Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No: ICR00004935 IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT IDA H7870 ON A GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 57.9 MILLION (US$ 90 MILLION EQUIVALENT) TO THE REPUBLIC OF COTE D’IVOIRE FOR THE SECOND PHASE PROJECT OF THE ABIDJAN-LAGOS TRADE AND TRANSPORT FACILITATION PROGRAM December 18, 2019 Transport Global Practice Africa Region CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective March 29, 2019) Currency Unit = CFAF 1 CFAF 586.66 = US$1 US$ 1.38 = SDR 1 FISCAL YEAR July 1 - June 30 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AfDB African Development Bank AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ALCO Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization ALTTFP Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program APC Abidjan Port Community APD Rapport d’Etude Economique de l’Avant Projet Detaille APL Adaptable Program Loan BNETD Bureau National d'Etudes Technique et de Développement CAS Country Assistance Strategy CPF Country Partnership Framework CPS Country Partnership Strategy ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States EIRR Economic Internal Rate of Return EMP Environmental Management Plan ESMP Environmental Safeguards Management Plan EU European Union FER Road Maintenance Fund (Fonds d’Entretien Routier) FM Financial Management FY Fiscal Year GBV Gender Based Violence GoCI Government of Côte d’Ivoire GUCE Computerized port single window (guichet unique) HDM Highway Development and Management Model HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus ICR Implementation Completion and Results Report IDA International Development Association IDF Institutional Development Fund IEG Independent Evaluation Group IRI International Roughness Index ISR Implementation Status and Results Report JBP Joint Border Posts LVB Land Valuation Board MEF Ministry of Economy and Finance M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MRH Ministry of Roads and Highways MOU Memorandum of Understanding MU Moderately Unsatisfactory NFC National Facilitation Committee NPV Net Present Value OFT Observatory for Transport Fluidity of Côte d’Ivoire (OFT - “Observatoire de la Fluidité des Transports”) OI Outcome Indicator OPRC Operational Procurement Review Committee PACIR Project of Support to the Competitiveness and the Regional Integration PAD Project Appraisal Document PAMOSET Transport Sector Modernization and Corridor Trade Facilitation Project PAP Project-affected Person PDO Project Development Objective PIU Project Implementation Unit PRICI Emergency Infrastructure Renewal Project PLR Performance Learning Review RAP Resettlement Action Plan REC Regional Economic Community RIAS Regional Integration Assistance Strategy RMU Regional Monitoring Unit RRTTFP Regional Road Transport and Transit Facilitation Program SSA Sub-Saharan Africa VOC Vehicle Operations Costs WCO World Customs Organization WAEMU West African Economic and Monetary Union Regional Vice President: Hafez M. H. Ghanem Country Director: Coralie Gevers Regional Director: Riccardo Puliti Practice Manager: Nicolas Peltier-Thiberge Anne Cecile Sophie Souhaid, Marc Marie Francois Task Team Leader(s): Navelet Noualhier ICR Main Contributor: Monica Augustina Cristina Moldovan TABLE OF CONTENTS DATA SHEET .......................................................................................................................... 1 I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES ....................................................... 6 A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL .........................................................................................................6 B. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES DURING IMPLEMENTATION (IF APPLICABLE) ..................................... 12 II. OUTCOME .................................................................................................................... 13 A. RELEVANCE OF PDOs ............................................................................................................ 13 B. ACHIEVEMENT OF PDOs (EFFICACY) ...................................................................................... 14 C. EFFICIENCY ........................................................................................................................... 17 D. JUSTIFICATION OF OVERALL OUTCOME RATING .................................................................... 19 E. OTHER OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS (IF ANY) ............................................................................ 19 III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME ................................ 21 A. KEY FACTORS DURING PREPARATION ................................................................................... 21 B. KEY FACTORS DURING IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................. 22 IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME .. 23 A. QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) ............................................................ 23 B. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE ..................................................... 24 C. BANK PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................................... 25 D. RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME ....................................................................................... 27 V. LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................. 28 ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS ........................................................... 30 ANNEX 2. BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION ......................... 37 ANNEX 3. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT ........................................................................... 39 ANNEX 4. EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS ........................................................................................... 40 ANNEX 5. BORROWER, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS ... 45 ANNEX 6. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS .................................................................................. 50 ANNEX 7. ALTTFP APL1 AND APL2 MAP ............................................................................... 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) DATA SHEET BASIC INFORMATION Product Information Project ID Project Name Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - P116323 APL-2 Country Financing Instrument Western Africa Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Revised EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Organizations Borrower Implementing Agency PFCTCAL Project Implementation Unit- Ministry of Ministry of Economy and Finance, Republic of Cote Economic Infrastructure, ALCO - Secretariat Executif de d’Ivoire l'Organisation du Corridor Abidjan-Lagos Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The objective of the Project is to reduce trade and transport barriers in the port and on the roads along the Corridor in the Recipient's territory. Page 1 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) FINANCING Original Amount (US$) Revised Amount (US$) Actual Disbursed (US$) World Bank Financing 90,000,000 90,000,000 80,437,236 IDA-H7870 Total 90,000,000 90,000,000 80,437,236 Non-World Bank Financing 0 0 0 Borrower/Recipient 58,000,000 58,000,000 39,909,911 Total 58,000,000 58,000,000 39,909,911 Total Project Cost 148,000,000 148,000,000 120,347,147 KEY DATES Approval Effectiveness MTR Review Original Closing Actual Closing 31-May-2012 16-Oct-2012 30-Jun-2018 29-Mar-2019 RESTRUCTURING AND/OR ADDITIONAL FINANCING Date(s) Amount Disbursed (US$M) Key Revisions 13-Jun-2017 61.16 Change in Implementing Agency Change in Components and Cost Reallocation between Disbursement Categories Change in Disbursements Arrangements Change in Institutional Arrangements 24-Apr-2018 71.15 Change in Loan Closing Date(s) KEY RATINGS Outcome Bank Performance M&E Quality Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Substantial Page 2 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) RATINGS OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN ISRs Actual No. Date ISR Archived DO Rating IP Rating Disbursements (US$M) 01 26-Dec-2012 Satisfactory Satisfactory 1.41 02 09-Jul-2013 Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 2.65 03 05-Jan-2014 Satisfactory Unsatisfactory 3.17 04 27-May-2014 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 3.41 05 24-Dec-2014 Satisfactory Satisfactory 17.17 06 18-Jun-2015 Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 21.52 07 22-Feb-2016 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 39.38 Moderately 08 23-Jan-2017 Highly Unsatisfactory 58.00 Unsatisfactory 09 30-Jun-2017 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 61.25 10 09-Nov-2017 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 64.09 11 22-Jun-2018 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 74.82 12 22-Jan-2019 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 76.35 SECTORS AND THEMES Sectors Major Sector/Sector (%) Transportation 92 Rural and Inter-Urban Roads 89 Ports/Waterways 3 Industry, Trade and Services 8 Public Administration - Industry, Trade and Services 6 Trade 2 Page 3 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Themes Major Theme/ Theme (Level 2)/ Theme (Level 3) (%) Economic Policy 50 Trade 50 Trade Facilitation 50 Private Sector Development 35 Jobs 12 Job Creation 12 Public Private Partnerships 10 Regional Integration 13 Human Development and Gender 2 Disease Control 2 Non-communicable diseases 2 Urban and Rural Development 24 Urban Development 12 Urban Infrastructure and Service Delivery 12 Rural Development 12 Rural Infrastructure and service delivery 12 ADM STAFF Role At Approval At ICR Regional Vice President: Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili Hafez M. H. Ghanem Country Director: Madani M. Tall Coralie Gevers Director: Jamal Saghir Riccardo Puliti Practice Manager: Supee Teravaninthorn Nicolas Peltier-Thiberge Anne Cecile Sophie Souhaid, Task Team Leader(s): Anca Cristina Dumitrescu Marc Marie Francois Navelet Noualhier Monica Augustina Cristina ICR Contributing Author: Moldovan Page 4 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Page 5 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL Context 1. In 2012, the Abidjan-Lagos corridor handled more than two-thirds of trade, transport, and transit activities in West Africa. This coastal corridor linked some of the largest and economically dynamic cities in Africa - Abidjan, Accra and Lagos - and served a population catchment area of over 35 million people. Moreover, it fulfilled two main functions in the sub-region: (i) it linked the main cities and neighboring countries (e.g. Lagos in Nigeria to Cotonou in Benin; Lomé in Togo to Accra in Ghana, etc.), with at least two thirds of the total traffic having an origin/destination from/to the neighboring country; (ii) it was a global gateway to coastal and landlocked countries in West Africa, with all landlocked countries (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) using at least one port along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor.1 2. The Regional Road Transport and Transit Facilitation Program (RRTTFP) had identified the coastal corridor as one of the highest priority corridors for economic and social development in the subregion. The program for the facilitation of road transport and transit had been adopted since 2003 by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). It promoted inter- regional trade and facilitation of cross-border movement along the following three corridors: (i) the trans-coastal corridor Lagos – Nouakchott, (ii) the Dakar-N'Djamena "trans-Sahelian" corridor, and (iii) the "coastal" corridor Abidjan - Lagos. 3. The combination of poor road transport infrastructure and non-infrastructure related factors were increasingly recognized as the key issues impacting transport costs and prices on all of the major West African road corridors. In addition to the physical obstacles generated by the poor condition of road, regional trade in West Africa was characterized by numerous obstacles to the free movement of goods and passengers such as: (a) a high number of authorized and unauthorized controls, checkpoints and road blocks; (b) long, costly and non-harmonized customs procedures; (c) lack of or insufficient automated customs procedures and inadequate equipment at border posts; (d) smuggling and corruption largely generated by restrictive trade policies; and (e) poor security and travel safety on portions of the corridor. 4. The Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program (ALTTFP) represented one of the first-generation regional corridor projects. It was prepared as part of a broader regional initiative of the World Bank Group and other donors, in response to the priorities articulated by ECOWAS and its member countries. Its design considered the complementary support provided by other multilateral and bilateral development partners to the West Africa region in preparing programs supporting regional integration, transport, and trade facilitation on the corridor. 1 Traders in West Africa would sometimes change the port of exit/entry, and segments of the corridor were used when a problem arised on a given route (e.g. the ports of Tema and Takoradi in Ghana were extensively used during the two periods of crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, for goods shipped to Burkina Faso and Mali). Page 6 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) 5. The common desire of Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria to pool efforts and harmonize procedures had led to signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Accra in September 2007. This provided the general framework for the trade facilitation dialogue policy and regional integration for the five countries crossed by the coastal Abidjan - Lagos corridor. There was a strong regional commitment at project appraisal in 2012, with over US$1.7 billion of on-going parallel financing by donors on the Abidjan-Lagos corridor in general, and planned financing for Côte d'Ivoire (e.g. IFC trade facilitation assessment; corridor road sections rehabilitation by China EXIMBANK; West Africa Trade Hub transport observatory). 6. Although the ALTTFP was designed to include the five countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria) along the 1,088 km road corridor, at the time of appraisal not all were ready for implementation. The program was therefore broken down into two phases depending on the countries’ readiness and specific conditions and needs: (i) the first phase - ALTTFP Adaptable Program Loan (APL1, P096407) included the project in Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The ALTTFP APL1 was approved by the World Bank Board on March 23, 2010; it became effective on December 22, 2010 in Ghana, on August 6, 2010 in Togo, and on September 24, 2010 in Benin. The project closed on September 30, 2016 in Togo and on June 30, 2017 in Ghana and Benin. It comprised two International Development Association (IDA) credits of SDR 74.6 million to Ghana (US$120 million equivalent), SDR 46.6 million to Benin (US$75 million equivalent), and one IDA grant of SDR 20.5 million (US$33 million equivalent) to Togo. The ALTTFP APL1 closed on September 30, 2016 in Togo and on June 30, 2017 in Ghana and Benin. (ii) the second phase - ALTTFP APL2 (P116323) included the complementary project in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. In Côte d’Ivoire, the elections of early 2011 exposed and amplified divisions within Ivorian society, and led to a suspension of IDA operations in 2010 - 2011. The ALTTFP APL2 was approved by the World Bank Group Board on May 31, 2012; it became effective on October 16, 2012 and closed on March 29, 2019. It comprised an IDA grant of SDR 57.9 million (US$90 million equivalent) and counterpart funding of US$58 million. The Nigeria component did not materialize, although the country remained engaged in the implementation of the Accra MOU of 2007. Nigeria expected a larger project scope, which the Government intended to finance on its own, but it did not concretize due to the lack of resources. 