Page 1 REVISED PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) CONCEPT STAGE Report No.: AB1873 Project Name Rural Access and Mobility Project Phase 1 - Kaduna State (RAMP1) Region AFRICA Sector Roads and highways (100%) Project ID P072644 Borrower(s) THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA Implementing Agency Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Environment Category [ ] A [X] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined) Date PID Prepared December 21, 2005 Estimated Date of Appraisal Authorization July 10, 2006 Estimated Date of Board Approval January 9, 2007 1. Key development issues and rationale for Bank involvement The Nigeria Rural Development Sector Strategy (2001) confirmed that the rural sector is central to Nigeria's development strategy. The sector employs nearly half of the country's labor force, generates one third of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and accounts for about five percent of its total export. However, the strategy found that over the past four decades, government interventions have not yielded desirable results. About 70% of the rural population remain poor, rural incomes are lower than they were twenty years ago, agricultural exports are almost nonexistent, rural infrastructure lag behind that of urban, capacities of local governments decreased, and production techniques remained rudimentary despite significant efforts aimed at their development and market institutions have yet to be firmly established. The document concluded that a broad based approach to agricultural growth and rural development is needed to holistically address these issues and to provide a solid base for improved growth and poverty reduction in rural Nigeria. Nigerian rural areas lack the enabling infrastructure needed for both the transformation of rural space and the enhancement of productivity and welfare of their dwellers. This deficiency is one of the major constraints to rural development which contributes to significantly accelerating lack of access, reducing mobility and increasing impoverishment. The development of the Nigeria Rural Development Strategy was complemented by a similar effort to develop policies and strategies to remove constraints imposed by inadequate access and mobility in rural areas. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) is currently finalizing this policy, called the National Rural Travel and Transport Policy (NRTTP) founded on the following principles: Page 2 (i) Transport is viewed as a system, composed of different elements, but with a strong interrelationship between them; therefore, treating specific transport problems in isolation is inadequate – without paths/tracks, the community roads will bypass villages and farms; without the rural feeder roads the truck roads will bypass community/trading centers, and without the truck roads, rail lines and ports exchange of goods at the national and international level cannot take place. Thus, all levels of the transport system complement one another. (ii) Transport is a service, a derived demand, which has to respond to the needs of the sectors that generate the need for transport. The key objective for transport is to cost-effectively help other sectors achieve their objectives. Therefore, more emphasis is required on inter- sectoral collaboration in framing interventions. (iii) There is a need for much more realistic assessment of resources that are available and likely to be available in the foreseeable future and a greater emphasis on the need to maintain and use existing and to provide for new ones only where justifiable and to do so using appropriate selection, design and construction methods; and (iv) Good governance is critical to effective delivery of services at the grass roots level to promote equity in the distribution of resources within society. The government therefore places a high premium on openness, transparency and accountability, probity and effective leadership in the implementation of the policy. This view is supported in the Government’s National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS) of individual States. The Kaduna State SEEDS (KADSEEDS) has the following objectives each with a strong rural development focus: (i) Reforming Government and Institutions (ii) Promoting of private sector growth, and (iii) Implementation of a Social Charter for Empowering People. These objectives also form the basis of the Bank’s support in Nigeria. Two of the three development pillars of the Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), Improved Environment and services for Non-oil Growth, and, Enhanced Transparency and Accountability for better governance, are very relevant. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) is also developing a comprehensive Rural Travel and Transport Program (RTTP) to implement the policy. Phase 1 will focus on 18 States with the next Phase focusing on the remainder. The Government of Nigeria, through FMARD, requested the Bank’s assistance both to meet the immediate and short term funding needs for the implementation of RTTP Phase I (RTTP1), aimed at improving rural access and mobility on the Local and State Government levels. It is a comprehensive based on Federal-level coordination and initiation and State-level implementation. It covers the improvement and maintenance of rural transport infrastructure, the introduction and support of rural transport services as well as support for the introduction of modern road network management practices and institutional reform. Page 3 The objectives of RTTP1 and the KADSEEDS are complimentary. The target of the RTTP1 within each State is as follows: (a) Implementation of the required road network upgrading/ rehabilitation and maintenance activities in selected geographical areas under performance-based contracting principles. (b) Carry out institutional reforms of relevant Agencies to ensure improved service delivery in line with the objectives of NEEDS/SEEDS. (c) Undertake capacity building measures such as training of personnel, providing for axle load control, development of a Road Maintenance System (RMS), modernize existing management information system (MIS), enhancing road safety, etc. (d) Improve/introduce and support rural transport services to ensure sustainable access to such services by rural populations. These would include both established villages and farming communities. The proposed project would also complement the objectives of the Federal Roads Development Project (FRDP), currently under preparation. Indeed, this level of coordination would ensure that maximum benefit is achieved with the support to improve the conditions of the Nigerian road network. Such coordination would be achieved in the proposed project with the Abuja-Kaduna- Kano Federal road