Economics & Development

Morocco Ifahsa Pumped Hydropower Storage (PHS) Project for Morocco has the development objectives of enhancing resilience of the Moroccan power system and enabling increased integration of renewable energy generation. Component 1: Construction of the Ifahsa PHS Plant will develop and commission a 300 megawatt plant with approximately five hours of storage (about 1,500 megawatt hours) through major civil works for upper and lower reservoirs, water conveyance tunnels and shafts, and an underground powerhouse, and through procurement and installation of reversible pump‑turbine units, generator‑motors, transformers, control and protection systems, and auxiliary equipment, as well as hydromechanical and dam‑safety instrumentation, an outdoor 400 kilovolt switchyard, temporary access roads, base camps, and construction power. Component 2: Construction of the Transmission Line and Grid Integration Facilities will build and commission the grid connection including a double‑circuit 400 kilovolt overhead transmission line of about 62 kilometers to tie the plant into the existing 400 kilovolt network between the Melloussa and Oualili substations, together with associated works and equipment meeting national grid codes. Component 3: Technical Assistance, Capacity Building, and Project Management Support will strengthen implementation quality and sector readiness for large‑scale storage through four Sub‑components. Sub‑component 3.1: Owner’s Engineer and technical oversight will finance an Owner’s Engineer for works supervision and support the preparation and implementation of dam safety and emergency preparedness instruments and the use of independent panels of experts for dam safety and environmental and social oversight. Sub‑component 3.2: Support for project environmental and social and financial management implementation and capacity building will fund actions in the environmental and social instruments, fiduciary management, citizen engagement and beneficiary feedback, and training for staff and stakeholders in PHS operations, reservoir management, climate‑adaptive hydrology, and digital dispatch optimization to strengthen operating procedures and performance monitoring. Sub‑component 3.3: Feasibility studies for future PHS projects and their public‑private partnership (PPP) model structure will prepare one prospective PHS project and analyze PPP options including risk allocation, revenue mechanisms, permitting pathways, and bankability, in coordination with World Bank Group partners. Sub‑component 3.4: Advisory support on storage valuation and market design will develop analytical options to value and remunerate flexibility, capacity, ancillary and other system services from storage, benchmark international practice, and assess potential carbon finance so that transparent, viable remuneration mechanisms can progressively support long‑term financial sustainability and enable future private participation.

The development objective of the Empowering Women Entrepreneurs and Upgrading MSMEs for Economic Transformation and Jobs in DRC Project for Democratic Republic of Congo is to enhance growth of new and existing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially women-owned, and promote job creation particularly for women in select geographic areas. The additional financing is requested to scale up well-performing activities that face higher-than-expected demand, deepen access to finance, sustain complex but high-impact business environment reforms, and extend the geographic scope to capture spillovers from strategic corridors, while allowing time to manage fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) risks in the East and resume activities when conditions permit. The Bank will work in four areas: first, expanding support to women micro-entrepreneurs and firm creation through integrated training, coaching, Business Plan Competitions (BPCs), and performance-linked grants to catalyze technology adoption, productivity, diversification, and climate resilience; second, strengthening financial inclusion by reinforcing credit infrastructure, topping up the Partial Portfolio Credit Guarantee Fund (PPCGF) including a new women-entrepreneurs window and a focus on renewable energy finance, and modernizing payments and digitization within participating institutions and the Central Bank of Congo (BCC), while advancing anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML CFT) practices; third, improving the entrepreneurship ecosystem through targeted regulatory and institutional reforms such as re-dynamizing the One-Stop-Shop for Business Registration (Guichet Unique de Création d’Entreprise, GUCE), advancing commercial justice digitalization, supporting Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and deploying shared SME Centers to expand market access and value chain services; and fourth, strengthening implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and citizen engagement as activities expand along the Inga and Lobito corridors. The project intends to finance and coach thousands of additional women entrepreneurs, new firms, and established SMEs; unlock more MSME lending through the PPCGF with increased participation by financial institutions; operationalize additional SME Centers; and deliver reforms that reduce administrative burdens, improve transparency, and crowd in private investment, thereby increasing firm revenues, fostering economic diversification, and creating tens of thousands of new jobs with a strong focus on women’s employment and climate-smart results.

Ratings of the Support to the Bogota Metro Line 1 Section 1 Project (Series 1) for Colombia were as follows: outcome was highly satisfactory, Bank performance was highly satisfactory, and quality of M&E was high. Key lessons and recommendations are as follows. First, a phased Series of Projects approach is well suited for complex megaprojects because it separates readiness from delivery and clarifies attribution; future operations of similar scale should use phased instruments, such as a Series of Projects or a Multiphase Programmatic Approach, to ensure institutional capacity, land, utilities, and permits are in place before ramping up construction. Second, a bundled Design Finance Build Operate Maintain Transfer concession can effectively manage interface risks and promote lifecycle quality, but it can limit competition, increase private financing costs, and reduce public flexibility; future projects should weigh these trade-offs carefully when choosing contract structures and consider market depth and long-term policy adaptability. Third, early and deliberate institutional capacity-building is critical; implementing agencies should be assessed at entry and rapidly strengthened in contract management, design control, safeguards, fiduciary oversight, and coordination of utilities and resettlement, complemented by strong multilateral development bank supervision and independent works supervision. Fourth, harmonized co-financing and delegated procurement reduce client transaction costs but demand robust coordination; future multi-financed megaprojects should rely on standardized Co-Financing Framework Agreements to streamline procurement reviews and align fiduciary requirements across partners. Fifth, early planning for urban integration and transit-oriented development can capture emerging land value for public benefit during construction rather than waiting for operations; agencies should establish a dedicated TOD unit, adopt transparent surplus land and station-area development rules and PPP frameworks, earmark value capture proceeds for affordable housing and transit integration, and implement social measures such as community engagement, relocation assistance, and rental support to mitigate displacement risks. Finally, gender actions embedded in contracts are most effective when coupled with city-level strategies; binding workforce participation targets should be supported by facilities and policies that enable women’s sustained employment—such as childcare, learning spaces, and inclusive access features—so that targets translate into meaningful economic inclusion.