7. The ALTTFP also responded to some remaining issues identified by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) / Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Action Plan for the Abidjan-Lagos corridor defined under the IDA- supported HIV/AIDS Regional Project (closed in 2007), and was fully aligned with the priority support areas identified under the Country Assistance Strategies (CAS) for the project countries and the Regional Integration Assistance Strategy (RIAS) for Sub-Saharan Africa endorsed by the World Bank Group Board on March 11, 2008. 8. ALTTFP APL1 fully achieved its objectives2. At project closing in 2017, the APL1 reduced port dwell time along the corridor: (i) Lomé port dwell time decreased by 50 percent (from 18 days to 9 days), and (ii) Cotonou port dwell time decreased by over 26 percent (from 19 days to 14 days). Moreover, it reduced the average border crossing time along the corridor: (i) by 17 percent (from 24 to 20 hours) between Ghana and Ivory Coast, (ii) by 58 percent (from 24 to 10 hours) between Togo and Benin; and (iii) by 35 percent (from 48 to 31 hours) between Benin and Nigeria. The APL1 increased efficiency and transparency of customs documents processing, by having the computerized “single window” established and fully operational in both Lomé (Togo) since 2016 and Cotonou (Benin) since 2015. The project led to a significant reduction in number of roadblocks along the corridor: from 2 As presented in the Implementation Completion and Results Report (ICR) for the ALTTFP APL1; Report No: ICR00004248. Page 7 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) an average of 10 roadblocks per every 100 km to about 3 official checkpoints per every 100 km, and financed intensive awareness and prevention campaigns against HIV/AIDS at ports and land borders. The road condition along the corridor improved from 71 percent to 77 percent (through 135 km of rehabilitated roads) attributed to the APL1 project. 9. This Implementation Completion and Results Report (ICR) focuses solely on the ALTTFP APL2 Project . Theory of Change (Results Chain) 10. The ALTTFP - APL2 reflected the theory of change presented in Figure 1. As the second phase of the ALTTFP, the results chain for the APL2 was aligned with the one that had been approved for the entire program through the APL 1 in 2010. The key underlying assumptions on which the project envisaged to capitalize on were: a. for the Component A which focused on trade facilitation: the strong political commitment of the government to enforce simplified customs procedures, participate in high-level discussions on corridor performance, and closely monitor the implementation of the Accra 2007 MOU, as well as experience under the APL1 with government efforts to finance the implementation and establishment of the single window; b. for the Component B which focused on improvement of the corridor infrastructure: timely availability of technical studies, timely deployment of contractors, as well as high quality of works and contractor supervision; and c. for the Component D which focused on HIV/AIDS program and performance monitoring: experience and lessons learnt under the APL1 by the agency responsible for monitoring project indicators (Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization [ALCO]). Project Development Objectives (PDOs) 11. The PDO, as stated in the Financing Agreement, was “to reduce trade and transport barriers in the port and on the roads along the Corridor in the Recipient’s territory.” There were no changes to the PDO during project implementation. Key Expected Outcomes and Outcome Indicators 12. Based on the Financing Agreement, and similar to the overall program and APL1, the PDO is organized around three main objectives3, which are used to rate the efficacy of the project’s expected outcomes: (i) PDO 1: Reduce trade barriers in the port in Côte d’Ivoire; (ii) PDO 2: Reduce trade barriers on the roads along the corridor in Côte d’Ivoire; and (iii) PDO 3: Reduce transport barriers on the roads along the corridor in Côte d’Ivoire. 3 It could be expected that a fourth objective: “Reduce transport barriers in the ports in Cote d’Ivoire” should be included. Ho wever, same as for the APL1, it is considered that transport barriers are not relevant for ports and therefore not included as an objective of the project. This approach was validated by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) in the ICR Review of the ALTTFP APL1; Report number ICRR0021113. Page 8 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Figure 1. ALTTFP APL2 Theory of Change at Appraisal Note: a. The results chain is based on the Project Appraisal Document (PAD) explanations, Table 1 (Revised results framework for the ALTTFP Program) in Annex 1 of the PAD, and available information collected by ALCO. 13. At appraisal, the PDO for APL2 was proposed to be measured through two project outcome indicators: (i) port dwell time in Abidjan and (ii) border crossing time of trucks/merchandise along the corridor. There was no PDO indicator for PDO 3; instead, two intermediate results indicators were used to track progress made under this objective. Table 1 summarizes the correspondence between the PDOs and indicators. Similar to the APL1, for the purpose of the ICR, an indicator4 on “Reduced transport time on project rehabilitated sections” was included based on evidence from the economic analysis of the ICR (see section II C). 4Although a ‘target value’ for the proposed indicator could not be identified, an average baseline value was considered based on the ALCO estimates of transit speeds on the project targeted sections before the start of the ALTTFP APL2. Page 9 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Table 1. PDOs and Corresponding Indicators for Efficacy Assessment PDO Corresponding Indicators PDO indicator 1: Reduced port dwell time in Abidjan Objective 1: Reduce trade barriers in the Intermediate Results Indicator Component A: Computerized port single port in Côte d’Ivoire window established and functional in the port of Abidjan Objective 2: Reduce trade barriers on the PDO indicator 2: Reduced border crossing time of trucks/merchandise along roads along the corridor in in Côte d’Ivoire the corridor at Noé - Elubo (with Ghana)5 Intermediate Results Indicator Component A: Number of roadblocks per 100 km reduced between Abidjan – Noé Objective 3: Reduce transport barriers on Intermediate Results Indicator Component B: Km of roads rehabilitated the roads along the corridor in Côte d’Ivoire non-rural increased ICR Indicator based on economic analysis: Reduced transport time on project rehabilitated sections Components 14. Following the structure of the APL 1, and as summarized in Table 2 below, the APL2 was designed along the same four main components: (a) technical assistance, capacity-building activities, and supply of equipment to various stakeholders involved in trade facilitation (customs, port authority, and National Facilitation Committee [NFC]), (b) infrastructure rehabilitation, (c) project management and coordination, and (d) HIV/AIDS program and performance monitoring. Table 2. Project Components’ Description at Appraisal Component Description Component A: The component supported the following subcomponents: Trade Facilitation (a) Facilitation of collection and sharing of relevant information and data (interconnectivity) between the customs agencies in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana (b) Acquisition of equipment, materials, communication tools and technical advisory services required to: (i) implement a trade facilitation single window within the Recipient ’s port of Abidjan, aimed at facilitating the handling of all transactions at the Recipient’s port in an efficient and speedy manner; and (ii) strengthen the capacity of the Recipients‟ port community and border agencies” to perform their duties and responsibilities efficiently (c) Development and carrying out of training programs and activities aimed at enhancing the expertise and the abilities of relevant stakeholders involved in the implementation of the Project to perform their responsibilities for the Project efficiently (d) Streamlining of customs procedures, formulation of customs procedures manuals and dissemination of the same among the relevant stakeholders; and (e) Strengthening of the operational capacity of the Recipient’s National Facilitation Committee (NFC). 5The border crossing time is the average time for a truck to complete all border formalities at CI border Ouangolodougou (customs, veterinary checks, etc.), before departure. Page 10 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Component B: The component supported the following subcomponents: Improvement of (a) Carrying out of technical design and detailed engineering studies for the road improvement and the Road rehabilitation works to be carried out under the project; Corridor’s (b) Upgrading and rehabilitation of the 130.3 km Moossou-Nzikro-Aboisso-Noé road section along the Infrastructure corridor6, including widening of the Noé Bridge; and supervision of the related civil works; (c) Construction of two rest stop areas at Noé and Aboisso; (d) Rehabilitation of about 8.9 km access roads to the freight terminal of Vridi; (e) Study on traffic management on the access roads to the Port of Abidjan; (f) Pre-feasibility study on a motorway construction of Grand-Bassam-Noé based on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP); and (g) Implementation of social and environmental mitigation measures required for the civil works. Component C: Included provision of technical advisory services, training and logistical support (including office Project equipment, materials, supplies and vehicles) required to sustain management and coordination of Management and implementation activities including monitoring and evaluation of progress achieved in the execution of Coordination the project. Component D7: The component supported the following subcomponents: HIV/AIDS (a) Formulation and execution of programs of activities aimed at reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS Programs and and preventing the spread of HIV infection among communities established and/or operating Corridor along the portion of the corridor located within the Recipient’s territory; and Performance (b) (i) Collection and treatment of data required to measure and monitor performance in the areas Monitoring of trade, transport and HIV/AIDS along the Corridor; and (ii) wide dissemination of such data across the Recipients territories and beyond. 15. At appraisal, the total project cost was estimated at US$148 million. The approved amount was financed through US$90 million by IDA and US$58 million was the counterpart contribution by the government of Côte d’Ivoire (GoCI), as presented in Table 3 below. Although none of the components were modified, the activities have been revised during project implementation, as described in section B below. 16. At project closing, the total amount disbursed was US$120 million, of which US$80 million from the IDA Grant and US$40 million from the counterpart contribution. The actual disbursement rate (of the committed SDR amount) at project closing was 97.6 percent, however, the difference between the available amount and the disbursed amount, estimated at US$28 million of savings, was mainly due to: (i) significant changes in the exchange rate (the Grant was in SDR and disbursement in XOF) which led to approximately US$10 million loss to the GoCI, and (ii) lower mobilization of counterpart funds, combined with significant changes in the exchange rate, leading to approximately US$ 18 million saving. Table 3. Project Costs at Approval and at Closing Justification for cost Component Total Cost at Appraisal Total Cost at Project Closing change Component A: Cost savings, changes in Trade Facilitation US$6.3 million (100% IDA US$1.8 million (78% IDA financing, the exchange rate, financing) 22% counterpart funding) dropped activities, and reallocation 6Of which IDA will finance only the Aboisso-Noé section (about 59.2 km). 7During the implementation period of the ALTTFP APL1, the corridor performance monitoring, including HIV/AIDS prevention programs, was carried out by ALCO through “Component D: HIV/AIDS Programs and Corridor Performance Monitoring”, at a cost of US$6 million. Page 11 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Justification for cost Component Total Cost at Appraisal Total Cost at Project Closing change Component B: US$138.8 million (59% IDA Changes in the exchange Improvement of the US$ 109.9 million (69% IDA financing, 41% counterpart rate and reallocation of Road Corridor’s financing, 31% counterpart funding) funding) funds Infrastructure Component C: Changes in the exchange US$2.9 million (65% IDA Project US$7 million (26% IDA financing, rate, cost escalation and financing, 35% counterpart Management and 74% counterpart funding) reallocation of civil works funding) Coordination supervision costs Component D: HIV/AIDS Programs Changes in the exchange and Corridor - US$1.5 million (100% IDA financing) rate, and reallocation of Performance funds Monitoring Cost savings, changes in US$148 million (60% IDA US$120 million (67% IDA financing, the exchange rate, Total cost financing, 40% counterpart 33% counterpart funding) dropped activities, and funding) reallocation of funds B. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES DURING IMPLEMENTATION (IF APPLICABLE) Revised PDOs and Outcome Targets 17. There were no changes to the PDO, nor were additional outcomes or indicators added during implementation. Revised PDO Indicators 18. There were no changes to the PDO indicators. Revised Components 19. There were no changes to project components during implementation. However, at the request of the GoCI in February 2017, a new project sub-component was created under Component D of the ALTTFP – APL2 through a Level 2 restructuring in June 2017 to include training activities as part of ALCO’s scope of activities. (see also the ‘Other Changes’ section below). This benefitted the Observatory for Transport Fluidity of Côte d’Ivoire (OFT - “Observatoire de la Fluidité des Transports”), who received technical training from ALCO in view of internalizing and mainstreaming ALTTFP – APL2 monitoring and evaluation initiatives carried out by ALCO. There were no other changes to the appraisal stage project components. Other Changes 20. Throughout project implementation period there were two Level 2 restructurings processed. The key changes are summarized as follows: Page 12 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) • The first Level 2 restructuring, was processed in June 2017 to: (i) create a new project sub-component under Component D to include training activities as part of ALCO’s scope of activities; (ii) create a new disbursement category of expenses to implement Component D; (iii) reallocate project funds equivalent to US$1.5 million to cover funding for activities carried out under Component D starting from October 1, 2016; and (iv) revise the institutional arrangements of ALTTFP – APL2 to add ALCO as implementing entity for Component D. There were no changes to the PDO or safeguards category, and the project did not require any policy waivers. Funds were available from Category 1 (Works under Part B of the Project) and Category 3 (Repayment of Preparation Advance). Unallocated funds were available under Category 3 as all project preparation activities have been refinanced and closed since January 2013 and savings were incurred under Category 1. This reallocation did not affect the completion of other activities under the project. • The second Level 2 restructuring, undertaken in April 2018, was needed to be able to achieve a part of the PDOs. The restructuring consisted in a nine-month extension of the closing date from June 30, 2018 to March 29, 2019 (the first and only extension) to complete the remaining road works under Component B and Trade Facilitation activities under Component A. Rationale for Changes and Their Implication on the Original Theory of Change 21. The appraisal theory of change and expected outcomes continued to be relevant. There were no changes in the PDO nor the components, and there was no impact on the theory of change. II. OUTCOME A. RELEVANCE OF PDOs Assessment of Relevance of PDOs and Rating 22. At project completion, the APL 2 PDOs were aligned with the fiscal year (FY) 16 – FY19 World Bank Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Côte d’Ivoire. Under Pillar D Regional Integration, the CPF specified accelerating structural reforms to lower the cost of cross-border activities and strengthening infrastructure development, including transport and logistics, as well as interventions in terms of policy coordination, reforms and investments to promote regional synergies. Hence, the project objectives remained fully relevant as improved road infrastructure, interconnection of customs management systems, and improvements in port efficiency are key factors contributing to reducing transport cost and transit times, facilitating trade along the corridor, and leading to regional integration. 