identified for improvement under the FRDP and the rural road network in Kaduna State identified for improvement under this project. In this way the rural growth objectives spelled out in KADSEEDS, especially agricultural development and improving access between farms and markets would be directly supported. There is very little donor engagement in the sector with only the African Development Bank currently involved in project preparation activities in Cross River State. DFID is currently winding up similar project activities in Ekiti State. This project should be seen as an opportunity to develop coordination amongst the potential donors and with Government. Current Donor Engagement There is very little donor engagement in the sector in general. The two current partners are the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Department for International Development (DFID). The ADB has been in partnership with the Bank during past and ongoing project preparation activities. Both the Bank’s and the ADB’s support will form an integral part of the RTTP. Project coordination will be undertaken by the same Federal Coordination Unit while the state-support will be designed so that each Bank support States separately. The ADB is currently focusing on Cross River State. DFID is currently winding up similar project activities in Ekiti State. This project should be seen as an opportunity to develop coordination amongst the potential donors and with Government. Road Sector Reform Perspective: Nigeria launched a reform process in 1995 involving (i) the creation of a Road Fund to provide a stable and sustainable basis for road maintenance; (ii) increased participation of the private sector in the financing and management of the road network. These initiatives are taken further under the proposed FRDP and the recommendations of these studies would be included as part of the road reform on State level. Page 4 Kaduna State also created the Kaduna State Public Works Agency (KAPWA) to improve service delivery in the road maintenance sub-sector. Government recognizes that the reform to date is insufficient to ensure efficient road management and maintenance on a state-wide basis with much orientation and capacity building still to be done. There is also still need for considerable discussion on developing strategies to implement sustainable road financing for the state-wide road network. States to be supported will be encouraged to set up State Road Authorities (SRA) to better coordinate road management and planning. Where this is the case, this agency will replace the planned SPIU and will become the principal implementer of the project activities within the State. It will provide technical support to local governments in their road network development and planning functions. This agency will work with other agencies as necessary to ensure effective coordination and implementation of project activities at the local government and community levels. It will also provide the interface for communities and civic organizations participating in the project. Road Infrastructure Perspective: In Nigeria, a major hindrance to sustained growth and poverty reduction is the poor state of social and physical infrastructure. These facilities are inadequate and poorly maintained. In the case of roads, according to the Transport Sector Reform Implementation Committee (TSRC) 2002 Report, the 193,200 km (2000) Nigerian road network resulting into a road density of 209 km per 1000 sq km and 1.61 km per 1000 population is still below the average of 2.8 and 1.61 respectively for West Africa in 1980. The road network consists of 32,100 km (Federal Roads), 30,500 km (State Roads) and 130,600 km (Rural Roads). The core problem of the road sector in Nigeria is the almost complete lack of maintenance at all levels (federal, state and local government), and the absence of a rational planning and road investment system based on economic criteria. This has led, and is still leading, to wastage of resources and to an erosion of the investments made in the road sector. This situation causes huge costs to the economy in terms of additional vehicle operating and road rehabilitation costs. Resulting total costs to the economy have been estimated at 150 billion Naira per annum, or 3.5% of GDP. Under the community driven development (CDD) pillar the Bank is currently executing or preparing a number of interventions directed at local government and community levels e.g. Community Based Poverty Reduction Project; LEEMP, and Fadama II. It is likely that a substantial share of such investments will be allocated to the rehabilitation and construction of community roads. Based on past experience in Nigeria and experience elsewhere, however, it is feared that roads constructed with the above financing instruments will not be sustainable unless at least the following conditions are fulfilled: (i) A clear road sector policy and strategy is formulated defining in particular ownership and management arrangements. Page 5 (ii) Sustainable channels for central-to-local transfer of adequate funding for maintenance on a permanent basis are established. (iii) Capacity for the management of these roads is created. Creating such capacity, however, at the decentralized levels is hardly efficient, and provision of management services through the private sector and higher level government is required. States are considered to be the appropriate level for the creation of road management capacity. While ownership of the various networks (federal, state, local government) remains with the respective governments, management of these networks (and particularly maintenance) has been delegated to high capacity state level road agencies. In the context of the former Multi-State Roads Projects in Nigeria, the State Highway Departments proved to be efficient implementing agencies, after provision of adequate training and technical assistance. Their key constraint was inadequate maintenance financing. These State Highway Departments could provide the nucleus for the capacity building effort in the proposed state based rural roads project. State , Local Government and Community roads traversing rural areas are crucial in the delivery of livelihood activities of rural dwellers. The State road network consists of major roads linking towns and villages with state headquarters. Local Government roads integrate the rural production areas with the Local Government Headquarters, markets and consumption centers. Community roads are the last links between Local Government roads and individual farms, homesteads and small production areas, usually constructed to non-engineered standards and maintained by communities. This combined road network is generally of gravel or earth road standard and are narrow and circuitous as they try to avoid steep