BUJUMBURA April 1st (ABP) – Burundi Prime Minister, Mr. Gervais Ndirakobuca, chaired on Thursday, March 28, in Bujumbura, the two-day work of the joint review of the performance of the portfolio of projects of the Government of Burundi financed by the World Bank (WB), a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Ndirakobuca recalled that Burundi is in a phase of socio-economic development involving young people and women through associations, cooperatives and income-generating activities. They thus promote the deployment of their internal resources up to the level of the village entity to achieve effective financial inclusion and achieve inclusive economic growth. Prime Minister Ndirakobuca took that opportunity to indicate that the new approach of the government with partners is that all projects are designed in alignment with the priorities of the government of Burundi with a view to achieving the objectives of the vision “Burundi emerging in 2040 and developed in 2060”. He called on all project managers present to become more involved in that process.
To achieve that, the government operates, in collaboration with the WB, rigorous monitoring, he underlined, adding that the government compares the performance of projects benefiting from WB financing as part of achieving the objectives and to improve the desired impact in favor of the beneficiary populations. To that end, he reaffirmed that all WB interventions contribute to achieving the objectives of the said vision.
Mr. Ndirakobuca, on that occasion, thanked the WB for its support which has been in Burundi since 1957. It has always been a reliable partner and has remained alongside the government to provide technical and financial support. That Bank has never stopped being concerned about the development of our country while taking into consideration the needs of the most vulnerable populations, he noted.
According to him, the WB has contributed to alleviating social inequalities and improving the living conditions of the population of Burundi. That has helped to strengthen our human capital, an essential element of development.
The Burundian Prime Minister invited the coordinators of projects financed by the WB to ensure that the financing available is truly used for the sustainable development of the country, with particular emphasis on positive and lasting results of the projects so that their partners can tackle to other sectors. He also urged the ministers to commit in the name of governmental unity and produce rapid results for the Burundians.
For his part, the Minister in charge of Finance, Mr. Audace Niyonzima, noted that the main objective of that meeting is to assess the current situation of the state of execution of projects supported by the WB. He reported that the active portfolio in 2024 is approximately $1.3 billion and has 17 projects, including 14 national and 3 regional. Those projects cover 8 sectors, namely agriculture, energy, health, population nutrition, trade, social protection, governance, transport and ICT.
For her part, the representative of the WB, Mrs. Hawa Cissé Wague, noted that the review is part of the efforts undertaken jointly by the government of Burundi and the WB to accelerate the implementation of projects. She appreciated the improvement in the implementation of that year’s projects because the disbursement rate for that year 2023-2024 is 32%, while last year 2022-2023 it was 17%.
During the discussions, the participants recommended that the government involve experts and technical staff from the supervisory ministries in the preparation phase of investment projects. They also recommended that the WB prepare simplified tools to facilitate project closure and contract management procedures with United Nations agencies, and organize a continuing training program on all aspects of financial management. Participants also recommended that project coordinators finalize and sign contracts during the validity periods of offers.