According to bank documents, the project bjective is to improve maritime transport connectivity and safety among the islands.

The project has four component:

1. Component 1. Port Fomboni (US$25-42 million). Although all the three primary ports have certain capacity constraints, Port Fomboni in Moheli island is most constrained. The port only has a draft of 2.4
   meters with an 80-meter quay, handling about 30,000 to 40,000 tons of cargo per year. It is difficult for large vessels to approach. As the result, cabotage and ferry operators often refuse to call at Moheli island, suppressing the potential demand for inter-island transport and wrongly incentivizing informal operations.

2. Component 2. Improvement of secondary ports (US$2 million) – (To be integrated into Component 1). This component aims at supporting secondary ports on the three islands. There are four major landing sites where kwassa-kwassa boats depart and arrive: Chindini and Ouropveni in Grande Comore, Hoani and Itsamia in Moheli, and Bimbini in Anjouan. To improve safety and efficiency in these
   informal boat operations and protect coastal environment, the project will support minimum sheltering improvements, building landing slopes, disposal facilities, and implementing basic navigation aids to assist with approaches and landings. Port design will also ensure that it incorporates design features to improve people’s with disabilities access to port infrastructure and services (e.g., ramps, wide entrances, priority seating, proper signalization and visualization of information) and facilitating women’s experience of traveling by addressing identified infrastructure constraints that affect them disproportionately (e.g., lack of lightning and visible spaces, which can be enablers of violence, mainly at night).

3. Component 3. Maritime safety and Vessel Renewal Program (US$2 million). This component supports the Government’s efforts toward improving maritime transport safety between the island through
   strengthening the regulatory capacity and formalizing informal kwassa-kwassa operations and making them more efficient, greener and safer. In addition to technical assistance for capacity building at relevant ministries and agencies, the component will finance a vessel renewal program for informal transport service operators to renew their vessels, scraping old and unsafe boats and register new boats properly. In addition, it is expected that fleet renewal will reduce GHG emissions from maritime transportation. Currently, there are about 150 kwassa-kwassa boats operating between the islands, most of which are old and normally accommodate up to 12 passengers, but without any safety equipment installed. In theory, it is more efficient and economically viable to operate with a fewer number of vessels with more capacity, however, local operators cannot afford them because of the lack of access to financial/local capital market, which is very thin in Comoros. To fill the gap, the component aims to provide a partial subsidy for vessel renewal.

4. Component 4. Implementation support and capacity building (US$2 million). This component supports the implementing entity for the Project as well as necessary preparatory works, such as detailed
   design and safeguard documents.

World Bank:
Atsushi Iimi
Senior Economist

Borrower:
Government of the Union of Comoros

Implementing Agencies:
Ministry of Transportation, Post, Telecommunications, Communication and Tourism
Ali Mohamed Hassane
Secrétaire Général du Ministère des Transports
alimohamedhassani77@gmail.com

Société Comorienne des Ports
Mohamed Said Salim Dahalani
Directeur Général de la SCP
dahalane63@hotmail.fr

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ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE WORLD BANK

The World Bank Inspection Panel is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by a World Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Inspection Panel, they may investigate to assess whether the World Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can contact the Inspection Panel or submit a complaint by emailing ipanel@worldbank.org. Information on how to file a complaint and a complaint request form are available at: https://www.inspectionpanel.org/how-to-file-complaint