World Bank, IDB website means more clarity for Dominican Repubilc

SANTO DOMINGO.– A new Website launched today by the World Bank aims at the promotion of transparency and accountability in public expenditure by giving access to information about projects financed by the World Bank as well as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in the Dominican Republic.

The System for the Execution of Procurement Plans (SEPA in Spanish), is a web platform that provides information about all contracts for works, goods, and services through which the projects financed by both international cooperation organizations are implemented. The platform allows planning projects procurement plans to be implemented in a period of 12 to 18 months as well planning the progress in the execution of the plans while watching the specific detail in each project contract award in real time.

“SEPA raises transparency and efficiency in the management of purchases and contracting that are realized within World Bank and IDB financed projects in the Dominican Republic,” explained McDonald Benjamin, resident representative of the World Bank in the country. “SEPA will facilitate the participation of civil society in monitoring the use of resources and will allow private sector to see future procurement that will be held for each project”.

The SEPA page in the Dominican Republic will reflect the approved procurement plans in progress. The general public, specially the project beneficiaries, will be able to see a detailed plan and the advancement status in the processes and contract awards within a procurement plan of their interest or within any project in the country. The project implementation from the respective ministries will be responsible of creating, modifying and updating content in the webpage.

The Dominican Republic is the first country in the Caribbean to implement SEPA. Presently, this platform is activated in 14 countries in Latin America and 4 in Europe and Central Asia. There are plans to implement the system in the next 2 years in the majority of the countries in the region.

Present in the launch event, held in the Holiday Inn Hotel, were McDonald Benjamin and Manuel Labrado, representatives of the World Bank and the IDB in the country, respectively; Catherine Abreu, Procurement Specialist for the World Bank in the Dominican Republic, and Nikolai Sviedrys, Regional Coordinator of SEPA, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Projects financed by the World Bank in the Dominican Republic

The present portfolio is comprised of seven operations totaling US$274 million already disbursed and several non-financial instruments (technical assistance). Around US$148 million are set to be disbursed within the seven operations.