10 April 2022
The Government, through its three key Ministries including the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening, and the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management, and Meteorology concluded negotiations on the proposed Integrated Economic Development and Community Resilient Project with the World Bank on 7th April 2022.
The conclusion of negotiations means that the Project Appraisal Document (PAD) that contains detailed descriptions of the various components of the new project would be formally submitted to the World Bank Board for approval as early as May 2022.
And with the Board's approval, the IEDCR Project shall be rolled out by September 2022.
The Solomon Islands Negotiation Team is headed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, Mr. Mckinnie Dentana.
Amongst the legal instruments agreed upon during the negotiation stage are: the terms of the Financing Agreement between Solomon Islands Government and International Development Association (IDA), the Global Environment Facility Least Developed Countries Fund Grant Agreement, and the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP).
Permanent Secretary Dentana also revealed that the IEDCR project has total funding of USD23.56 million (SBD 195.55 million) with the main component including the upscaling of key Provincial Social and Economic Infrastructure Investments and other areas of need.
The ICR will cover investments in all provinces and priority investments will be determined by the Provincial Government structure in consultation with the Central Government.
Mr. Dentana also confirmed that Provinces have so far identified about 112 health and COVID-19 investments projects and 61 resilient economic infrastructure projects for the next three years.
In signing the minutes of the negotiation Mr. Dentana emphasized that the focus must be on resilient economic infrastructure for post-COVID-19 recovery, and is in line with the Government’s Policy Re-Direction and commitments to contain the COVID-19 community transmission.
The ICR will also complement the Government’s commitments to the Provincial Capacity Development Fund (PCDF) which fulfills the Government’s support to all provinces.
SOURCE – GCU
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
