Irrigation Water Security, Resilience and Value-Addition Project (WB-P511719)

Regions
  • Middle East and North Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Tunisia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • World Bank (WB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Mar 31, 2026
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of Tunisia - Ministry of Economy and Planning; and others
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
  • Infrastructure
  • Water and Sanitation
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 124.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 147.50 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Media Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ WB website

Updated in EWS Oct 10, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Jul 7, 2025

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Contact the EWS Team

Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the objective of this project is to improve the quality of irrigation water services; to strengthen the operational performance of the irrigation operators; and to increase crop yields.

The project will focus on the irrigation sub-sector. It aims at supporting irrigated agriculture in public irrigation schemes, through: (i) strengthened performance of the operator of the irrigation service; (ii) modernized irrigation infrastructure, reducing losses and ensuring more flexible access to water; and (iii) improved agricultural value addition, productivity and market access.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The environmental risk rating is Substantial. The project activities are expected to generate typical construction-related environmental risks such as noise, dust, solid and liquid waste, increased runoff, and soil erosion. The use of heavy machinery, opening of borrow pits or quarries, and potential removal of vegetation or trees may cause site degradation, landscape disturbance, or habitat fragmentation. While these risks are largely predictable and site-specific, the spatial scale of the infrastructure components and their proximity to sensitive areas (watercourses, forested patches, agricultural lands) require systematic environmental screening and careful planning.

Social risks for this project are deemed to be Substantial, particularly given the potential impacts of the project on local communities, including temporary disruption to livelihoods, changes in land access, and the need to manage expectations around project benefits, especially for vulnerable groups among farmers, women and youth. Social risks include: (i) weak social risk management system; (ii) limited institutional capacity to manage social risks through the Environmental and Social Framework (ESF); (iii) poor working conditions, lack of formal contracts, inadequate occupational health and safety (OHS) measures, and the use of child or forced labor, especially among migrant or seasonal workers; (iv) influx of labor, even if limited, can create social tensions with local communities and increase the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse/sexual harassment (SEA/SH).

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Total Project Cost: US$ 147.50 million
IBRD Commitment: US$ 124.00 million


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

CONTACT POINT - World Bank

Task Team Leader: Gabriella Izzi
Title: Senior Irrigation Specialist
Email: gizzi@worldbank.org

TTL Contact: Habab Taifour
Job Title: Lead Water Specialist
Email: htaifour@worldbank.org

TTL Contact: Mampionona Amboarasoa
Job Title: Senior Agriculture Economist
Email: mamboarasoa@worldbank.org

Borrower/Client/Recipient
Ministry of Economy and Planning

Implementing Agencies
Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Ressources Hydrauliques et de la Pêche, MARHP

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

To submit an information request for project information, you will have to create an account to access the Access to Information request form. You can learn more about this process at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/access-to-information/request-submission

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

How it works

How it works