23. The project promoted regional integration by adopting a corridor approach, target which continued to be relevant for the region. Similar to the APL1 countries (Ghana, Togo and Benin), the project was part of a regional Program that supported and complemented the objectives of governments along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor, Regional Economic Community (REC), and other development partners, in the domain of regional integration and cooperation. The Abidjan-Lagos corridor has continued to represent a top priority program for regional trade integration in the ECOWAS zone. To this end, ECOWAS mobilized US$21 million (including US$9 million from the African Development Bank [AfDB]) to launch a feasibility study in 2018 for a proposed Abidjan-Lagos highway construction, parallel to the existing coastal corridor. Page 13 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) 24. The overall relevance of the project is rated High. Improving regional integration and trade are still considered as critical to increase the region’s competitiveness. B. ACHIEVEMENT OF PDOs (EFFICACY) Assessment of Achievement of Each Objective/Outcome PDO 1: Reduce trade barriers in the port in Côte d’Ivoire. 25. The project’s objective to reduce trade barriers in the port of Abidjan, measured through the reduction in port dwell time, was substantially achieved. High costs and transit delays at the start of the project constituted a serious obstacle to intra-regional and international trade. A 2007 protocol of cooperation between the Ghanaian and the Ivorian Customs had identified the implementation of a port single window system as a major reform of the customs connectivity and information sharing which would contribute to speed up logistics and customs clearance procedures of imported goods and reduce the port dwell time. 26. The ALTTFP acknowledged that the port single window system depended on substantial legislative and operational reforms in customs and other agencies, as well as on political support, both at national and regional level. Considering that Côte d’Ivoire had come out of a long period of political turbulence and civil unrest, and that it had not recently implemented any trade and transport projects, the APL2 Component A and Component D activities provided a platform for high level discussions on trade policy and customs reform. Combined with efforts made by the Project of Support to the Competitiveness and the Regional Integration (PACIR)8 financed by the European Union (EU), other institutional reforms conducted by the GoCI in the framework of Doing Business, and investments made to improve the logistics capacity of the port, the target for the port dwell time - which is the PDO 1 indicator - was achieved. The port dwell time had continuously improved over the implementation timeline, decreasing by 21 percent from a baseline of 14 days at approval in 2012, to 11 days in 2018 the same as the project target value. 27. Effective monitoring of corridor performance and wide dissemination through activities carried out by ALCO under Component D, eventually led to the establishment of the computerized port single window (GUCE) in the port of Abidjan using a private public partnership (PPP) with Webbfontaine9. Although the port single window system in Côte d’Ivoire was implemented using PPP as decided by GoIC, instead of ALTTFP resources as initially planned, the five years of overlap in implementation with the APL1, as well as close coordination between donors and ECOWAS to ensure complementarity of trade facilitation projects, allowed for advocacy and peer pressure. Cargo manifests are 100 percent transmitted by consignees and shared through the single window, as well as the customs declarations 100 percent processed through GUCE. 28. In addition, the project provided support to the Abidjan Port Community (APC). Different training modules were developed, a business plan as well as contract models to be signed with the different service providers. Technical assistance to design a sustainable training program for the entire port community was also satisfactorily provided. 8 PACIR project was financed by the European Union (EU) for an amount of US $ 8.4 million over the period from April 2010 to December 2014. It aimed to contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the Ivorian economy and to facilitate its integration into the regional economy and the world by adopting structuring measures in well-identified key areas: (i) Improving the business environment, (ii) Strengthening the competitiveness of exporting companies, (iii) Trade facilitation, and (iv) Improvement of economic infrastructures. 9 Since July 2019, the Government oversees GUCE management, following the expiration of the convention with Webbfontaine. Page 14 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) PDO 2: Reduce trade barriers on the roads along the corridor in Côte d’Ivoire. 29. The project’s objective to reduce trade barriers on the roads along the corridor in Côte d’Ivoire was substantially achieved. Inefficient procedures as well as poor information sharing between corridor control agencies, logistics chain and transport operators contributed to poor corridor performance with numerous trade barriers from the port to the border posts. The project supported customs reforms in Côte d’Ivoire aimed to simplify and streamline clearance procedures, as well as information sharing through awareness campaigns, as described below. Due to the combined APL2 interventions providing support to the Côte d’Ivoire customs and to NFC, the border crossing time from Elubo to Noé, which is the PDO 2 indicator, substantially surpassed the project target. By monitoring the border crossing time on the Abidjan-Lagos corridor, and organizing annual regional workshops focused on raising awareness of corridor performance and trade facilitation issues, the ALTTFP APL2 also positively impacted this objective through Component D activities. At project closing, the border crossing time from Elubo to Noé was reduced by 48.6 percent (14 hours) from a baseline value of 37 hours at the project start in 2012, against a target value of 29.6 hours. In contrast, it is worth to note the low performance of 47 hours for Noé-Elubo crossing direction one year after the project closing in Ghana, essentially related to the Ghanaian border agencies10. 30. Support for the interconnection of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana customs information systems. The operationalization of the critical interface of customs management systems between Ivory Coast and Ghana represented a big challenge for the two countries. Although the process was long, difficult and partially achieved, it has contributed to simplify and reduce customs clearance procedures at the port and the border. The interconnection remained operational at the pilot phase since July 2017, when only 3 customs offices in Ivory Coast (Transit Bureau, Vridi Petroleum Bureau, Noé Bureau at the border) and 2 offices (Aflao and Elubo) in Ghana were covered. 31. Support to the Côte d’Ivoire customs. Technical assistance to different customs operational departments on strategic planning and management of customs has been executed with satisfactory findings and outcomes, which permitted to modernize and reinforce the institution. Specifically, the project provided capacity building to the following customs departments: the Planning Department, the Investigation Office, the Customs Services Performance Department and the Communication Department. Training activities reinforced customs staff capacity, rendering them more efficient and productive, which was translated into reduced customs declaration processing time and increased daily number of declarations processed. An evaluation survey organized by the customs in 2018 on 428 customs agents concluded that the reform had a positive impact on the organization and the performance of the customs. 32. Support to NFC. Awareness campaigns on the reduction of border crossing time were organized by NFC, customs officers and transit operators were trained to streamlined border crossing procedures. The feasibility study for the establishment of a guarantee fund for transit goods coordinated by NFC contributed to the establishment of a regional customs guarantee mechanism, which simplified clearance procedures of transit goods. The new 10The deterioration of the border crossing time on Ghana side was mainly due to changes in Ghana customs procedures in 2017. Trucks were allowed to enter the customs border area before some required customs documents were ready (trucks are parked, clearance procedures will start once the documents will be available (Pre-Arrival Assessment Reporting System, Customs, Classification and Valuation Report, Import Declaration Form). However, the closure of ALTTFP in Ghana may also have had a negative impact on border crossing operations performance, the lack of financial resource caused the end of sensitization activities, as well as the joint border committee meetings. Page 15 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) mechanism is currently implemented by the Chambers of Commerce11 in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Moreover, NFC benefited from OCAL capacity building activities to strengthen its data collection and monitoring capacity. 33. Importantly, the rehabilitation of the freight terminal at Vridi, as well as improvement of related access roads (about 8.9 km), not only contributed to improve the traffic fluidity within the port zone and its neighborhood, but also provided an opportunity to include a transit office. The rehabilitated parking, operational since March 2017, allowed the on-site establishment of customs and Chamber of Commerce offices issuing transit documents (T1) and GPS devices to transit trucks contributed to decongest the port area. This was complemented by productive stakeholders’ dialogue led by NFC, which revised the parking fees which in turn allowes for a higher turnover of tucks. 34. Complementary support for the establishment of a “Joint Border Post” (JBP) with Ghana at Noé-Elubo border was also included at the start of the project, however the activity was dropped early on in project implementation, following the ECOWAS decision to coordinate the establishment of JBPs in West Africa, with EU support. PDO 3: Reduce transport barriers on the roads along the corridor in Côte d’Ivoire. 35. The project’s objective to reduce transport barriers on the roads along the corridor in Côte d’Ivoire was substantially achieved. At project appraisal, the high number of legal and illegal check points and road blocks along the corridor was constituting a major barrier to the fluidity of movement of goods and people. By providing support to ALCO and NFC to raise awareness of all border agencies and private users, and by enabling policy reforms to redefine the way customs and local authorities would control goods transiting along the corridor, the project allowed for a significant reduction in number of roadblocks. The target of 3 checkpoints per 100 km at the end of the project was surpassed, with 4 checkpoints along the 170 km from Noé to Abidjan in 2018, equivalent to 2.4 checkpoints per 100 km. 36. Although the project had been prepared in a fragile context, and during implementation disbursements had been suspended for seven months in 2017 due to safeguards non-compliance (see section III B below), the ALTTFP APL2 investments improved the road condition on 113.59 km, closely reaching the project target of 130.3km (87 percent achievement). Specifically, under Component B the project delivered: (i) the rehabilitation Grand- Bassam-Moossou-Nzikro-Aboisso-Noé (Ghanaian border) road section, (ii) the widening of the bridge at Aboisso (120 m), and (iii) the rehabilitation of the bridge at Noé, which had been identified as a point to improve transport time at border. It is estimated that a total average daily traffic12 of 1152 vehicles, of which 976 cars, 104 trucks, and 58 busses traveling along the Noé – Grand Bassam rehabilitated road segment have directly benefited from the project. 37. At project closing, the road condition has improved significantly, bringing substantial benefits to users : (i) it enabled better driving conditions and reduced road maintenance needs; (ii) it shortened travel time (e.g. the journey time from Abidjan to Noé has dropped to two hours compared to up to 5 hours in 2012), thus contributing to a gain in competitiveness of the transport sector. The project has improved road safety conditions by placing: 11 Under ECOWAS regulations, the management/coordination of guarantee funds is the responsibility of Chambers of Trade in member states. 12 ALCO, Complementary data collection report, 2019 Page 16 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) (i) speed bumps in the proximity of villages; (ii) the pedestrian bridge at the entrance to the Aboisso bridge; and (iii) improved road safety signs. 38. In addition, the project constructed transit and secure parking areas at Noé and Aboisso, with the minimum required equipment permitting truck drivers to comfortably rest before continuing the journey without any risk of fatigue accident, and it rehabilitated the market at Elubo, although by project closing date it was not functional. Moreover, the investments made at the crossing in Aboisso and at the border crossing of Noé positively changed the landscape of these two localities. The Noé border post for example is overall better structured, the developed platform is dedicated to trucks in transit and there is less parking along the roadway. Justification of Overall Efficacy Rating 39. Based on the above explanation, the achievement of the PDO is rated Substantial. C. EFFICIENCY Assessment of Efficiency and Rating 40. Economic analysis. An ex-post analysis was done to evaluate the economic returns of the activities completed before project closing. Like the ALTTFP APL1, it follows the same methodology used at the appraisal stage and focuses on Component B, whose investments accounted for 91 percent of the total project costs. The overall economic benefits of the project derive from (i) savings in travel time due to improvements in road infrastructure, and (ii) savings in vehicle operations costs (VOC) due to the improved quality of the roads. 41. The ICR economic analysis13 for the Noé-Abidjan section was carried out using a simplified Highway Development and Management Model (HDM4) model, and shows the results recorded in the Table 4 below. The ICR estimates were based on progress of road rehabilitated indicator reported under the project’s Results Framework and final civil work costs incurred under the component. The vehicle count survey conducted by ALCO for the March 2019 socio-economic assessment, at the project closing, informed the level of traffic on the project targeted sections at the ICR stage. The ICR analysis was compared with a revised appraisal estimate to reflect the net present value (NPV) for the share of actual works delivered by the project; it used cost estimates from the PAD and the value for expected km of road to be rehabilitated based on achieved indicators under the project. The revised appraisal baseline resulted in an NPV of US$32.43 million at 12 percent discount rate and an internal rate of return (EIRR) of 17 percent, which is slightly higher when compared to the results from the economic analysis at appraisal. 