Cities Investment Program

The development objective of the Cities Investment Program (CIP) Project for Afghanistan is to improve the sustainability and livability of nine regionally balanced provincial capital cities (PCCs). The project comprises of four components. The first component, rehabilitate municipal infrastructure will provide financing on a performance basis to support five participating PCCs (Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Khost, and Mazar-e-Sharif) in the rehabilitation of urgently-needed basic municipal infrastructure. The second component, strengthen the municipal finance framework will support Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA) and 9 participating PCCs in building municipal capacity for improved own source revenue (OSR) collection and design of a system for performance-based fiscal allocations. The third component, improve the municipal management framework will provide support for strengthening municipal planning and management at 9 PCCs through technical assistance, training, and the supply of urgently needed equipment and software. It consists of following sub-components: (i) technical assistance support through municipal capacity building packages; (ii) preparation of strategic development frameworks (SDFs); (iii) feasibility and design studies for catalytic investment projects; and (iv) technical assistance for urban policy reforms. The fourth component, project implementation management will support Independent Directorate for Local Governance (IDLG) in managing the implementation of the CIP in coordination with the participating PCCs and ministry of urban development and housing (MUDH).