AR Buenos Aires Infra Sustainable Investment Dev Proj Phase II

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The overall purpose of the Second Phase Buenos Aires Infrastructure Sustainable Investment Development Project is to improve the provision of infrastructure services in the Province. Through improved services the Project aims to support the return to a sustainable path of economic growth, to alleviate poverty and to increase social equity. The specific objective of the Project is to improve the social and environmental welfare of approximately 5,000,000 people through the improved provision of transport and water and sanitation and drainage services. Specifically, the operation will finance investments to extend the supply of safe and reliable water and sanitation, adequate drainage, and transport and access. The Project will include six components: 1) Roads Component to: (i) rehabilitate high priority segments of the interurban provincial non-concessioned road network, (ii) remove critical bottlenecks and carrying out critical road safety improvements; (iii) rehabilitate non-concessioned access roads, and (iv) implement a well-designed maintenance program for the entire provincial non-concessioned road network for the years 2009-2011; 2) Water and Sanitation Component, to expand the provision of services towards areas of low income and high vulnerability, many of them located within the Greater Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (Conurbano Bonaerense), financing secondary sanitation systems that take advantage of existing primary facilities and comply with the agreed eligibility criteria; 3) Drainage Component to finance a series of drainage subprojects in urban, periurban and urban areas that comply with the agreed eligibility criteria, are part of an integrated drainage plan, and follow the methodology adopted with support of the Adaptable Program Lending1; 4) Technical Engineering Feasibility, Design, and Benchmarking component, to design and implement a strategic framework for infrastructure development; 5) Pre-investment for competitiveness and job creation component, to assist the government to extend and implement the results of the Strategic Evaluation supported under APL1, to (i) identify and study sectors and regions likely to play a key role in provincial development; (ii) design sector and territorial interventions and policies aimed at improving competitiveness and employment opportunities; (iii) implement the recommendations of the Strategic Evaluation of the Province, which is under development as part of the APL1; and (iv) implement, on a pilot basis, selected policy recommendations to promote competitiveness and employment generation; and 6) !nstitutional Capacity Building component to continue the work done under the APL1, to support the Province in its overall strategic infrastructure oversight and execution efforts to strengthen agencies directly and indirectly involved in the implementation of subprojects under each component, consolidate TA programs initiated under previous projects, support improved information systems, such as the integrated financial management integrated system, and implement a program of analytical work to monitor budget formulation and execution and undertake the regular and periodic monitoring of program implementation and impacts.