42. The ICR economic analysis considered two cases: (a) using only the cost of civil works and and partial supervision costs - the entirety of the Component B - estimated at US $109.90 million, and (b) using the cost of civil works and full supervision costs - the entirety of the Component B and part of Component C - estimated at US $115.61 million. Considering a traffic increase following PAD assumptions: for case (a), the derived NPV is $ 46.68 million, 13The PAD’s detailed economic analysis was not available, so the ICR scenarios were based on available scenario description provided in the PAD. ALCO was responsible to undertake a detailed socioeconomic analysis of the project at closure; however, it did not use latest project costs. The unit values for VOCs were considered as in the ALTTFP APL1 ICR, travel time savings were based on the ALCO estimates, and the unit value of time was based on ALCO’s 2019 Socio Economic Study. The complete explanation of the economic analysis is presented in Annex 2. Page 17 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) at a discount rate of 12 percent, and an EIRR of 20.06 percent; and for case (b), the NPV is US$ 41.23 million, at a discount rate of 12 percent, and an EIRR of 18.8 percent. Table 4. Results of the Economic Evaluation of Road Infrastructure Noé-Abidjan Road km of road rehabilitated Costs NPV with 12% discount rate EIRR Rehabilitation by ALTTFP-APL2 (US$, millions) (US$, millions) (%) Appraisal Estimates 130.00 138.00 15.80 15.9 Revised Appraisal Estimates 118.75 126.06 32.43 17.0 ICR Estimates case (a) (civil works only and part of the 118.75 109.90 46.68 20.0 supervision costs) ICR Estimates case (b) (civil works and full supervision 118.75 115.61 41.23 18.8 costs) Note: NPV = Net Present Value; EIRR = Economic Internal Rate of Return. 43. Project implementation factors that influenced efficiency. The Table 5 below provides an overview of the cost increase to the civil works contracts at project closing, in March 2019. The costs of the civil works had increased significantly during their implementation, overall reaching 30 percent additional costs when compared to the awarded contract in the beginning of the project, and by 7 percent when compared to the appraisal estimates. As a result of the extensions of the work contracts, the amounts of supervision missions also substantially increased, overall reaching 98 percent of the awarded contract and 20 percent when compared to the appraisal estimates. 44. The cost overrun comprised of significant changes to the work scope (modification of the pavement profile on certain sections of the project) and scale-up of activities (to include new works not foreseen in the basic work scope), and was combined with unforeseen site conditions (for example the Vridi freight station and its access roads where due to the quality of preparation studies - which had been conducted in a crisis environment, the underground services [CIE, SODECI, mobile phone companies, etc.] were not identified). This has consequently resulted in changes in the RAP implementation, significant cost overruns (between 13 and 45 percent when compared to awarded contract), and delays in the execution of civil works (up to 28 months for the rehabilitation of the Aboisso – Noé section). 45. Effects of the 2011 post electoral crisis on the institutional capacity were felt until late in the project implementation, when major shortcomings in social safeguards compliance, as well as the low institutional capacity of the client to supervise them, led to suspension of disbursement for seven months in 2017, cost overruns and delays in implementation. Additional costs were incurred due to extra environmental and social measures when crossing urban areas (mainly Aboisso). 46. The overall efficiency of the project is rated Substantial, considering the difficult conflict environment under which the project was operating during preparation and the fragile post conflict environment in the first years of implementation. Page 18 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Table 5. Overview of the Cost Increase to the Civil Works Contracts Cost increase Works Contract compared to Delay Justification awarded contract Vridi freight station 40% 15 months (i) Clearance of Right of Way and its access roads (ii) Movement of underground services (iii) Long administrative procedures for the compensation of PAPs (iv) Suspension of work pending the signature of the amendment (v) Increase in mass of works Rehabilitation Grand 0 3 months Unsatisfactory performance of the contractor Bassam- Nzikro - Lot 1 (termination of contract, and reassignment of works) Rehabilitation Nzikro – 26% 3 months Increase in mass of works Aboisso - Lot 2 Rehabilitation Aboisso 45% 28 months (i) Quality of pavement in place – Noé (ii) Change of road profile (in the crossing of Aboisso) (iii) Increase in the mass of works Related work at the - 10 months - Aboisso-Noé road Aboisso rest area - 5 months - Noé rest area 13% 4 months (i) Change of location (ii) Increase in mass of works Rehabilitation Elubo- - 11 months - Noé Total 30 % 2 – 28 months Source : Unité Infrastructures Routières AGEROUTE D. JUSTIFICATION OF OVERALL OUTCOME RATING 47. Given the high relevance, substantial efficacy and substantial efficiency, the overall outcome rating is considered Moderately Satisfactory. Although the activities complemented each other - on the one hand the rehabilitation of the Ivorian part of this corridor and, on the other hand, institutional reforms to standardize and improve customs information systems and sharing – the outcome was hindered by: institutional instability, large costs overruns and delays, weakness in the implementation of environmental and social measures and difficulties in mobilizing counterpart financing plan. E. OTHER OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS (IF ANY) Gender 48. Although at the preparation stage the project did not explicitly incorporate a gender dimension, it initiated a participatory approach for safeguards consultations. Representatives from regional organizations in consultation with the national, and local governments, were involved in the selection of the civil work sections of the project. By providing access - through the newly constructed parking areas at Noé and Aboisso, the rehabilitated market at Elubo, and the footbridge in Aboisso - the project benefitted rural women, who are by far most of the people Page 19 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) involved in petty trade. A household survey carried out by ALCO in 2019 to estimate the socio-economic impact of the project, on a sample of 860 households directly located in the corridor catchment area14 estimated that the project directly benefitted 1661 women (representing 48 percent of the total population in the project catchment area). Institutional Strengthening 49. As presented in the previous sections, the project was designed with a strong emphasis on capacity-building, and strengthened institutional agencies through: (i) the program under the trade facilitation component, aimed at strengthening long-term expertise on customs management and trade facilitation regional agreements implementation, and (ii) the activities done by ALCO under Component D which contributed to transfer best practice to the NFC on indicator monitoring and data collection on the corridor. Moreover, the unexpected benefit of the suspension due to safeguards non-compliance (see section III B below) was that the project positively influenced the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) and contractors’ practice of monitoring and implementing social and environmental safeguards. The PIU which was enforced under the APL 2, is the same structure handling four other World Bank projects (Transport Sector Modernization and Corridor Trade Facilitation Project [PAMOSET], Greater Abidjan Port-City Integration Project, Abidjan Urban Mobility Project, Emergency Infrastructure Renewal Project [PRICI]), and lessons learnt were used to improve project management and due diligence on the GoCI side. Mobilizing Private Sector Financing 50. The project did not have leveraging private sector financing as an objective. Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity 51. Although the APL2 did not have poverty reduction as a PDO, it had spill-over effects, and indirectly benefitted the poor through: (a) job creation and income generating opportunities15 in rural and urban areas; (b) provision of all-weather transport access and services; (c) development of infrastructure access to promote the growth of small towns and villages/settlements on the road corridor. Other Unintended Outcomes and Impacts 52. HIV/AIDS prevention. An additional important achievement of the APL2 is the continuation of the APL1 campaigns done by ALCO for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the entire corridor. The project included a significant HIV/AIDS awareness component, targeting the vulnerable population at borders, in ports, including truckers and sex workers. Over the project’s implementation period along the corridor, the percentage of truckers familiar with at least two means of prevention of HIV/AIDS has increased from 80 percent to 97.7 percent and the percentage of truckers reporting the use of condoms with a casual partner during last intercourse has increased 14 The corridor catchment area was defined as within one km of the sections rehabilitated under the project. 15 Based on a survey of 860 persons done by ALCO in 2019, it is estimated that the Component B created 22 percent of the temporary jobs in the catering sector on the Noé – Abidjan section, which generated a monthly turnover income of FCFA 15.8 million. Throughout the duration of the project, the estimated total income generated by direct or indirect jobs created by the project in the influence zone is estimated at approximately FCFA 705 million. Page 20 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) from 72 percent to 96.6 percent. Additionally, in Côte d’Ivoire, approximately 206 000 people were sensitized on HIV/AIDS prevention, of which about 32 percent were women. The project also financed distribution of condoms; over 1.6 million condoms have been procured and distributed to the targeted population. III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME A. KEY FACTORS DURING PREPARATION 53. Socio-economic crisis of 2010 – 2011 delayed the approval of the project. Since signing the Accra MOU in 2007, the project took five years to prepare. The project preparation in Côte d’Ivoire was carried out in a difficult and complex context of internal conflict, insecurity and instability. The World Bank Board submission was delayed due to the post-electoral crisis of November 2010, when IDA operations were suspended in 2010 – 2011. The project became effective in a post-conflict context, the country still undergoing a fragile peace process at the project starting period. Several transport operators had been affected by the conflict and related damages, including the loss of trucks and logistics equipment. 54. Instability of the institutional arrangements. During the first part of the preparation phase, 2007-2009, the PIU was under the Ministry of Transport, while between 2009 – 2012 the GoCI assigned the PIU to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). Although the financial management specialist, the procurement specialist and the executive assistant were competitively recruited at the onset of the project, the National Coordinator was nominated by the GoCI, and the PIU did not include an M&E specialist, nor social or environmental specialists. The government institutions, as well as the other public and private stakeholders involved, had low capacity and the choice in institutional anchoring at appraisal translated later on into a negative impact on the project’s implementation. 55. Regional structure of the program allowed flexibility in the preparation phase, while retaining the necessary framework to encourage cooperation during the implementation phase. In 2010, at the appraisal stage of APL1, Côte d’Ivoire did not meet all conditions due to political conflict, while Nigeria withdrew due to a shift in national priorities (which had been caused by elections, price of barrel of oil, and Boko Haram). The regional design of the project allowed for flexibility in the implementation program when political economy changes in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire occurred. The Accra MOU was an important milestone during the appraisal stage and remained the overarching umbrella of commitment to corridor program objectives and a collaboration tool throughout APL1 and APL2 implementation. 56. Program and project design have been kept relatively simple. A robust corridor concept was developed in the early stages of preparation. This approach enabled client countries to develop a positive and constructive dialogue around regional and local issues, aiming at facilitating transport along the corridor. The project’s activities were coordinated among the three countries under a regional umbrella, and ALCO was included in the project monitoring scheme in addition to the national PIUs that ensured thorough regional monitoring and shared information about countries’ performances. ALCO has been responsible for regional data collection and validation of results. Page 21 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) B. KEY FACTORS DURING IMPLEMENTATION 57. The history of ISR ratings adequately highlights delays in project implementation and serious safeguards compliance issues, as the project’s implementation progress was mostly rated Unsatisfactory during the project’s lifetime. Throughout the seven-year period from project approval to closing, there were different factors subject to the Government’s and World Bank’s control, as well as exogenous factors, which affected implementation that deserved attention, as described in the following paragraphs. 58. Recurrent delays in mobilization of counterpart funds. The project design required substantial government counterpart funding (of US$58 million, including taxes) to complete the road corridor section from Grand-Bassam to Noé under Component B. Although the counterpart funding had been included in the annual budgets for the duration of the project, the effective mobilization of resources was not always made in time due to budget constraints and untimely provision of funds. This seriously impacted the implementation of activities on the ground throughout the lifetime of the project. Treasury availability of counterpart funds for works between Bassam and Aboisso were identified up to the closing date of the project. 59. Weakness of the PIU and coordination problems. Although the PIU was completely staffed and equipped, it was newly created and its staff had no experience and exposure to Bank-financed or other IFIs projects, and was operating in a post conflict environment. This was confirmed in the first couple of years by the absence of proactivity in resolving issues, despite the magnitude of problems encountered (long procurement processes and significant delays in the execution of the Resettlement Action Plan [RAP]), and the weakness in the monitoring of cross-cutting activities directly managed by the PIU (financial management, procurement, safeguards, etc.). For example, the construction of the Vridi trucks station and rehabilitation of its access roads had one-year delay due to poor management of the procurement process. 