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“In this Year of Action on the MDGs, I am particularly concerned about the risks of failing to meet the goal of reducing hunger and malnutrition, the ‘forgotten MDG’,� said Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank. “As the report shows, reducing malnutrition has a ‘multiplier’ effect, contributing to success in other MDGs including maternal health, infant mortality, and education.�

The Global Monitoring Report: MDGs and the Environment—Agenda for Inclusive and Sustainable Development stresses the link between environment and development and calls for urgent action on climate change. The report warns that developing countries stand to suffer the most from climate change and the degradation of natural resources. To build on hard-won gains, developing countries need support to address the links between growth, development and environmental sustainability..

“Developing countries need more foreign aid and domestic resources to reach the MDGs. High economic growth and a stable macroeconomic environment remain essential for reducing poverty and increasing investment in health and education.� said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF Managing Director.

Progress toward the MDGs differs dramatically across countries, regions, and income groups, the report says. Sub-Saharan Africa lags on all counts, including the goal for poverty reduction, though many countries in the region are now experiencing improved growth performance. At the country level, most countries are off track to meet most MDGs, with those in fragile situations falling behind most seriously.

With stronger efforts by the countries themselves and their development partners, most MDGs remain achievable for most countries, the report says. With this in mind, the report lays out an integrated six-point agenda, with strong, inclusive growth at the top. The agenda also calls for more effective aid; a successful outcome to the Doha round of trade talks; more emphasis on strengthening programs in health, education and nutrition; and financing and technology transfers to support climate change mitigation and adaptation.

“This year’s high level meetings in connection with the MDG halfway point provide an opportunity to agree on priorities for action and milestones for monitoring progress,� said Zia Qureshi, lead author of the report.

HALFWAY TO 2015 – FAST FACTS

• Though the overall aid landscape is expanding, official development assistance (ODA)—estimated at $103.7 billion in 2007—has stalled. To meet the G8 promises to increase aid by $50 billion by 2010, ODA must expand. Meanwhile, new donors like China and India are growing in size and importance.
• Growth momentum will have to be sustained and broadened in developing countries in the face of financial turmoil. The IMF projects global GDP growth will slow from 4.9 percent in 2007 to 3.7 percent in 2008. Developing countries’ growth will ease to 6.7 percent, but persistent financial market turmoil and knock-on effects on growth pose significant downside risks.
• The number of people living on under $1/day in the developing world declined by 278 million between 1990 and 2004, and a stunning 150 million in the last 5 years of that period.
• Rapid progress is possible. Vietnam reduced poverty from 58 percent in 1993 to 16 percent in 2006.
• Forty million more children are in school and gender disparity in primary and secondary schools has declined by 60 percent, but 75 million children remain out of school.
• Every year, three million more children survive, and 2 million lives are saved by immunization. But every week, 10,000 women still die from treatable complications of pregnancy and birth, and over 190,000 children under five are lost to disease. Two million people now receive AIDS treatment, but about the same number die every year of the disease, and over 33 million are infected with HIV.
• The economic burden of environmental health hazards is estimated at 1.5 to 4 percent of GDP. Worldwide, environmental risk factors play a role in 80 percent of diseases, including malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory infections. A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.
• A billion people lack reasonable access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people (40 percent of the world population) do not have access to basic sanitation. Meeting the water and sanitation targets will require doubling the current annual investment to about $30 billion. The UN estimates that by 2030, developing countries will need $100 billion annually to finance mitigation and $28-$ 67 billion for adaptation.
• A third of the developing world’s population—1.6 billion people—lack access to modern energy, and are forced to rely on carbon-emitting biomass and fossil-fuel energy.
• An area of forest equivalent to the size of Panama or Sierra Leone is lost every year to land use changes, with most of the loss concentrated in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
• In 2007, gross concessional flows from multilateral development banks crossed $12 billion, a 10.3 percent increase driven by the International Development Association (IDA). While Asia continued to receive almost half of these flows, Africa received 45 percent in 2007, up from 37 percent in 2000.

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The report and related material (including updates on progress toward the MDGs) will be available at: http://www.worldbank.org/gmr2008

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Basic Project Info

1. Project development objectives

The objectives of the Jakarta Emergency Dredging Initiative (JEDI) are to: (i) contribute to the alleviation of the impacts of annual floods in DKI through the priority rehabilitation of existing floodways, drains and retention basins; and (ii) provide technical expertise through grants to strengthen the capacity of DKI to operate and maintain its flood control system according to standards and practices needed for a metropolitan area of national importance. The project is intended as part of a comprehensive program of activities to reduce the economic and social cost of flooding by partially restoring the capacity of the city’s flood control system to its original design level of protection of 25 years. It is expected that the project would benefit the poorer segments of the population, who live in the flood-prone areas and are most vulnerable to the immediate impacts of flooding including loss of income, medical costs, as well as the costs of infrastructure, business and home repairs.

2. Preliminary project description

2.1 The proposed JEDI would consist of four components: (A) urgent maintenance dredging; (B) construction of a disposal site for dredge spoil; (C) rehabilitation of river embankments; (D) capacity building, and project implementation support. The total project cost is estimated at USD 150.5 million (see below). Project Costs are highly indicative as they are derived from estimates in 2004-5 studies. Since then, fuel costs, which account for a large portion of dredging cost, have doubled. In addition, dredging volumes for the retention basins are expected to be higher than estimated. The Bank will assist DKI to locate grant financing for capacity building to DKI for the efficient operations and management of the flood management system.

