Plan (ARAP) have been updated accordingly. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia has cleared the ESIA report while the World Bank has reviewed and made some comments which have been addressed and incorporated in the final designs. The ARAP has been cleared for implementation. There are eight project affected persons (PAPs) in the ARAP, of which four had received their compensation while the remaining four will need to receive their cash compensation before the landfill construction commences. The designs are being finalized and the construction program detailed accordingly. Construction is expected to commence as soon as the following are met: (i) ESIA report is cleared by the world Bank and disclosed; (ii) ARAP is fully implemented; and (iii) clearance of a detailed construction The World Bank Cheesemanburg Landfill and Urban Sanitation Project (P159961) schedule by the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) and the World Bank. Ground water testing and monitoring both at the old Whein Town landfill and the new landfill site has been on-going on a quarterly basis. 4. The project experienced some challenges related to COVID-19 pandemic which slowed down the implementation progress and procurement activities, funding shortfall experienced due to unexpected high cost of landfill construction, inadequate and slow release of counterpart funds, low institutional capacity, and slow absorption of the GPRBA performance grants. The Government of Liberia requested for the closing date extension in their letter of June 19, 2023. A full restructuring paper which will elaborate in detail on how the project challenges will be addressed is being prepared and will be brought for approval in July 2023. 5. Requirements of the World Bank Policy and World Bank Directive for Investment Financing Directive for the closing extension have been met, namely: (i) the PDO remains achievable with extension; (ii) the performance of the Recipient is expected to improve based on the performance improvement action plan (see Table 1 below); (iii) the Recipient and the World Bank have agreed on actions that will be undertaken to complete the project (see Table 2); (iv) the grants are not subject to suspension of disbursements; and (v) there are no outstanding audit reports or audit reports that are not satisfactory to the World Bank. Table 1. Recipient’s Performance Improvement Plan (Action/Timeline) (1.) Meet the minimum conditions required for the Cheesemanburg landfill construction to start: a) PIU to finalize the ESIA report incorporating World Bank comments/June 30, 2023 b) World Bank to review and clear the revised ESIA report/July 15, 2023 c) PIU and World Bank to disclose the cleared ESIA Report/July 21, 2023 d) Contractor submits revised master plan and landfill design/July 15, 2023 e) ARAP is fully implemented (Five PAPs are fully compensated)/July 30, 2023 f) Contractor provides revised detailed construction schedule for World Bank approval/July 15, 2023 (2.) Government of Liberia to meet the funding commitments agreed: a) Release US$125,000 for ARAP implementation/June 30, 2023 b) Refund US$2.565 million used for operation and maintenance (O&M) back to project as agreed: o US$1.25 million/June 30, 2023 o US$1.315 million/September 30, 2023 c) Increase O&M funding to US$1.5 million/January 31, 2024 d) Prepare and submit to World Bank a viable five-year financing plan for solid waste management sector/October 31, 2023 (3.) Government of Liberia through the PIU to urgently address the Environmental and Social risks: a) Clear waste from the two transfer stations/July 21, 2023 b) Implement Guidelines for operations of the transfer stations/July 21, 2023 c) Effectively manage waste at the Whein Town landfill (equipment functionality, compaction and covering of waste)/July 15, 2023 d) Pest and leachate control at both transfer stations and Whein Town Landfill/Monthly and Continuous (4.) Strengthen institutional and implementation arrangements: a) Project Steering Committee meeting quarterly to address implementation issues/Starting July 2023 b) Conduct regular project progress meetings with the World Bank/Monthly starting July 2023 The World Bank Cheesemanburg Landfill and Urban Sanitation Project (P159961) Table 2: Project Completion Action Plan (Action/Timeline) Cheesemanburg Landfill 1. Monitoring of the water quality/Quarterly and continuous 2. Prepare a Master Plan for the entire landfill site/July 15, 2023 3. Construct access road to the landfill/November 30, 2023 4. Complete the Phase 1 of the landfill construction/June 30, 2024 Transfer stations 5. Prepare terms of reference for remodeling of the transfer stations/July 15, 2023 6. Update and operationalize guidelines for operation of the transfer stations/July 15, 2023 7. Improve the existing transfer stations in MCC (Fiamah and Stockton Creek)/July 21, 2023 Whein Town Landfill 8. Construct the perimeter boundary wall/June 30, 2023 9. Prepare and operationalize the Whein Town landfill management plan/August 30, 2023 Environmental and Social Safeguards 10. Complete the Livelihood Restoration Plan/June 30, 2023 11. Implement the Environmental and Social Audit Recommendations/October 31, 2023 12. Finalize the Health Assessment Study/October 31, 2023 III. DETAILED CHANGES LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline Ln/Cr/Tf Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications TF-A5269 Effective 30-Jun-2020 30-Jun-2023 30-Jun-2024 30-Oct-2024 TF-B2864 Effective 30-Jun-2023 30-Jun-2024 30-Oct-2024 TF-B2994 Effective 30-Jun-2023 30-Jun-2024 30-Oct-2024