60. Weak capacity to monitor social and environmental safeguards led to the partial suspension of disbursement in 2016 (see section IV B for more details). The PIU remained under the MEF until December 2016 when it was reassigned to the Ministry of Economic Infrastructure to comply with the conditions to lift the suspension on disbursements. The responsibility of project management was transferred to another PIU (IDA financed PRICI) which took over on November 30, 2016. In addition, a decentralized unit of the PIU was created and posted in Aboisso (for the road works), and a civil engineer and an environmental specialist were assigned to this unit at January 5, 2017. Globally, there was a general improvement of the PIU management of the project and an increased awareness of safeguards issues that led to the previous suspension of the disbursements. 61. Low capacity of the recipient's institutions ensuring quality of works. The quality of the studies and the performance of the contractors were generally poor and negatively affected Component B. The lack of a strong technical PIU in the first years of implementation delayed some activities, as many documents produced were requiring several rounds before being approved. The pre-project studies were carried out over a period of 7.5 months in a context of difficult socio-political crisis in unsafe conditions, years before the actual start of the works. It was a single contract for the entire technical and economic study, the environmental impact study and social development of the Grand Bassam - Aboisso - Noé road and infrastructure adjoining roads, access roads and the cargo station of Abidjan Vridi. The long delay in starting the work of the road section Aboisso - Noé showed in the execution of the works, when it resulted in several variation orders amounting to 40 percent cost overruns due to the increased damage on the road. Similarly, the quality of works amplified the issues. There were systemic delays in implementation due to questionable expertise of construction firms (thus poor performance), quality of Page 22 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) materials used, and quality of supervision of works. 62. Major shortcomings in social safeguards compliance (see section IV B for more details). Component B of the project was suspended between December 2016 and June 2017 because of serious occupational safety and road safety issues on the road works that resulted in 22 accidents, including five fatalities in 6 months, non-compliance of the reporting requirements since the accidents were reported to the World Bank, and non-compliance of the provisions of the RAP, since civil works had been proceeding while the RAP had not been fully executed four years into project implementation. 63. Cooperation between Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana led to delays in implementation. Early on in project implementation, challenges were identified in terms of cooperation between the two neighboring countries with respect to the signing and implementation of the proposed customs interconnectivity at the Noé-Elubo border. Trade facilitation activities required a strong and permanent dialogue especially when different countries are concerned. The two years shift in project commencement and closing in Côte d’Ivoire compared to Ghana reduced the consultation and joint implementation period. Between August 2010 and October 2012, it was difficult for Ghana to start the interconnection process alone when Côte d’Ivoire had not started. Similarly, it was difficult for Côte d’Ivoire to pursue the interconnection process when ALTTFP APL1 was closed in Ghana, due to the difficulties in mobilizing the project team in Ghana without financial resources. 64. ALCO monitoring and countries performance comparison. ALCO monitoring permitted to compare and make public the performance of corridor countries on trade facilitation indicators. Even if there was no competition between countries, the peer pressure encouraged them to improve their performance indicators in particular on port dwell time, number of roadblocks, and border crossing time, especially over the five years of overlap in implementation between the APL1 and APL2. IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME A. QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) M&E Design 65. A strong feature of the ALTTFP M&E design was that it considered the same theory of change, PDOs, and intermediate results indicators for both APL1 and APL2. These had been defined during the preparation phase of the APL1 and contributed to the APL 2 readiness for implementation. All the indicators were easily measurable and time-bound, thus enabling a clear snapshot of progress made at different stages throughout the project lifetime. As mentioned in the ICR for the APL1, the M&E framework could have been strengthened to include indicators on the assessment of transport costs, trade volume, and passenger travel. 66. Another quality of the monitoring system was that the same entity - ALCO which was assigned to the ALTTFP from the approval of the APL1 - provided the regional monitoring ‘umbrella’ and ensured data collection and monitoring of local, national, and regional project performance indicators. Similar to the other countries under the ALTTFP, the M&E arrangements in Côte d’Ivoire drew on the existing institutional arrangements, reliable national data collection systems, and stakeholder agreed assessment methods. The robust M&E framework, together with the monitoring mechanism ensured by ALCO, allowed for coherence of results among the four Page 23 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) countries under the ALTTFP and facilitated reporting to various stakeholders, despite the complexity of the project. M&E Implementation 67. Implementation arrangements ensured M&E sustainability in the medium term. Although M&E was funded through project resources allocated under the Togo grant of the APL1, ALCO was created under ECOWAS through the Accra MOU in 2007. Moreover, through funding provided under APL2 in 2017, APL1 recipient countries continued to benefit from monitoring and results dissemination until March 2019, more than a year beyond the APL1 closing date for Ghana, Togo and Benin. M&E Utilization 68. Overall, throughout the project lifetime all indicators included in the Results Framework were routinely updated and reported in the ISRs. The ALTTFP implementation arrangements for M&E provided a platform for regional policy dialogue on trade facilitation, including customs modernization reforms and improved port efficiency. Comparative results across countries were widely disseminated through various stakeholder workshops, information sharing, and awareness raising on trade and transport issues along the corridor, and ALCO held annual meetings to validate project results. All the supervision missions and their findings were prepared based on the frequent ALCO reports, which enabled a clear overview for the task team of the corridor and the project’s performances. Justification of Overall Rating of Quality of M&E 69. Based on the evidence provided earlier and in view of the thorough monitoring of project results by the single regional agency (ALCO), the overall quality of M&E is rated Substantial16. B. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE 70. Environmental and social safeguards. Due to the nature of activities (road rehabilitation works), the project was classified as Environmental Category B and triggered OP/BP 4.01 Environmental Assessment, OP 4.11 Physical Cultural Resources, and OP/BP 4.12 Involuntary Resettlement. An Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, including an Environmental Management Plan (EMP), and a RAP were prepared and publicly disclosed before appraisal in 2011, and included a ‘Grievances and Redress Procedure’. The RAP was updated in 2013. According to the World Bank policy, counterpart funding was secured at project appraisal stage to ensure full compensation of people affected by the project (PAPs) before the start of civil works however compensations were carried out with delays. There were a total of 2411 PAPs, of which: 2256 were compensated (94 percent), and 155 could not be reached. PAPs affected by the works of Component B were in Port-Bouët, Samo, Assouba, Aboisso and Noé. The total amount disbursed for the RAP implementation was FCFA 3.6 billion (US$ 7.2 million) of which FCFA 3.5 billion (98 percent) were paid directly to the PAPs and FCFA 56 million placed in an escrow account. At Noé, a platform of 8,800 m² was built by the project to relocate the affected traders. The management of this new market is ensured by the Noé Traders Management Committee created by Ministerial Order in June 2019. 16The quality of the results framework, which kept similar indicators and monitoring approach as the APL1, was validated by the IEG in the ICR Review of the ALTTFP APL1 (Report number ICRR0021113). Page 24 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) 71. The overall safeguards were rated Moderately Unsatisfactory (MU) during a significant period of implementation due to (i) the occupational safety and road safety issues that led to the suspension of disbursement in December 2016 and (ii) systematic delays in the RAP implementation due to delays in the mobilization of resources. In November 2016, the team identified an abnormally high-risk level related to safety conditions under which works were carried out. There were at least 22 accidents, including five fatalities, that had not been properly reported to the World Bank, and some of which had led to protests from local communities. In December 2016, the project disbursement was partially suspended, and as a result, progress towards achievement of the PDO was downgraded to Moderately Unsatisfactory, and overall Implementation Progress (IP) was downgraded to Highly Unsatisfactory. 72. Compliance with the latest Gender Based Violence (GBV) mitigation clauses. Incorporating lessons learnt form the suspension, the PIU integrated new World Bank GBV clauses (related to the Contractor Environmental and Social Management Plan [ESMP], code of conduct and the supervision engineer missions) for all the work contracts. New employees were asked to sign the code of conduct from the first day of their hiring, while for current employees the contracts were amended with GBV clauses signed. 73. Financial management. The project maintained acceptable financial management (FM) arrangements and complied with reporting and accounting requirements stated in the Financing Agreement. In 2014, FM was temporarily downgraded to MU due to the delays in implementing the action plan to strengthen FM procedures. 74. Procurement. There were no instances of misprocurement in the project. However, procurement was downgraded multiple times (one year into implementation, in 2015 and in 2016) to MU because of significant delays in procurement of critical activities. In 2015, because of the long procurement process to select a contractor for Aboisso and Noé rest stops, the bidding process was canceled and in 2016 because significant delays occurred in the award of the contract for the rehabilitation of Grand Bassam – Aboiso road section. Furthermore, due to delays in implementation and changes in the scope of works, the construction contracts were amended several times. The procurement of works financed by the counterpart funds suffered even greater challenges and delays. In 2019, the Grand Bassam – Nzikro road works contract was terminated due to the weak performance of the contractor. This led to significant delays in the completion of works. C. BANK PERFORMANCE Quality at Entry 75. The World Bank undertook substantial efforts to ensure high project quality at entry. The APL2 was part of an innovative first-generation regional corridor project, combining infrastructure interventions with the “soft” support for trade facilitation reforms. The project activities were identified to maximize economic efficiency of infrastructure investments and to ensure trade facilitation synergy between countries. The APL2 relied on a blend of good practices used in similar World Bank regional projects, as well as lessons learnt in the implementation of the APL1. Moreover, similar to the APL1, social development aspects were considered by including a component on HIV/AIDS sensitization along the corridor. Despite being designed as part of the ALTTFP flexible program, the APL 2 quality at entry was weakened by the socio-economic crisis of 2010 – 2011. The low quality of the technical studies of the civil works, prepared in that period, proved to have impacts during implementation, as they had to be revised later, and led to additional costs and delays. Page 25 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Quality of Supervision 76. The World Bank team was proactive and closely monitored project implementation, also drawing on the support of the staff based in Côte d’Ivoire who was in close contact with the PIU and responsible government agencies. The project was also supported by a customs consultant and a road engineer consultant, both with strong experience in the region and on similar projects, who participated in every supervision mission as part of the World Bank team. On average, one full supervision mission was conducted per year and interim supervision missions and additional guidance were provided as needed, especially in the last years of implementation. As the issues escalated, the team presented candid assessments to GoCI and World Bank management, documented through decrease in ratings in ISRs and through follow-up action plans in Aide Memoires, and ultimately with a suspension of disbursements four years into implementation. For approximately half of the project’s lifetime, the implementation progress was rated Moderately Unsatisfactory or below, reaching Highly Unsatisfactory and a partial suspension of disbursement in 2017 (see section IV B). 77. The World Bank team was extremely responsive to changes during implementation. When the shortcomings in social safeguards compliance (see section IV B) were identified by the World Bank team at the end of November 2016, immediate action was taken, and the team made the difficult decision to partially suspend disbursements within a couple weeks. Subsequently, the team worked closely with the client for almost 8 months in view of preventing an offset of the development benefits expected from the road improvement works. In this regard, a nine-point Action Plan was prepared in consultation with GoCI, which comprised a vast array of measures leading to: (i) transferring the responsibility for project management to a new - high performing - PIU, and appointing a new Deputy Project Coordinator; (ii) carrying out social and environmental safeguards audits, as well as a technical audit and a safety audit; (iii) reinforcing the PIU with an environmental specialist and a social specialist; (iv) developing a new reporting protocol. Over this period, substantial efforts were made to ensure that full compliance to World Bank standards was met, and to lift the suspension of disbursements. The client’s completion report highlighted the quality of the supervision of the World Bank, stating that that the project benefited from "proximity supervision” which made it possible to evaluate the level of progress of the project, to inform on possible difficulties encountered and make recommendations. 78. A positive outcome of the safety audit done as part of the due diligence measures for lifting the suspension, was that the results were also used by other donors. Moreover the audit led to: (i) a high level dialogue with the GoCI on road safety measures on the Ivorian section of the Abidjan - Lagos corridor, (ii) commitment from the authorities to increase road safety measures on sections identified as at risk outside of the project, where additional speed bumps were placed in the proximity of villages and road safety signs were improved, and (iii) raised awareness and open dialogue with authorities regarding the occupational health and safety practices. Justification of Overall Rating of Bank Performance 79. The overall rating for World Bank performance is Moderately Satisfactory to properly account for the project’s quality at entry and during implementation. Key aspects considered are the World Bank team’s proactivity and responsiveness to take immediate action on critical issues identified during implementation, and to go beyond the project level, to lead dialogue on road safety with high level Ivorian authorities. Page 26 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) D. RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME 80. At project completion, the risk to development outcome is considered Substantial, particularly in view of the lack of clear strategy to sustain the project beyond its implementation period as presented in the following paragraphs. 