Other Infrastructure Study

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Navigating Beyond COVID-19: Airline Recovery and Regulatory Reform Opportunities in Southern Africa

2022-09, World Bank

This policy paper explores airline restructuring and regulatory reform challenges and opportunities in the Southern African region with particular focus on Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the air transport sector in the region faced multipronged challenges, including those related to economic regulation, profitability, safety, security, and sustainable financing of critical infrastructure. Much like the rest of Africa, the region is characterized by the dominance of troubled state-owned airlines which have been unable to generate meaningful positive returns for many years due to structural inefficiencies and weak governance. They faced elevated costs and needed several bailouts and turnaround strategies, albeit unsuccessful.

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Botswana Digital Economy Diagnostic

2022, World Bank

Digital technologies are paving the way for economic growth and new service delivery models across Africa. On key digital indicators, Botswana fares similarly or better than regional neighbors, but is lagging behind global peers with the same income levels, illustrating the potential to enhance performance. The digital economy in Botswana rests on several relatively strong individual strategies, policies, and regulations. However, when combined, these form a somewhat fragmented framework - further challenged by oftentimes slow implementation. This digital economy for Africa (DE4A) report considers the digital economy’s five foundational pillars, as well as cross-cutting issues. The report summarizes pillar status and recommendations for addressing challenges: infrastructure; digital platforms; digital financial services (DFS); digital business; digital skills; and suggested priority areas for action.

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Assessment of Farmer-Led Irrigation Development in Niger

2021-06-21, Soumaila, Amadou

Niger is a large landlocked country whose northern two-thirds lies within the Sahara Desert with a population of about 21.5 million people. Most of the population is concentrated in areas around the Niger River in the southwestern corner of the country and along its long southern border with Nigeria. Niger’s economic activity is concentrated on traditional activities, primarily agriculture, livestock, forestry, and fishery but also informal trade and production. The country has experienced declining average rainfall, desertification, recurring droughts, and deforestation. Undernourishment is widespread. Agricultural risks, primarily droughts in Niger, have severe economic consequences with wide repercussions. Farmer-led irrigation (FLI) in the Niger context could be defined as irrigation privately owned and managed by farmers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the extent and the environment of FLI development in Niger, the challenges and constraints, and the business opportunities to be piloted.

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Diagnosing Angola’s WASH Sector: An Urgent Call to Action

2021-05-10, Lombana Cordoba, Camilo, Andres, Luis A., Da Costa, Lucrecio A.M., Fenwick, Crystal

Angola’s human development potential is constrained by the state of its water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector. The Angola WASH sector diagnostic identifies key service-delivery problems in the WASH sector and their enabling environment through an institutional assessment and political economy analysis that takes into account the cross-sectoral links underpinning human development. Specifically, the diagnostic first explores inequalities in access to WASH services and their relationship to childhood health in Angola, using data from the most recent demographic health survey (DHS, 2015-16) and the joint monitoring program (JMP) of the United Nations Children’s Fund and World Health Organization. Next, the diagnostic identifies key institutional constraints and bottlenecks through a comprehensive governance and public expenditure review of Angola’s WASH sector. Finally, the report provides guidance on how to improve the effectiveness of the WASH sector in support of broader policy goals to achieve sustainability and meet the targets of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The diagnostic answers the following questions, each of which probes the links between access to safe WASH services and human development and highlights opportunities to improve policy, investments, and practice: (1) what is the current level and quality of access to WASH services in Angola, and how does access vary temporally and spatially?; (2) what are the links and synergies between WASH and other sectors critical to human development in Angola?; (3) what constrains WASH service delivery; and (4) what solutions will have the greatest effect on overall human development?

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A Study of Road Safety Lead Agencies in Africa

2022-02-22, Mitullah, Winnie, Small, Martin, Azzouzi, Mustapha

This study of road safety lead agencies (RSLAs) in Africa takes place at an important time when serious injuries on roads are at the centre of discussions on sustainable development. RSLAs in Africa are considered to be critical vehicles for responding to road safety challenges, although how well they do this remains largely unknown. In literature, their functionality, complexity and autonomy has widely been assessed. However, there is limited attempt to link the management capacity of RSLAs to the observed road safety outcomes such as serious injuries and fatality reduction or reduction in the cost of road traffic crashes. Consequently, there is limited evidence as to whether or not lead agencies in Africa are achieving the intended goals of improving road safety status. This study sought to better understand these difficulties and the potential steps to success for RSLAs in Africa. It was commissioned by the African Development Bank and the World Bank and focuses on sixteen African countries. It is part of a global study of road safety lead agencies being undertaken by the World Health Organisation. The study is structured into four sections. Section 2 describes the two-phase methodology–desk study and preparation of the research instruments, data collection and analysis. This is followed in Section 3 by a discussion of the concept of lead agency, which lays the ground for presentation of the study results regarding lead agency performance in Section 4. Section 5 identifies lessons from the study and makes recommendations to improve lead agency performance.

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Fit for Purpose: Dam Rehabilitation Prioritization Tool in Zimbabwe

2022, World Bank

As a nation with highly variable and limited availability of water resources, Zimbabwe relies on a vast and aging water infrastructure stock that requires prompt rehabilitation to better support the water, food, and energy sectors. The country has limited water resources, with much of its area classified as semi-arid with highly variable rainfall. Zimbabwe relies on dams to store water to ensure irrigation for food security, water supply, and hydropower production. It has the second highest water storage capacity per capita in Southern Africa. There are about 10,000 dams, from large to small, and more publicly owned dams than private dams.

