A new municipal hall for Baqa Al Sharqia, West Bank – USAID press release/Non-UN document

A new municipal hall for Baqa Al Sharqia

BAQA AL SHARQIA, West Bank – Palestinian and U.S. aid officials inaugurated Thursday a brand new municipal hall — a gift to the 4,000 people of Baqa Al Sharqia from the American people.

The modern, 750-square-meter village hall has two floors for municipal offices and a large basement for the storage of spare parts for the water and electricity departments.

The $180,000 cost of the construction came from the $20 million "Cash Transfer Grant Agreement" signed between the Palestinian Ministry of Finance and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in July 2003.

The Palestinian Authority used $9 million of those funds to pay utility bills. The remaining $11 million was earmarked for 74 infrastructure projects — 42 in Gaza and 32 in the West Bank. Most of these projects involve the repair and rehabilitation of roads, wastewater facilities and municipal halls.

Some 40 projects have been completed and the others are at various stages of implementation. To date, 90 kilometers of roads have been paved, more than 6,000 square meters of municipal halls have been constructed, and more than 55,000 work-days of employment have been generated.

"The success of the cash transfer action is that the Palestinian Authority itself administers and implements these projects," said James Bever, Director of the USAID West Bank/Gaza Mission. "It is impressive that the U.S. Inspector General's office, which has completed the audit of more than half of the program, has given the Palestinian Authority high marks for financial accountability and able handling of the accounts.

"The performance of the Palestinian Authority was instrumental in building a case for the recently announced $50 million cash transfer for infrastructure in Gaza," Bever added.

The cash transfer funds are subject to regular, quarterly audits to ensure that the money is spent on approved projects. In the latest review, the auditors reported that the documentation of expenditures was reliable and conformed with the terms of the agreement and the implementation letters.

USAID has spent more than $1.5 billion in the West Bank and Gaza to combat poverty, create jobs, improve education, build roads and water systems, construct and equip medical clinics, and promote good governance.