81. Trade facilitation. The ongoing changes in the region are likely to strengthen and scale up the project’s objectives: trade facilitation and customs modernization is one of the major concerns of ECOWAS. The regional organization supports a regional program of customs interconnectivity complemented by a World Bank-financed project in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso (PAMOSET - P156900). However, project efforts to support implementation of the single window could be affected in the long term by GoCI’s program to inspect imports. 82. Similarly, the number of roadblocks and checkpoints along the corridor is subject to change based on local security conditions and political direction. Continuing regional dialogue with the governments and continuing ALCO’s workshops and dissemination activities are key to persuade and inform all stakeholders of country achievements, best practices, and applicable regulations in the region. 83. Infrastructure sustainability. The following specific factors may affect the sustainability of the infrastructure investments: • Road maintenance could pose risks to sustainability of project investments. On the long term, untimely allocation of funds for road maintenance, coupled with surcharged trucks using the corridor, could lead to degradation of recently rehabilitated sections. Côte d’Ivoire has a Road Maintenance Fund17 (FER - Fonds d’Entretien Routier), which was created in 2001 and has oversight of financing for road maintenance. Despite its shortfalls18, it is relatively performing and well-funded when compared to other Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) road funds. According to a recent World Bank study19 which compares road fund performance across 14 countries in SSA, the FER is one of the only six road funds that are considered as highest ranking, namely having a second-generation road maintenance fund consolidated status and having the potential to upgrade to what could become a third-generation status. • MOU with Ghana. At the time of project closing, the MOU with Ghana on the operation and maintenance of the Noé bridge was not signed. On the long term, this is a critical risk for the sustainability of the investment, as provisions for routine maintenance will have to be considered and timely budgeted. • Sustaining road safety conditions. The risk of accidents will remain important even with the road safety measures that were implemented by the project. • Final reception of works. The works on Noé truck parking presented some defects at project closing (rising water from septic tanks, stagnation of rainwater, poor quality of pavement). It will be important to correct those defects before final reception of works. 17 Since 2018, the FER is undergoing a reform of its mandate and legal framework. 18 Based on the client’s project evaluation report, over the period 2012 - 2015, the financing needs for road maintenance amounted to FCFA 741.28 billion against FCFA 471,56 billion of mobilized resources corresponding to a financing gap of FCFA 269.72 billion (approximately US$539 million). From 2017 to 2020, the budget of the FER is expected to collect FCFA 598.6 billion (including form the increase of the tax on petroleum products for road use [Unique Specific Tax – TSU, of FCFA 40 / liter], as well as the broadening of the base of its resources). 19 World Bank Group, Scaling Up Private Sector Participation in Road Asset Management in Sub-Saharan Africa, November 2019 Page 27 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) V. LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 84. The project provides several lessons which can be categorized under following points: (a) As a ‘first generation’ corridor project, the combination of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ components strengthened the overall impact of the program. The APL2 participated to the development of a key corridor in West Africa, based on international trade and transport facilitation through improved road connectivity and competitiveness with the international markets. Investment activities financed by the APL2 along the road, at ports and borders, complemented by the trade facilitation awareness campaigns, and the peer pressure provided by the regional dimension, contributed to achieve significant results. Based on the ALTTFP experience, ‘second generation’ corridor design could be strengthened to include elements of growth and to further encourage governments to improve infrastructure planning and asset management capacity and coordination of joint regional reforms. • Implementation readiness is key to avoid potential delays and cost overruns. For the APL2 civil works, there was a long delay between the time when the studies were done and when the works had started (leading to additional degradations of the infrastructure), as well as particular post crisis conditions in which the studies were carried out. Hence, the technical design and studies led to numerous critical amendments during implementation (such as change in roads alignment and redesign of bridge foundations) and accordingly significant delays and cost overrun. Infrastructure projects should ensure that all the required technical and economic studies are of high quality and, if needed, specialized consultants should be recruited to strengthen the client capacity. • In terms of long-term sustainability of investment, including assets maintenance into the project design appears to be an option. Considering the overall under-maintenance of road infrastructure assets in the region, there is a high risk to the investments made, unless a budgeting mechanism is put in place. Constant and strengthened institutional and policy dialogue to support road maintenance funds, along with an output performance-based approach for roadworks contracts may offer a solution. Similarly, more consideration should be given to assess the demand and the commercial viability of ancillary infrastructure such as truck parking, and design should be demand driven to avoid over-capacity investments that also leads to difficulties in the exploitation of such infrastructure. • Embedment of the social dimension in the project design. The program had a potential to positively affect millions of women, who represented about half of the corridor catchment population, and most of which were engaged in small trade along the road sections rehabilitated under the program and at the border crossing points. Gender-targeted activities for project beneficiary communities along the corridor could be incorporated at design stage. (b) Project co-financing structure should be designed to minimize use of non-IDA/IBRD funds for delivery of key project activities. The APL2 was structured to have 40 percent of the project cost, largely for carrying out major civil works, funded through counterpart contribution by the GoCI. The project suffered from delays in the mobilization of the counterpart funds and issues in supervising the procurement of contracts financed by the counterpart funds. As described in the ICR, this resulted in significant delays in the implementation of the infrastructure component of the project. (c) Adequate institutional arrangements are needed to ensure a higher-level corridor supervision and coordination layer. The success of regional projects depends on the quality of the bilateral dialogue between countries, for which a permanent dialogue and cooperation at political and technical levels is required. Page 28 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) • Future regional corridor operations should encourage implementation at a regional-level entity and should seek to garner strong regional stakeholder support. Although it was designed as one regional project, the APL 2 implementation arrangements were at the national level, and as such the project was implemented as a national project. For the APL 2, such a regional-level entity to ensure monitoring and supervision of the corridor would have expedited the application of attenuating measures and would have ensured better synergy of activities and their complementarity. • Appropriate anchoring of the PIU is key to successful project supervision. Contrary to the other program countries, the project PIU was established at the level of MEF within a heavy and rigid institutional structure. The PIU had neither the authority nor the capacity to manage a project supporting mainly of road and border infrastructure along with trade and transit facilitation activities. That had led to significant initial delays in preparation and implementation. (d) Mitigation measures - financial or time contingencies - should be considered if a regional program is to be split in multiple phases. Throughout implementation, major disconnects between customs activities and civil works, were identified with neighboring Ghana. All the connectivity activities with Ghana (including the border infrastructure and customs interconnectivity) were negatively affected by Côte d’Ivoire coming later into the program, and most of these activities were carried out after the project closing in Ghana. The long time spent to design and implement the pilot phase of customs interconnection suggests that both countries were not at the same commitment level. The gap in project closing dates limited the dialogue between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire at the time it was the most needed. To ensure tradeoff of splitting into different phases, and to strengthen regional linkages, financial contingencies could be included in the following phase to ensure level of commitment needed to deliver the project activities. (e) All measures available to a World Bank team (including hard decisions like the suspension of disbursement) should be used when important issues or non-compliant practices are identified during implementation. The partial suspension of disbursements due to shortcomings in social safeguards compliance served as a basis for increased high-level dialogue with the GoCI authorities. The audits on enforcement of social safeguards, environmental safeguards, technical design and safety practices meant to identify due diligence measures to lift the suspension, also led to additional positive outcomes which were of benefit to workers and the population living in the area of the project investments, namely they: • allowed a high-level dialogue on road safety measures on the Ivorian section of the Abidjan - Lagos corridor, and led to commitments to increase road safety measures on sections identified as at risk outside of the project, and on other projects in different locations; • represented an opportunity to ensure compliance with the latest World Bank GBV mitigation clauses, which were included for all the work contracts; • introduced the latest practices on occupational health and safety on the project civil works sites. . Page 29 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS A. RESULTS INDICATORS A.1 PDO Indicators Objective/Outcome: Reduce trade barriers in the port of Abidjan Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Reduced port dwell time in Days 14.00 11.00 11.00 Abidjan 10-Sep-2012 29-Mar-2019 29-Mar-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): Target fully achieved. Objective/Outcome: Reduce trade barriers on the roads along the corridor in Ivory Coast Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Reduced border crossing time Hours 37.00 29.60 14.00 of trucks and merchandise along the corridor at Noé – 10-Sep-2012 29-Mar-2019 29-Mar-2019 Elubo (with Ghana) Page 30 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Comments (achievements against targets): Target exceeded by 48 percent. A.2 Intermediate Results Indicators Component: A :Trade Facilitation Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Computerized Single Window Yes/No N Y Y functional in the port of Abidjan 10-Sep-2012 29-Mar-2019 29-Mar-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): Target achieved (using PPP instead of project financing). Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of roadblocks per Number 18.00 3.00 2.40 100 kilometers between Abidjan-Noé reduced 10-Sep-2012 29-Mar-2019 29-Mar-2019 Page 31 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Comments (achievements against targets): Target achieved. Component: Improvement of the Corridors Road Infrastructure Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Roads rehabilitated, Non- Kilometers 0.00 130.30 113.59 rural 10-Sep-2012 29-Mar-2019 29-Mar-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): 87% of the target was achieved. Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Roads in good and fair Percentage 71.00 77.00 92.00 condition(IRI<6) as a share of the corridor length in Cote 10-Sep-2012 29-Mar-2019 29-Mar-2019 d'Ivoire Page 32 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Comments (achievements against targets): Target surpassed. Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Direct project beneficiaries Number 0.00 49.57 53.00 (in millions)* Bank wide Core Sector Indicator* 10-Sep-2012 29-Mar-2019 29-Mar-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): Target surpassed. (unit of measure is in millions) Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Direct project beneficiaries Percentage 0.00 55.00 33.00 of which female (%)* Bank wide Core Sector Indicator* 10-Sep-2012 29-Mar-2019 29-Mar-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): Target partially achieved. Page 33 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Page 34 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) B. KEY OUTPUTS BY COMPONENT Objective/Outcome 1: Reduce trade barriers in the port in Abidjan Outcome Indicators Reduced port dwell time in Abidjan Intermediate Results Indicators Computerized port single window established and functional 1. Component A: Computerized port single window established and functional in Abidjan 2. Component A: Customs procedures manuals were developed and streamlined in Côte d’Ivoire Key Outputs by Component 3. Component A: Strengthened operational capacity of the Recipient’s (linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 1) National Facilitation Committee (NFC) 4. Component D: ALCO annual campaigns to collect data on port dwell time in all ports on the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor; ALCO annual regional workshops focused on raising awareness of corridor performance and trade facilitation issues. Objective/Outcome 2: Reduce trade barriers on the roads along the corridor in Côte d’Ivoire Reduced border crossing time of trucks/merchandise along the Outcome Indicators corridor at Noé –Elubo (with Ghana) 1. Reduced number of roadblocks per 100 kilometers along the Intermediate Results Indicators corridor 1.Interconnectivity established between the customs agencies in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana; Key Outputs by Component 2. Customs procedures manuals were developed and streamlined in (linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 2) Côte d’Ivoire 3. Strengthened operational capacity of the Recipient’s NFC Objective/Outcome 3: Reduce transport barriers on the roads along the corridor in Côte d’Ivoire Page 35 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Outcome Indicators n/a 1. Roads in good and fair condition as a share of the corridor length Intermediate Results Indicators 2. Roads rehabilitated (km) – non-rural 1. Component B: (a) Rehabilitation Grand-Bassam-Moossou-Nzikro- Aboisso-Noé (Ghanaian border) road section, (b) Construction of transit and secure parking areas at Noé and Aboisso (c) Rehabilitation of the freight terminal at Vridi and improvement of related access roads (about 8.9 km), (d) widening of Aboisso bridge (120 m), and the bridge of Noé has been rehabilitated; and (e) the market at Elubo has Key Outputs by Component been rehabilitated but is not functional. In addition, and to reinforce (linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 3) road safety for pedestrian, a footbridge has been built in Aboisso. 