gradients and deep valleys and are mostly only seasonally usable. It is estimated at 130,000 km and is important for national development in general and social and agricultural development in particular. Since 1980s, the Federal Government has financed construction and rehabilitation of rural roads through the World Bank assisted Agricultural Development Projects; the National Food Program of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) program; and the 1993 Petroleum Trust Fund, created to collect tax and user charges on petroleum products for improving key economic and social infrastructure. However, in planning road construction associated with these initiatives, inadequate provision was made for their maintenance. Over the years therefore, the road network has suffered from inadequate routine maintenance, neglect of periodic maintenance and the absence of emergency maintenance in areas affected by flood, storms and other natural calamities. The poor state of the roads has led to high vehicle operating costs and unreliable, unsafe and unaffordable road transport operations. By 2001, over 90,000 km of rural roads was estimated as needing rehabilitation implying an investment of US$1.8 billion at about US$20,000 per km. In summary, the key issues in rural transport are poor coordination from the center, inadequate funding and capacity to plan, design, and supervise execution of works at the state and local government levels and the inadequate inclusion of communities and civil society in decision- making. These may more specifically be formulated into the following four key strategic issues for the rural travel and transport sector: Page 6 (i) How to develop adequate and sustainably maintained rural transport infrastructure; (ii) How to develop sustainable cost effective and efficient rural transport services; (iii) How to reduce the time and effort spent by household on carrying out transport activities; and (iv) How to optimize the contribution of rural transport actions to poverty reduction. Rationale for Bank Involvement: The Bank and the Rural Travel and Transport Program (RTTP) of the Sub Saharan Transport Policy Program (SSATP) have been assisting Nigeria for some time to develop a sound rural transport policy. This exercise has been done with wide stakeholder consultation. The Bank therefore has a holistic knowledge of the issues that need to be addressed by the project and interacted with a broad stakeholder group. Moreover, the Bank has been involved in similar projects in other countries where it has taken the lead. In addition, the Bank is often seen by the countries and their other development partners as best positioned to assist in the broad mobilization of needed resources and provision of technical guidance during implementation. In the particular case of Nigeria, through its other projects impacting upon rural development, the Bank would be able to facilitate through this project the holistic approach to rural transformation which underlies the government' rural development strategy. 2. Proposed objective The development objective of the proposed project is to support the improvement of rural access and mobility by a. Providing improved all-weather access road networks to, and, in, selected and prioritized rural development areas and b. Supporting the institutional reform in the transport sector in the State to improve management of the State-wide road network. The final indicators will be agreed on during pre-appraisal, but may include as output indicator the number of kilometers of improved access roads and as outcome indicators, amongst others, the savings in travel time resulting from the planned interventions, the decrease in rural transport cost due to the actual interventions measured as actual cost to farmers and the increase in rural population living within 2.5 km of all weather access roads. 3. Preliminary description The project will support the draft RTTP 1 and will have a strong focus on the provision and maintenance of all weather access road networks in the respective States. This support will be based on the RTTP-approach to improve these networks. It proposes a division of each State in geographical areas based on current and future rural development and poverty reduction potential. This assessment will take into account the impact of current development projects, e.g. Page 7 FADAMA II. Interventions in the separate geographical areas are then phased according to rural development and poverty reduction potential with those areas having the highest priority being the first to be selected. RTTP1 then proposes that those road networks giving access to and within the prioritized geographical areas should first be improved/rehabilitated and then maintained for at least four years as a complete network. This approach would provide the necessary longer term support required for sustainable rural development like agricultural development. RAMP 1 will support this initiative through long term performance based contracts including both rehabilitation/improvement and maintenance activities. During project preparation studies will be undertaken to also include the improvement of parts of the access road network with labor-based methods. An added motivation for the network approach is that the Bank-support can introduce longer term road maintenance contracts and that similar contracts for other geographical areas could follow entirely funded from State and Local Government contributions. 4. Safeguard policies that might apply Environmental Assessment (OP /BP 4.01) will apply to all the works planned under this credit. The project activities concern works on existing roads and will include upgrading (to allow for increased traffic volume), rehabilitation, periodic maintenance and routine maintenance. An Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) will be developed and disclosed at appraisal. Detailed environmental assessments would be done for all project activities during the design stage and disclosed before works commences. Involuntary Resettlement (OP /BP 4.12) may only apply to areas where the upgrading activities will include the resettlement of people that either moved onto or use space in the right of way. A Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) would be developed and disclosed at appraisal. This would be used to manage all resettlement mitigation as they are identified during detailed design of the works. Natural Habitats (OP /BP 4.04) will be marked as TBD pending confirmation from ESMF that that this policy will not be triggered. 5. Tentative financing Source: ($m.) BORROWER/RECIPIENT 10 INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION 50 Total 60 Page 8 6. Contact point Contact: Ben Gericke Title: Team Leader Tel: (202) 437 6092 Fax: Email: bgericke@worldbank.org