Involuntary resettlement in urban development: plan, performance and outcome in the World Bank-funded Antananarivo Plain Project, Madagascar

While the project proved reasonably effective in evicting and providing partial financial compensation to affected households and freeing land for project works, it for the most part failed to assure the social and economic re-integration of displaced families. Only three households (of 2,341 displaced) settled at the three intended permanent resettlement sites and the intentions of providing social services, assistance in house construction, and income generation activities there all went awry.

The uneven performance is traced to a fundamental shift in the terms of resettlement offered to households early in the project life; the distance of resettlement sites from their original homes, jobs and social networks; the costs of land and construction being beyond the means of most of those displaced; the uncertain tenurial status of all but one site; and poor co-ordination between implementing agencies. The evidence suggests that, contrary to the standards set by the World Bank's own Operational Directive on involuntary resettlement, a substantial proportion of the displaced households have been made worse off by resettlement.