2. Component D: ALCO annual campaigns to collect data on roadblocks and 2007 Accra MOU indicators on all countries of the Abidjan-Lagos corridor; ALCO annual regional workshops focused on raising awareness of corridor performance and transport and trade facilitation issues Page 36 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) ANNEX 2. BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION A. TASK TEAM MEMBERS Name Role Preparation Africa Olojoba Eshogba Senior Environmental Specialist Anca Cristina Dumitrescu Senior Transport Specialist, Task Team Leader Saidou Diop Senior Financial Management Specialist Daniela Junqueira Counsel Casey Torgusson Operations officer, Regional Integration Kignopron Coulibaly Team assistant Maria Cruz Lead Social Development Specialist Maurice Adoni Senior Procurement Specialist Ntombie Z. Siwale Senior Program Assistant Aissatou Diallo Senior Finance Officer Tadatsugu Matsudaira Senior trade Facilitation Specialist Ibou Diouf Senior Transport specialist Non Bank Staff Alphonse Soh Highway Engineer Supervision/ICR Anne Cecile Sophie Souhaid, Marc Marie Francois Navelet Task Team Leader(s) Noualhier Maurice Adoni Procurement Specialist(s) Jean Charles Amon Kra Financial Management Specialist Abdoul Wahabi Seini Social Specialist Jean Kanyamuhanda Team Member Alphonse Soh Team Member Konjit Negash Gebreselassie Team Member Abdoulaye Gadiere Environmental Specialist Monica Augustina Cristina Moldovan Team Member Page 37 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Haoua Diallo Team Member Laurence Kacoubra Ahiba Team Member B. STAFF TIME AND COST Staff Time and Cost Stage of Project Cycle No. of staff weeks US$ (including travel and consultant costs) Preparation FY10 13.925 117,083.34 FY11 13.813 122,513.58 FY12 17.841 125,796.55 FY13 0 0.00 Total 45.58 365,393.47 Supervision/ICR FY12 1.525 7,148.59 FY13 18.877 161,333.24 FY14 16.215 435,888.00 FY15 7.504 263,060.16 FY16 7.359 84,742.61 FY17 27.385 212,000.29 FY18 26.097 220,305.69 FY19 17.310 154,615.83 FY20 7.757 51,449.97 Total 130.03 1,590,544.38 Page 38 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) ANNEX 3. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT Amount at Approval Actual at Project Percentage of Approval Components (US$M) Closing (US$M) (%) Trade Facilitation 6.30 1.8 28.5 Improvement of the 138.8 109.9 79.1 Corridors Road Infrastructure Project Management and 2.9 7 241.3 Coordination HIV/AIDS Programs and 0 1.50 - Corridor Performance Total 148.00 120.20 81.2 Page 39 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) ANNEX 4. EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS 85. Economic analysis. An ex-post analysis was done to evaluate the economic returns of the activities completed before project closing. Like the ALTTFP APL1, it follows the same methodology used at the appraisal stage and focuses on Component B, whose investments accounted for 91 percent of the total project costs. The overall economic benefits of the project derive from (i) savings in travel time due to improvements in road infrastructure, and (ii) savings in VOC due to the improved quality of the roads. 86. The ICR economic analysis for the Noé-Abidjan section was carried out using a simplified20 HDM4 model, and shows the results recorded in the table below. The ICR analysis was compared with a revised appraisal estimate to reflect the NPV for the share of actual works delivered by the project; it used cost estimates from the PAD and the value for expected km of road to be rehabilitated based on achieved indicators under the project. The revised appraisal baseline resulted in an NPV of US$32.43 million at 12 percent discount rate and an EIRR of 17 percent, which is slightly higher when compared to the results from the economic analysis at appraisal. 87. The ICR economic analysis considered two cases, as shown in Table 1 below: (a) using only the cost of civil works and partial supervision costs - the entirety of the Component B - estimated at US $109.90 million, and (b) using the cost of civil works and full supervision costs - the entirety of the Component B and part of Component C - estimated at US $115.61 million. Considering a traffic increase following PAD assumptions, for case (a) the derived NPV is $ 46.68 million, at a discount rate of 12 percent, and an EIRR of 20.06 percent; and for case (b) the NPV is US$ 41.23 million, at a discount rate of 12 percent, and an EIRR of 18.8 percent. Table 1: Results of the Economic Evaluation of Road Infrastructure Noé-Abidjan Road km of road rehabilitated Costs NPV with 12% discount rate EIRR Rehabilitation by ALTTFP-APL2 (US$, millions) (US$, millions) (%) Appraisal Estimates 130.00 138.00 15.80 15.9 Revised Appraisal Estimates 118.75 126.06 32.43 17.0 ICR Estimates case (a) (civil works only and part of the 118.75 109.90 46.68 20.0 supervision costs) ICR Estimates case (b) (civil works and full supervision 118.75 115.61 41.23 18.8 costs) Note: NPV = Net Present Value; EIRR = Economic Internal Rate of Return. 88. Travel times savings are based on the ALCO traffic survey estimates for ‘before project’ and ‘with project’ travel conditions. The value of time for vehicle and bus passengers was considered as US$1 per hour based on the 2019 Socio Economic Study by ALCO.21 To be aligned with the analysis of the ALTTFP APL1, the VOC parameters shown 20 The PAD’s detailed economic analysis was not available, so the ICR scenarios were based on available scenario description provided in the PAD. ALCO was responsible to undertake a detailed socioeconomic analysis of the project at closure; however, it did not use latest project costs. The unit values for VOCs were considered as in the ALTTFP APL1 ICR, travel time savings were based on the ALCO estimates, and the unit value of time was based on ALCO’s 2019 Socio Economic Study. 21 Even when considering a lower value of time of US$0.75 for car and motorcycle passengers, and US$0.5 for bus passengers, the EIRR is slightly higher than 12% for both case (a) and (b). Page 40 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) in the Table 2 below were considered the same as in the ICR economic analysis of the APL1. Similarly, to be conservative, half of the truck traffic level on each section was considered loaded to full capacity, and the value of time was considered as US$15 per truck per day. Table 2. VOC Parameters in Function of Speed Coefficient Cars Motorcycles Buses Trucks a 4,397.4 2,198.7 4,397.4 9,493.8 b 169.86 10.0 449.32 424.32 alpha 1.5 1.5 1.1 1.1 beta 0.0133 0.0167 0.0133 0.0133 Note: ( )  C ( v ) = a* 1 −  + b v 89. The ICR estimates, see Table 4 below, were based on progress of the road rehabilitated indicator reported under the project’s Results Framework and final civil work costs incurred under the component. The vehicle count survey presented by ALCO in their 2019 report, informed the level of traffic on the project targeted sections at the ICR stage. For comparison purposes, the Table 3 below presents traffic values used at the PAD and ICR stage. For the ex-post scenarios, the values and vehicle type distribution reported by ALCO was used. Benefits were considered stating with 2017 only, when the rehabilitation works were finalized on a substantive share of the targeted sections. Table 3. ICR Traffic data ICR Traffic data Average Annual Traffic Vehicles Other Bus Truck Source Year (veh/year) (veh/year) (veh/year) (veh/year) PAD 2011 713648 140452 n/a 94900 Vehicles Motorcycles Bus Truck Year (veh/year) (veh/year) (veh/year) (veh/year) ALCO 2019 2017 366,891 442,427 118,700 151,073 report Annual Traffic Growth Rate Source Period Vehicles Motorcycles Bus Truck 2012-2017 5% 5% 5% 4% PAD estimates 2018-2024 5% 5% 5% 4% 2025-2034 4% 4% 4% 3% Page 41 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) Table 4. Component B - ICR Economic Efficiency Analysis Revised Appraisal Estimates NET Economic Investment Project costs Maintenance costs Economic Benefits Benefits (US$, millions per (US$, millions per (US$, millions per (US$, millions per Year year) year) year) year) 2014 19.96 0.00 -19.96 2015 24.73 0.00 -24.73 2016 25.36 0.00 -25.36 2017 17.86 20.55 2.69 2018 27.74 -2.99 21.52 -9.21 2019 10.41 -5.99 22.54 6.14 2020 - -2.99 23.61 20.61 2021 - -2.99 24.73 21.73 2022 - -5.99 25.90 19.91 2023 - -2.99 27.12 24.13 2024 - -2.99 28.41 25.42 2025 - -5.99 29.47 23.48 2026 - -2.99 30.58 27.58 2027 - -2.99 31.72 28.73 2028 - -5.99 32.91 26.92 2029 - -2.99 34.15 31.15 2030 - -2.99 35.43 32.43 2031 - -5.99 36.76 30.77 2032 - -2.99 38.14 35.14 2033 - -2.99 39.57 36.58 2034 - -5.99 41.06 35.07 NPV (US$, millions): 32.43 EIRR: 17.06% ICR Estimates case (a) (civil works only) NET Economic Investment Project costs Maintenance costs Economic Benefits Benefits (US$, millions per (US$, millions per (US$, millions per (US$, millions per Year year) year) year) year) 2014 17.40 - 0.00 -17.40 2015 21.56 - 0.00 -21.56 2016 22.11 - 0.00 -22.11 2017 15.57 - 0.00 4.98 2018 24.18 -2.61 0.00 -5.27 2019 9.08 -2.61 20.55 10.85 2020 - -5.22 21.52 18.39 2021 - -2.61 22.54 22.12 2022 - -2.61 23.61 23.29 2023 - -5.22 24.73 21.90 2024 - -2.61 25.90 25.80 2025 - -2.61 27.12 26.86 2026 - -5.22 28.41 25.36 2027 - -2.61 29.47 29.11 2028 - -2.61 30.58 30.30 2029 - -5.22 31.72 28.93 2030 - -2.61 32.91 32.82 2031 - -2.61 34.15 34.15 2032 - -5.22 35.43 32.92 2033 - -2.61 36.76 36.96 2034 - -2.61 38.14 38.45 NPV (US$, millions): 46.68 EIRR: 20.07% Page 42 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) ICR Estimates case (b) (civil works and full supervision costs) NET Economic Investment Project costs Maintenance costs Economic Benefits Benefits (US$, millions per (US$, millions per (US$, millions per (US$, millions per Year year) year) year) year) 2014 18.31 0.00 -18.31 2015 22.68 0.00 -22.68 2016 23.26 0.00 -23.26 2017 16.38 0.00 20.55 4.17 2018 25.44 -2.75 21.52 -6.66 2019 9.55 -5.49 22.54 7.50 2020 - -2.75 23.61 20.86 2021 - -2.75 24.73 21.98 2022 - -5.49 25.90 20.40 2023 - -2.75 27.12 24.38 2024 - -2.75 28.41 25.66 2025 - -5.49 29.47 23.98 2026 - -2.75 30.58 27.83 2027 - -2.75 31.72 28.98 2028 - -5.49 32.91 27.42 2029 - -2.75 34.15 31.40 2030 - -2.75 35.43 32.68 2031 - -5.49 36.76 31.26 2032 - -2.75 38.14 35.39 2033 - -2.75 39.57 36.82 2034 - -5.49 41.06 35.57 NPV (US$, millions): 41.23 EIRR: 18.86% 90. Project implementation factors that influenced efficiency. The table 5 below provides an overview of the cost increase to the civil works contracts at project closing, in March 2019. The costs of the civil works had increased significantly during their implementation, overall reaching 30 percent additional costs compared to the awarded contract in the beginning of the project, and by 7 percent when compared to the appraisal estimates. As a result of the extensions of the work contracts, the amounts of supervision missions also substantially increased, overall reaching 98 percent of the awarded contract and 20 percent when compared to the appraisal estimates. 91. The cost overrun comprised of significant changes to the work scope (modification of the pavement profile on certain sections of the project) and scale-up of activities (to include new works not foreseen in the basic work scope), and was combined with unforeseen site conditions (for example the Vridi freight station and its access roads where due to the quality of preparation studies - which had been conducted in a crisis environment - the underground services (CIE, SODECI, mobile phone companies, etc.) were not identified). This has consequently resulted in changes in the RAP implementation, significant cost overruns (between 13 and 45 percent when compared to awarded contract), and delays in the execution of civil works (up to 28 months for the rehabilitation of the Aboisso – Noé section). 92. Effects of the 2011 post electoral crisis on the institutional capacity were felt until late in the project implementation, when major shortcomings in social safeguards compliance, as well as the low institutional capacity of the client to supervise them, led to suspension of disbursement for seven months in 2017, cost Page 43 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) overruns and delays in implementation. Additional costs were incurred due to extra environmental and social measures when crossing urban areas (mainly Aboisso). 93. The overall efficiency of the project is rated Substantial, considering the difficult conflict environment under which the project was operating during preparation and the fragile post conflict environment in the first years of implementation. Table 5 Overview of the cost increase to the civil works contracts at project closing Cost increase Works Contract compared to Delay Justification awarded contract Vridi freight station and its 40% 15 months (vi) Clearance of Right of Way access roads (vii) Movement of underground services (viii)Long administrative procedures for the compensation of PAPs (ix) Suspension of work pending the signature of the amendment (x) Increase in mass of works Rehabilitation Grand Bassam- 0 3 months Unsatisfactory performance of the Nzikro - Lot 1 contractor (termination of contract, and reassignment of works) Rehabilitation Nzikro – Aboisso 26% 3 months Increase in mass of works - Lot 2 Rehabilitation Aboisso – Noé 45% 28 months (iv) Quality of pavement in place (v) Change of road profile (in the crossing of Aboisso) (vi) Increase in the mass of works Related work at the Aboisso- - 10 months - Noé road Aboisso rest area - 5 months - Noé rest area 13% 4 months (i) Change of location (ii) Increase in mass of works Rehabilitation Elubo-Noé - 11 months - Total 30 % 2 – 28 months Source : Unité Infrastructures Routières AGEROUTE Page 44 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) ANNEX 5. BORROWER, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS According to the guidelines, the ICR was submitted to the borrower for comments. On December 13, 2019, the head of the PIU informed the World Bank Task Team Lead by email that the Ivorian authorities had no comment to the draft ICR. The Ivorian PIU had also forwarded to the World Bank Bank team the Government’s own evaluation of the Project, whose executive summary is included below. STUDY FOR THE OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF PERFORMANCE OF ALTTFP AND DRAFTING OF COMPLETION REPORT22 FINAL REPORT October 2019 Executive summary 1. Overall Assessment and Conclusions The final evaluation mission of the Abidjan Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Project (ALTTFP) is at the initiative of its Coordination Unit. It consisted of: • Analyzing the relevance and consistency of the project objectives as well as the quality of its design; • Examining the performance of its implementation in relation to the objectives and planned results, as well as the quality of the contribution of each of the stakeholders (institutional or private); • Assessing the actual or potential changes generated as a result of its implementation and especially the sustainability of the results obtained now that external support has been completed. • Learning from the implementation of this action and making recommendations for possible similar initiatives in the future. The evaluation of the PFCTCAL reveals that it is a relevant and coherent project even if it presents some conceptual shortcomings: strategy responds to the weakness of the competitiveness of the regional economy due in part to the poor quality of road transport infrastructure and tariff and non-tariff barriers, the PFCTCAL is also focused the of HIV / AIDS issue affecting the truckers and populations along this Corridor. The PFCTCAL is consistent with the objectives of regional integration and trade and transport facilitation of ECOWAS as it is an integral part of the trade facilitation program and of the regional road transit adopted by ECOWAS and UEMOA in 2003. The proposed project is also in line with the objectives of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) for the corridor countries and particularly for Côte d'Ivoire (PRSP 2009 - Strategic Axis 6 "International Context and Regional Integration" which reaffirms its commitment to the effective implementation of the relevant provisions of the Regional PRSP and the Regional Economic Programme (PER) with regard to the development of regional community infrastructure. 