2.2 Project costs presented here include work that is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works (MoPW) where urgent maintenance dredging is likely to yield significant benefits. The major drains and retention basins under MOPW and DKI responsibility are all located in flood prone areas in North Jakarta, and discharge directly into the nearby Jakarta Bay, and are therefore expected to yield substantial economic benefits on their own. MOPW would be the executing agency of JEDI. A Project Management Unit (PMU) will be established under DGWR where DKI will be represented. The project would be implemented by the Project Implementation Unit in the respective agency during 2008-2010 (except for the capacity building component, which would be implemented during 2008-2012). Estimated project cost is $150.5 and Bank’s financing can be up to 90% of DKI work program or about US$135.5 million. Grant financing from donors for about $7.3 million will be sought.

2.3 Component A: Urgent Maintenance Dredging (~USD 72 million). Based on previous Western Java Environmental Management Project (WJEMP) studies, DKI has identified a series of floodways, drains and retention basins (including screens and pumping stations) that are in urgent need of rehabilitation and which, when restored to original design capacity, would bring immediate benefits to persons living in the most flood-prone areas in Jakarta. The planned increase in the capacity of the flood control system through dredging will significantly reduce flood risks. Future floods are likely to be less severe and less frequent, provided that DKI will create the conditions to allow DPU-DKI (DKI Public Works Authority) to manage and operate the city’s flood control system in a sustainable manner. MoPW and DKI have assigned highest priority for maintenance dredging to: (i) four drains that have national importance under DKI authority (to be carried out by MoPW); (ii) four floodways under MoPW authority; (iii) five drains under DKI authority and (iv) five retention basins located in flood-prone areas close to Jakarta Bay (see Annex 5). This component will also include the required detailed engineering design, bidding documents and supervision of works.

2.4 Component B: Construction of Dredge Spoil Disposal Site (~USD 69 million). The total dredging volume required to rehabilitate the proposed drains and basins to their original capacity is estimated at 6.7 million m 3 (of which 3.5 million m 3 of dredge spoil to be removed from floodways under the authority of MoPW). According to the previous WJEMP studies, sediments of the main drains and rivers contain heavy metals, but are non hazardous, and are suitable for landfill, soil condition and sea disposal. Other studies indicate a higher (up to 60%) hazardous sludge content. A rapid survey is needed to include sediment analysis, including sieve analysis to determine the characteristic of the sediment in order to be able to decide on the dredging methodology, required equipment, and design of the disposal site. Based on the sediment analysis, a more detailed disposal plan can be made. Because DKI does not own other waste disposal sites with significant spare capacity, and because sea disposal would violate international agreements that prohibit the disposal of waste with a hazardous content, the possibility to store hazardous sludge in a specially reclaimed and sealed area would be considered. Initially, this would require 115 Ha of a Class 3 landfill site, to be extended to 250 Ha in a later stage. Other costs include design and supervision of construction activities.

2.5 The selection of the disposal site has important economic implications to the project. Land values and transportation costs will be considered in the selection of the site. A disposal site outside Jakarta may be more economical given the high land values in the city. However, transportation costs, including time and impact on urban environment and traffic, will also be considered. The cost of the disposal site is currently split proportionally between DKI and MoPW based on the volume of sludge generated from each source. It is expected that DKI will manage and operate the site based on modern standards of waste disposal sites of this kind. A study will be included to determine the financing arrangements for the long term operations and management of the site.

2.6 Component C: Rehabilitation of River Embankments (~USD 10 million). Longitudinal profiles of four major floodways (Cakung Floodway, Sunter River, Cengkareng Floodway and West Banjir Canal), undertaken in a survey in 2004, indicate that some embankments stretches need to be rehabilitated to restore their crest levels to their original design level. The longitudinal profiles show existing crest levels well below the original design water level. This may be due to subsidence of the subsoil in certain areas along the rivers, floodways and canals. Apart from dredging works, restoring the embankment crest levels to the original level is essential.

The embankment stretches that require rehabilitation are:

• Upstream stretch of the Cengkareng Floodway ( Upper Angke) estimated 6 km;
• Downstream stretch of the West Banjir Canal (Lower WBC) estimated 4 km;
• West Banjir Canal upstream Mokervaart estimated 3 km;
• Downstream stretch of the Cakung Drain (Lower Cakung Drain) estimated 10 km.

2.8 Component D: Capacity Building (~USD 7.3 million). Grant financing will be sought to provide extensive short and long term capacity building measures. The purpose of this component is to ensure that DKI and its contractors will acquire the capacity and technical expertise to rehabilitate and maintain its flood control system at required standards beyond the lifetime of the project. This will involve visits to countries that have had long and successful experience in flood mitigation, operations and maintenance, as well as technical and managerial capacities in this area. That way, DKI could replicate the proposed rehabilitation and maintenance works to other flood control infrastructure in future years without external support. DKI will need to assure the Bank that, by the end of the project, the necessary legal, regulatory and institutional changes have been made – including a fiscal arrangement for O&M financing – that will allow DPU-DKI to manage and operate the city’s flood control system in sustainable manner [1]

[1] It is expected that the component would be developed in close cooperation with the World Bank-Netherlands Program for Indonesia Water and Sanitation Sector Development and Capacity Building (WASAP-Indonesia).

2.9 Depending on availability of grant financing, other long term technical assistance and capacity building will be included in the project to address the long term structural issues not included in the project. The full scope and content of the capacity building program is subject to discussions within the Bank and with the government. Capacity building also includes support for project preparation and implementation. This would include the advisory support to project management unit in undertaking the project in accordance with Bank project management requirement including environmental management, procurement and financial management, and project monitoring and reporting.

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