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Assessment of Farmer-Led Irrigation Development in Rwanda

2021-06-21, Nzeyimana, Innocent

Irrigation development in Rwanda is typically not demand-driven. Existing irrigation developments have mostly resulted from government-led initiatives and donor support with the aim of achieving food security. A few irrigation projects have also been initiated by private commercial farmers and smallholder farmers with use of small-scale irrigation technology (SSIT). Farmer-led irrigation development (FLID) is defined as a process by which small-scale farmers or commercial farmers drive the establishment, improvement, and/or expansion of irrigated agriculture, often in interaction with external actors. It typically involves entrepreneurial investments by farmers either alone or in groups. For the FLID supply chain to be effective and efficient, several key private and public sector participants are involved. Districts, sectors, and offices are key stakeholders that deliver agriculture extension and advisory services and serve as focal points representing the needs of local communities and coordinating multisector responses. Regarding FLID financing, the government has attempted to reform policies and increase access by smallholder farmers to financial services. As a result, different commercial banks both public and private, MFIs, and other financial service providers continue to expand their financial services to poor rural communities, especially smallholder farmers.

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Guinea-Bissau Digital Economy Diagnostic

2022, World Bank

Many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, including Guinea-Bissau, lack the requisite enabling environment to capture a larger fraction of the global digital economy or benefit from its gains and are thus at increasing risk of being left behind. Rapid digital transformation is reshaping the global economy, driving financing inclusion, closing information gaps between buyers and sellers, and changing the way economies of scale are achieved. In many, although certainly not all, parts of the continent, access to and affordability of broadband internet remains low; for that matter, even access to electricity is low, preventing Africans from being able to go online. Most public services remain offline, and many Africans lack digital identity or mobile wallets to take advantage of digital financial or other services. Digital skills and literacy remain weak. Finally, although venture capital investment on the continent continues to grow, 2021 witnessed 681 rounds of fundraising across 640 startups, totaling US5.2 billion dollars in equity raised, according to the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, structural constraints prevent businesses from taking greater advantage of the digital economy. Of the 716 financial technology (fintech) companies currently operating in SSA, only 5 percent have scaled. In this context, the WBG has undertaken this digital economy diagnostic of Guinea-Bissau under the leadership of the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the Vice Prime Minister. Based on desk research, virtual and in person interviews with a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders, and an April 2022 field mission to discuss preliminary findings and proposed recommendations, this report analyzes the constraints in each of the five foundational pillar and puts forward actionable recommendations categorized by priority level and sequencing. Overall, it aims to inform the national dialogue, as well as next steps, around Guinea-Bissau’s digital transformation, a policy agenda in which the Government of Guinea Bissau (GoGB) has expressed keen interest.

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Steering Towards Cleaner Air: Measures to Mitigate Transport Air Pollution in Addis Ababa

2021-09, Grutter, Jurg, Jia, Wenyu, Xie, Jian

Air pollution, exacerbated by urbanization and motorization, is a growing concern in Addis Ababa and many other SSA cities. In Addis Ababa, air pollution from the urban transport sector is attributable to rapid motorization, an aging vehicle fleet, high sulfur fuels, lack of emission standards, and inadequate vehicle inspection and enforcement, calling for a shift towards integrated transport and air quality management. The report is one of the deliverables of the World Bank’s Advisory Services & Analytics program entitled “Ethiopia: Air Quality Management and Urban Mobility.” It aims to assess mitigation options for transport emissions for Addis Ababa (AA) in the Ethiopian context and recommend priority measures for short- and mid-term actions. The formulation of potential mitigation options builds upon a review of relevant development strategies and ongoing initiatives of the Federal and AA governments and development partners, the Ethiopian and international experiences, the results of Addis Ababa’s source apportionment study including vehicle emission inventory conducted for this ASA, and consultations with relevant stakeholders. A set of transport air pollution mitigation measures are assessed, prioritized and recommended for Addis Ababa.

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Flood-Resilient Mass Transit Planning in Ouagadougou

2021-06, World Bank

Ouagadougou, the largest city in Burkina Faso, is growing rapidly, with the annual rate reaching 9 percent by some estimates, and with commensurate challenges for ensuring efficient mobility for its residents. Like many urban areas in Sahelian West Africa, Ouagadougou is also highly vulnerable to extreme hydro-meteorological events. In the context of the plans to develop an efficient, bus-based mass transit system in Ouagadougou in the medium term, the study aimed to characterize the spatial distribution and severity of flood risk affecting the planned system; and to identify, evaluate, and prioritize interventions that will increase its resilience. The study focuses on a pilot sector of 67 km, covering a large part of central Ouagadougou and its strategic infrastructures, at the intersection of the future planned mass transit system and the areas of the city a priori considered more flood prone (for example, near the major dams). By working with a local drone operator and an international flood modelling firm, the study constructed high spatial resolution digital elevation and digital terrain models for the area of interest (AOI), which served as inputs for developing a hydrological model. To further classify the road and future mass transit sections in order to prioritize interventions, the analysis applied the criteria of an area priority score and a flood criticality score, which together combine into an overall impact score. The importance of good planning and policy and regulatory actions vis-a-vis more structural engineering solutions is underlined by the fact that the top two measures singled out by the multicriteria analysis are so-called soft solutions - related to the maintenance and cleaning of the flood-related structures and the reinforcement of the waste collection system.