22République de Côte d’Ivoire, Cellule de Coordination du Projet de Facilitation du Commerce et du Transport sur le Corridor Abidjan Lagos (PFCTCAL), Etude pour l’évaluation globale de la performance du PFCTCAL et la rédaction du rapport d’achèvement, Rapport Final, Octobre 2019 Page 45 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) The ALTTFP supports the Regional Integration Assistance Strategy (SAIR) for Sub-Saharan Africa, approved by the World Bank in March 2008, and the World Bank's Country Partnership Strategy (2009-2013) for Côte d'Ivoire, which makes the "Renewal of Infrastructure and Basic Services" one of the major axes of its intervention in this country. The project, which aims to harmonize procedures and interconnect administrations, supports in particular Côte d'Ivoire's ambition to play its full role in the development of the corridor countries its role as the driving force of the sub-region as formulated in its National Development Plan (NDP). The development objective of the program (ODP) is to reduce barriers to trade and transport in ports and on roads along the coasts of the Abidjan-Lagos corridor. This formulation refers instead to a specific objective (SO) that is not formulated in the project document. The development objective and the specific objective (SO) of the project should have been stated as follows: • ODP: "Contribute to a sustainable improvement in the performance of the national economy and underpinned by regional, by acting on obstacles to road transit" • SO: 1) Reduce barriers to trade and transport in ports and on roads along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor. 2) Reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS in transport communities along the corridor. A quantified results measurement framework with reference values, intermediate values and of target values at the end of the project is attached to the project document. The project's financing plan is precise but concerning the institutional and financial arrangements operational, one can note the absence of a monitoring expert in the Project Coordination Unit, in charge of monitoring the performance indicators. This deficiency was corrected when the Bank suspended disbursements by the recruitment of an Environmental Expert and a Social Expert. The efficiency of the PFCTCAL is not satisfactory: first, the project's anchoring has suffered from a strong institutional instability and the modalities for recruiting the Project Coordinator at the start of the project were not in accordance with the Bank's procedures. Although appointed by the Ivorian side, his remuneration has not been fully paid, for which a solution must be found as a matter of urgency. Work turnaround times have increased significantly: from 3 to 28 months of delays depending on the contract. This is due to the insufficient quality of the preliminary project studies, the long suspension of disbursements (8 months) due to weak implementation environmental and social measures of the project and finally to the difficulties of the Ivorian side in mobilizing its counterpart. As a result of this situation, the costs of carrying out the works have also risen sharply: • five (5) amendments representing a total of +30% of the cost of the basic contracts for the works; • fourteen (14) amendments representing a total of +98% of the amounts of mission contracts of control. As of March 2019, the status of implementation of activities by component is as follows: • almost all of the activities planned for the "Support for the modernization of the customs administration" have been executed; Page 46 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) • outside the Grand Bassam-Nzikro - Lot 1 section where work is in progress, the others works contracts have been provisionally accepted. It should be noted that the work of rehabilitation of the Vridi freight station and its access roads, were received definitively since 16/02/2018. • ALCO has successfully completed its activities to monitor the project's indicators; • the project supervision missions by the bank have taken place; • the Steering Committee held its periodic project orientation meetings; • the Project Coordination Unit and AGEROUTE have each provided support to the execution of the project. Concerning the financial execution of the project in the evening of 29 March 2019, it should be noted that: • of the 74 billion of the project amount, 66.3 billion was actually disbursed, i.e. an overall absorption rate of 89.6%; • FCFA 44.3 billion was disbursed out of the 45 billion of the IDA share, or 98.5% of absorption; • FCFA 21.9 billion were made available out of the 29 billion from the counterpart share (75.8%). Despite the difficult implementation, the project's effectiveness is moderately satisfactory in terms of the results obtained and the level of achievement of the specific objective. Indeed: Concerning the specific objective or goal of the project: • the dwell time of trucks in the port of Abidjan has decreased significantly compared to May 2011, baseline situation: 11 days compared to 21 initially, i.e. a gain of 10 days. We observe also that the performance achieved is above the expected target of 16.8 days (-5.8 days); • the transit time "Elubo - Noé or time of the formalities "Import" is 19h in June 2018 and is below the target of 29.6 hours; • the transit time "Noé - Elubo" or time of the formalities "Export" is 47 hours in June 2018 against an expected target of 18 hours. This underperformance is due to the implementation of a number of short-term measures, on the Ghanaian side and at the slow pace of the interconnection between the customs administrations of the two countries. Concerning the results obtained by the project: • the number of fixed control points, which was 32 in 2011 in the Ivorian part of the corridor, dropped to 4 in 2018. • over a total length of 977 km examined, it can be noted that: o 82% of this line has a good surface finish, i.e. 800 km; o 11.3% of the corridor has an average surface index of 110.276 km o 6.8% of the corridor has a poor score in terms of surface index, i.e. 66 km. • over a total length of 1947.28 km checked (round trip), it can be noted that 92% of the network of the corridor has an IRI of less than 3, an objective well above that expected for the project (77% of the network with an IRI < 6). • at the end of the project in March 2019, a total length of 118.75 km was rehabilitated on the Côte d'Ivoire side against 130 km expected, the difference coming from the ongoing work on the Grand Bassam - Nzikro ; • 63.3% of truck drivers are aware of at least two ways to prevent HIV versus 90% expected. • 90.6% of truck drivers mention condom use with an occasional partner against 81% expected. • more than 53 million people, of whom nearly 33% are women, benefit from the results of the project. Page 47 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) However, it can be observed that the work on the Noé parking lot is defective (degradation of the pavement, rising water from the septic tank, disbonding of paving stones, etc.) which deserve to be corrected before the final acceptance of this infrastructure and that Aboisso infrastructure is not frequented by truckers, its initial purpose as a rest area having been visibly thwarted by the reduction in travel time induced by the improvement in road conditions. The results produced have enabled the project to make significant changes in its area of intervention: • the technical assistance provided to the various technical departments of the administration has helped to strengthen their operational capacities, rationalize their procedures and improve their performance (reorganization of internal control functions and audit, creation of a management and strategic planning unit, development of a plan customs strategy, implementation of revenue performance indicators customs, creation of an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) label, strengthening of the intelligence and risk function,...); • improved road fluidity: reduction in the number of roadblocks, better control of road traffic overloading of trucks in transit at the port of Abidjan, disappearance of parking lots in the port area of Abidjan. • improvement of road conditions: reduction in travel time from Abidjan to Noé, reduction in the number of vehicle maintenance costs, improved road safety, etc... • positive landscape changes in the crossing of the city of Aboisso and at the border crossing of Noé thanks to the improvements made; • better knowledge of HIV/AIDS preservation methods among truck drivers; • reduction in the incidence of HIV/AIDS in transport communities along the corridor ; • possible increase in tax revenue for the municipality of Aboisso through a better identification of the merchants installed on their new platform site. The institutional viability of the ALTTFP is certain: the project was planned and implemented by structures of the State of Côte d'Ivoire supported by a regional technical organization, ALCO, which, in turn, is driven by a common desire to pool and integrate national economies, embodied by ECOWAS. The economic viability of the project is moderately satisfactory: if it is true that the customs administration has substantial resources for the operation of the services created, it is nevertheless true that the Road Maintenance Fund, a financing instrument of the maintenance of roads in the State of Côte d'Ivoire, may experience some difficulties in responding positively to this mission. Indeed, over the period 2012 - 2015, in relation to its needs for financing, the Road Maintenance Fund - RMF experienced a gap of CFAF 269.72 billion. The capital market fundraising strategy adopted by the Executive Management, combined with the increase of the single specific tax -TSU on fuel and the widening of the base of its resources can help to address this shortfall. For the moment, a lot of effort remains to be done to meet the urgent financing needs of an Ivorian road heritage in full growth. The performance of the institutional actors is moderately satisfactory: the project has suffered from the instability of its institutional anchoring and the Steering Committee in the preparation phase of the project, had experienced some issues that have delayed its start. However, it has been effectively present during the implementation of the action plan for lifting the suspension of disbursement. It should be noted however that the difficulties in mobilizing the counterpart financing have negatively impacted the smooth implementation of the project. Page 48 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) For its part, after accepting the establishment of a project coordination unit, "recognized as inexperienced" by itself, the Bank has been able to take things in hand through quality supervision during project implementation. AGEROUTE, which was the delegated the project management, experienced instability in the coordination of its dedicated team: three project managers over 6 and a half years (from 25 September 2012 to 29 March 2019). There are also cost and time overruns during the execution of the work due in part to the insufficient quality of the preliminary design studies. The changes made in December 2016 to the institutional anchoring of the Coordination Unit have been beneficial to the progress of the project. However, it should be noted that, contrary to what was envisaged, the physical progress reports of the project have been integrated into the financial monitoring reports produced by the Coordination Unit. The construction companies experienced different situations: the construction contract for the rehabilitation of the Grand Bassam - Nzikro section was terminated due to the need for service. The works at the Noé parking lot have been provisionally finished but present defects. The other contracts are completed with long delays. 2. Lessons Learned The analysis of the implementation of the project during the period under review leads to the following lessons: • the quality of the preliminary design studies remains a major challenge for the proper execution of the projects; • the absence of a regional consultation framework for a regional program is a major obstacle to the weakness of the project: case of the interconnection of customs administrations; • the instability of the institutional anchoring of a project can have a negative impact on its implementation; • the resettlement after compensation of Noé's traders preserves the activities of the people affected by the project; • the experience of the ALTTFP raises once more the problem of the effectiveness of the strategy of co-financing of development projects, which has been repeated many times in most African countries Sub-Saharan. While firm commitments are made when signing the funding, it has often been difficult to mobilize counterpart funding in a timely manner in recipient countries due to cash flow reasons. 3. Key Recommendations At the end of the evaluation mission, the main recommendations resulting from the findings are as follows: For future projects, • house projects in institutions according to the themes addressed; • ensure the high quality of preliminary project studies by setting up a monitoring unit and appropriate validation; • provide a regional consultation framework for regional projects; • comply with the Bank's rules and procedures for the recruitment of PCUs; • plan and ensure in the annual budgets of the counterparts of the co-financed projects. Page 49 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) ANNEX 6. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS World Bank Group, Project Appraisal Document for the Second Phase Project of the Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program (ALTTFP) in the Republic of Côte D’Ivoire, Report No: 63591-CI, 2012 World Bank Group, Project Appraisal Document for the First Phase Project of the Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program (ALTTFP) in the Republic of Ghana, Republic of Togo, and Republic of Benin, Report No: 49368- AFR, 2010 World Bank Group, Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Republic of Côte d’Ivoire for the period FY16-FY19, August 17, 2015 World Bank Group, Scaling Up Private Sector Participation in Road Asset Management in Sub-Saharan Africa, November 2019 République de Côte d’Ivoire, Cellule de Coordination du Projet de Facilitation du Commerce et du Transport sur le Corridor Abidjan Lagos (PFCTCAL) - Etude pour l’évaluation Globale de la Performance du PFCTCAL et la Rédaction du Rapport d’Achèvement, Rapport Final, Octobre 2019 République de Côte d’Ivoire, Agence de Gestion des Routes (AGEROUTE), Présentation sur le Bilan des Activités, Mars 2019 Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization (ALCO) - LDME, Synthesis Report of Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Project (ALTTFP), March 2019 Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization (ALCO) - LDME, Estimation of the Number of Direct Beneficiaries, March 2019 Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization (ALCO) - LDME, Evaluation of Short- and Medium-Term Socio-Economic Impacts of ALTTFP, March 2019 World Bank Restructuring Papers processed in 2017 and 2018 World Bank Implementation Supervision and Results Reports World Bank Aide Memoires World Bank Implementation Completion and Results Report (ICR) for the ALTTFP APL1; Report No: ICR00004248 Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) in the ICR Review of the ALTTFP APL1; Report number ICRR0021113 Page 50 of 51 The World Bank Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Program - APL-2 (P116323) ANNEX 7. ALTTFP APL1 and APL2 MAP Source: ALCO Page 51 of 51