Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current State and Issues of the Electricity Sector in Iraq The long-term economic sanctions and conflicts had been devastating the economic and social environment of Iraq. However, after the Iraq War in 2003, the country is finally undergoing reconstruction and development with the support from the international society. The electricity sector is the foundation of various activities of the economy and society, and it is essential for the reconstruction of Iraq. However, due to years of lack of new investments/maintenance management and plunder, the functions in all sub-sectors, such as power generation, transmission, transformation, and distribution, have been extremely deteriorated until today. The average daily power supply which was 9,000 megawatts (MW) in 1990s was declined to lower than 3,000MW right after the Iraq War. After the war, with the support from international society, the Government of Iraq has been making effort for the reconstruction of the electricity sector as one of the priority areas. However, the power supply had recovered only up to 5,500MW as of 2009, while the average daily demand is 12,000MW, and long unplanned power outage are forced regularly accordingly. Thus the reconstruction of the electricity sector in Iraq, especially the improvement of power generation capacity, is one of the top priority issues.
Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current Development State and Issues of the Urban Transportation Sector in Panama The Panama City Metropolitan Area has a population of approximately 1.7 million people (as of 2010), which constitutes about half of the total population of the Republic of Panama. The metropolitan area has lagged behind in the development of urban transportation systems. Neither city nor intercity buses satisfy the demands for urban transportation. Moreover, with a high economic growth rate in Latin America, Panama is facing a rise in the private vehicle ownership rate as well as a constant increase in the use of private automobiles for commuting. Meanwhile, residential areas are being expanded in the outskirts of the metropolitan area due to the escalation of land prices in the metropolitan center. This situation, as well as the increase of the number of private vehicles, has caused serious traffic congestion on roads between the metropolitan center and residential suburbs, especially during the morning and evening rush hours, paralyzing the functions of the city. The Panama City Metropolitan Area borders the Gulf of Panama in the south, stretching to the east, west, and north. The development of residential zones in the western part of the metropolitan area was started later because it is accessible only by crossing the Panama Canal, but now approximately 23% of the total metropolitan population live in this area, and the population is still rapidly growing, driven by the recent housing construction. Nevertheless, there is only one road accessing this western side of the canal from the metropolitan center in the east, and this two-lane dual road, especially around the Bridge of Americas, becomes a major traffic bottleneck during the morning and evening peak hours. Thus, it is essential to introduce an efficient public mass transportation system that can be used instead of buses and private automobiles.
Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current Situation and Issues of the Road Sector in El Salvador With an area of 21,000 square kilometers, the Republic of El Salvador (El Salvador) is the smallest nation in Central America. The main means of travelling and transportation is by land using the road infrastructure. The most important highway in El Salvador is the Pan-American Highway (Central American Highway 1: CA-1), which stretches from east to west through the center of the country. The CA-1, which connects not only San Salvador and other major cities in El Salvador but also Mexico and Panama, serves as the most important distribution network in Central America. For El Salvador, it is important to ensure smooth transportation on the CA-1. Along with the recent economic growth in El Salvador, the demand for road transportation in urban areas has been increasing. However, many cities are faced with serious traffic congestion because the highway passing through the center of each city is used as a local means of transportation. The situation is considerably serious in San Xxxxxx, which is El Salvador’s fourth largest city with approximately 220,000 people and located in the center of the eastern region, as it has lagged behind in development due to severe damage caused by conflicts. The urbanization of the city is increasing the amount of traffic to the CA-1 passing through the center of San Xxxxxx. This causes the CA-1 traffic congestion, which in turn is greatly deteriorating both local and inter-city traffic situations.
Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current State and Issues in the Agricultural Sector in Tanzania The agricultural sector accounts for about a quarter of the United Republic of Tanzania’s GDP, approximately one-fifth of its exports, and sustains the livelihood of two-thirds of its population. In addition, more than three quarters of the poor are engaged in this sector. A large variety of crops are grown throughout Tanzania, but much of its land remains uncultivated despite having relatively abundant water resources compared to other sub-Saharan African countries. Unfortunately, the country’s great potential for further agricultural and irrigation development remains untapped due to a lack of funding. Only 0.37 million ha (2011/12) of the country is irrigated, which is just over a mere 1% of the potential of
Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current State and Issues in the Energy Sector in East Africa and Tanzania Power demand in Africa has been grown in accordance with a remarkable economic development, increasing electric power consumption between 2000 and 2009 in the whole Africa by 4.5% on an annual average basis. To meet such power demand, regional interchange of affordable and stable power by region (s xxxxxxx power pool) has been initiated in Africa. The East African Power Pool (EAPP) was launched in 2005 with the participation of 10 member countries to date. A roadmap of the EAPP has been drawn to establish a power interchange market in the every East African countries in a step-by-step manner from a bilateral power interchange and efforts toward stable power supply in the region has been made by formulating a plan to interchange power from a country with abundant potential water power (Ethiopia) to a country with expected growth in power demand (Kenya and Tanzania), etc. Being a member of the EAPP in 2010, Tanzania has accomplished stable economic growth since 2000 (2000 to 2014: average 6.8%) and expected continuous annual growth of about 7%. Energy sources in Tanzania comprise thermal power (about 60%) and hydropower (the rest of some 40%). While the power demand has been growing by about average 10% on an annual basis, existing capacity (1,376 MW, as of 2015) is unable to meet the demand in peak time (934 MW, as of December 2014) due to outdated power generation equipment, decrease in hydropower volume during water shortage, loss in transmission and distribution, etc., thereby frequent power outage (26.3 hours/month in the city of Dar es Salaam) has hindered socioeconomic activities of Tanzania. Since peak demand in 2020 is expected to achieve to approximately 1,900 MW, a planned electric power development and improvement and enhancement of transmission and distribution networks with diversified energy sources are essential to cope with such growing power demand.
Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current State and Issues in the Energy Sector in Tunisia Following the revolution started in 2010 which sparked the Arab Spring, Tunisia experienced negative growth in 2011. However, in 2012, economic growth bounced back to 3.6%, and the IMF expects annual growth in the future of about 3%. As the domestic demand for electricity increases with rapid economic growth, the Government of Tunisia has worked actively to develop new sources of electric power. Although the government has also put effort into introducing renewable energy, at this moment, the most of its gross power generation capacity (3,496 MW) is accounted for by thermal power generation (thermal power: 97%, hydropower: 2%, wind power: 1%). According to STEG forecasts, between 2012 and 2016, the overall demand for power in Tunisia is expected to increase at an annual average rate of 7.1%. To accommodate this rising demand for power, STEG has been proceeding with the construction of two new thermal power plants in Sousse in central Tunisia, with the aim of bringing them on line in 2014 and 2015 (see (4) below). However, even with the operation of these power plants, electricity is expected to be in short supply in the near future. Consequently, in order to eliminate this short supply of electricity, it is imperative that existing power plants be modernized and that even further new sources of power be developed. Given the urgency of this project, land within the site of the Rades Power Plant already in operation was selected by STEG as the site for this project.
Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current State and Issues in the Transportation Sector in Rwanda In Rwanda, the transportation sector plays an important role in the nation’s economy, accounting for 15% of the service industry in terms of GDP (the service industry to GDP ratio was 49% as of 2015). Because Rwanda is a landlocked country located approximately 1,400 km away from the nearest international port, the Dar es Salaam Port in Tanzania, Rwanda faces high transportation costs, which account for approximately 40% of import and export prices. This proportion is much higher than that of its neighboring county, Kenya, with 12%. Such high transportation costs have caused a bottleneck in Rwanda’s economic growth through private sector development. Roads are the exclusive means of overland transportation in Rwanda, from which there are two overland routes to the ocean: (i) the Northern Corridor running to the Mombasa Port in Kenya through Gatuna on the border with Uganda and (ii) the Central Corridor running to the Dar es Salaam Port through Rusumo on the border with Tanzania. The road to be upgraded through the Rusumo-Kayonza Road Improvement Project (hereinafter referred to as “this Project”) is part of the Central Corridor, which is an important transportation route for Rwanda. This corridor, as well as the Northern Corridor running from Rwanda through Uganda to Kenya, is considered as an important logistics route for Rwanda, which is landlocked. On the road to be improved through this Project, the traffic volume is 1,800 vehicles per day (as of 2014), and it is projected to exceed 3,000 vehicles per day by 2020. Nevertheless, the target road of this Project has deteriorated significantly over time as it has been rehabilitated only once in the 1990s since it was constructed in 1978. Moreover, because the road was designed based on old standards, the width is too narrow for large trucks to travel safely. The major bottleneck of high transportation costs in Rwanda can be relieved by making the Central Corridor more useful as it travels a shorter distance through fewer borders to the closest port than the Northern Corridor.
Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current State and Issues of Communication Sector in Myanmar The telecommunication infrastructure has lagged in Myanmar due to many years of restrictions on imports and insufficient financial resources. Until now, Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has substantially monopolized the provision of domestic fixed telephones, mobile phones, and the Internet. Insufficient network capacity and a high usage fee, etc. keep the prevalence of communication tools low, as evidenced by a fixed telephone penetration rate of only 1.00% (534,000 subscribers), a mobile phone penetration rate of 12.83% (6,832,000 subscribers), and an Internet penetration rate of 1.20% as of 2013. Such prevalence is the lowest among ASEAN members. In particular, the penetration rate of popular mobile phones exceeds 100% in other countries, while remaining extremely low in Myanmar. After establishment of Thein Sein administration in March 2011, communication usage fee is significantly lowered. Since then, the number of communication service users has steadily grown. The Myanmar government called for bids on new telecommunication licenses, which previously had been monopolized, based on the new Telecommunication Act. In June 2013, Telenor of Norway and Qatar Ooredoo were selected. Both companies were granted telecommunication licenses by the end of January 2014, and started full-scale service in fiscal 2014. Communications infrastructure serves as the basis of all economic activities and the daily lives of citizens. The homogeneous development of the country including areas with minority ethnic groups requires improvement of the nationwide communication network. Thilawa area, a suburban Yangon, is being developed by Japan and Myanmar as a special economic zone (SEZ) via public/private sector cooperation. The district will attract foreign companies, and thus substantially increase communication with foreign countries. The international communication that supports this development should also be improved. Subsequent economic growth in the future will result in an increasingly heavier volume of communication that could further deteriorate the communication environment. Therefore, the Myanmar government should urgently tackle the improvement of communications infrastructure.
Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current State and Issues of Development in Hanoi City in Vietnam Hanoi City continues rapid economic expansion, and its regional GDP growth rate (2006-2010) is expected to reach an impressive 10.5% annualized. This fast-paced economic development is expected to dramatically increase users (from 17,237,000 users/year in 2007 to 34,043,000 users/year by 2015) of the Noi Bai International Airport, the gateway to northern Vietnam, located approximately 30km north of Hanoi City, and there are plans to use Japanese ODA loans to build a second terminal at Noi Bai International Airport to meet this growing demand. Traffic demand on the North Xxxxx Xxxx-Noi Bai Road (traffic capacity amounting to 42,000 PCU/day and traffic volume of 55,459 PCU/day in 2008), the existing major access road from central Hanoi to Noi Bai International Airport, has already exceeded traffic capacity, and it will be difficult to meet the road transport demand expected in the future. Accordingly, strengthening transport capacity from central Hanoi to Noi Bai International Airport is an issue that must be resolved.
Background and Necessity of the Project. (1) Current State and Issues of Development in the Rehabilitation of the Northern Region of Sri Lanka Internal conflict between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is an antigovernment Tamil organization, escalated from the early 1980s. The northern and eastern parts of the country came under the control of the LTTE and have been isolated from the rest of the country. A ceasefire agreement was reached between both parties in February 2002, and the international community announced its intention to unite efforts to promote the progress of the peace process. Based on this announcement, the Japanese government announced that it would offer financial assistance worth up to 1 billion dollars in total for three years from 2003. The original plan of this project (1,278 million yen) was approved in June 2005 as part of this financial assistance.
