The Gambia - Electricity Restoration and Modernization Project

Overview & Synopsis

Ratings of the Gambia Electricity Restoration and Modernization Project for The Gambia were as follows: outcome was moderately satisfactory; Bank performance was moderately satisfactory; M&E quality was substantial. Key lessons and recommendations include that counterpart-funded resettlement is a structural implementation risk in fiscally constrained and fragile settings; projects should finance resettlement from project proceeds or condition contractor mobilization on completed compensation, include contingency budgets, and closely monitor the linkage between resettlement progress and civil works, while elevating land administration bottlenecks to the Country Management Unit (CMU) level given their cross-cutting nature. Adding a new sector through additional financing requires full, stand-alone level preparation and sector readiness assessments; revenue-critical elements such as customer metering should be sequenced alongside physical works rather than afterward. Co-financing arrangements should be harmonized at preparation, with unified procurement and reporting standards, joint supervision, and aligned disbursement calendars to avoid coordination frictions that compress implementation time. Sector roadmaps and task forces anchored to the results framework strengthen government ownership, clarify accountability, and enable timely course correction; this approach should be applied to each major sectoral component. Close, field-based Bank engagement is essential for adaptive management in fragile contexts, improving coordination, accelerating risk mitigation, and enabling opportunistic efficiency gains. Transmission and distribution loss reduction remains a core sector objective but is best pursued through a long-term, system-wide lens; monitoring and interventions should be embedded in a multi-phase programmatic approach (MPA) that supports sustained tracking and corrective action across investment cycles. Transitioning from public to private investment requires deliberate sequencing with explicit de-risking milestones; strengthening utility finances and systems, establishing enabling infrastructure and regulation, and deploying targeted credit enhancement should precede independent power producer entry. Finally, cross-sector collaboration can improve delivery and resilience in capacity-constrained environments by leveraging synergies, shared platforms, and coordinated corridor planning.