Other Infrastructure Study

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  • Publication
    Georgia Economic Impact of East-West Highway Phase 2: Assessing the Impact of East-West Highway Investments on Exports through Gravity Modeling
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06-27) World Bank
    The objective of this study is to assess the impact of the East-West Highway improvement program on Georgia’s ability to access international markets. As highlighted extensively in the literature, improving transport infrastructure and the efficiency of the logistics sector can help countries gain competitiveness in international export markets, which can translate into faster economic growth and higher income. This study hypothesizes that investments in the EWH have reduced the cost of shipping Georgian goods to the rest of the world, and such reductions should be more significant for goods transported by road. To estimate the effect of cost reductions generated by improvements in the EWH, a gravity-type model in first-differences has been estimated. The results show that: (i) a 10 percent increase in the length of upgraded road network predicts a 1.1 percent increase in exports transported by road while no significant effect is estimated for exports on other transport modes (rail, sea, and air); (ii) the resulting increase in exports by road was reflected by a decrease in exports transported by sea; (iii) the effect is statistically and economically significant only for customs offices located along the EWH; (iv) only exports of time-sensitive products responded positively and significantly to improvements in the EWH during the 2006-2015 period; (v) upgrading the entire EWH is estimated to generate additional export revenues between USD 776 million and USD 1,466 million. It is important to note that the overall trade generating effect of the investment is expected to be somewhat lower as the results suggest some substitution between road and sea transport, but the overall impact is a significant boost to exports.
  • Publication
    Federative Republic of Brazil iRAP Pilot Technical Report: Federal Highways
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-01) World Bank
    As part of efforts to curb road deaths and serious injuries, the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) invited the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) to work with the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Departamento Nacional de Infraestrutura de Transportes, DNIT) to assess the safety of Brazilian roads. During this second assessment of Brazilian roads, approximately 3,400km of roads were assessed. This technical report describes the road assessment project and includes details on data collection, the methodology used and a summary of the results. The infrastructure-related risk assessment involved detailed surveys and coding of 50 road attributes at 100 meter intervals along the network and creation of Star Ratings, which provide a simple and objective measure showing the level of risk on the road network. The star ratings show that 1 percent of road length is rated as 5-star, 9 percent is rated as 4-star, 58 percent is rated as 3-star, and the remaining 32 percent is rated as 2-star and below for vehicle occupants. For motorcyclists, no roads were rated as 5-star, only 3 percent of road length is rated as 4-star, 47 percent is rated as 3-star, and the remaining 50 percent is rated 2-star and below. For pedestrians less than 1 percent is rated as 4-star and 5-star, 2 percent is rated as 3-star and the remaining 13 percent is rated 2-star and below. For bicyclists less than 1 percent is rated as 5-star or 4-star, 5 percent is rated as 3-star and the remaining 14 percent is rated 2-star and below. The project also involved the creation of a Safer Roads Investment Plans, which draws on more than 90 proven road safety treatments, ranging from low cost road markings and pedestrian refuges to higher cost intersection upgrades and full highway duplication.
  • Publication
    Rail Electronic Data Interchange in a Border Crossing Point in South East Europe: An Assessment of Options
    (Washington, DC, 2015-05) World Bank
    Within the European Union (EU) rail transport is currently the least integrated transport mode. This leads to delays, extra costs, and insufficient use of rail freight, especially for time-sensitive cargo. This also represents a missed opportunity in terms of moving towards a greener transport modal split within the EU. Rail freight, for which international activity represents 50 percent of total activities, will not be able to develop fully if border crossing rail operations do not deliver a better service for shippers and freight operators who require seamless trans-national transport as is possible by road, air and sea. Observing that the modal split of rail in the EU is stagnating at around 16 percent after years of decline, the European Commission proposed a regulation on a European rail network for competitive freight to be based on a number of rail freight corridors which entered into force on November 9, 2010. Regulation No 913/2010 makes it mandatory to create a European rail network for competitive freight based on international freight corridors, recognizing that the need to strengthen the competitiveness of rail freight requires a corridor approach, involving corridors that cross national borders. TheEU adoption in 2010 of a corridor approach focusing on international rail freight has important implications for EU member states, accession and candidate countries, in terms of approaching rail freight investments and performance from an international corridor perspective with enhanced cross-border coordination, with the ultimate aim of increasing the attractiveness of rail to potential freight customers. The objective of this report is to address this recommendation by assessing whether it makes sense to introduce a pilot EDI in a rail border crossing point in South East Europe. It aims to make a preliminary assessment of the various technical options in terms of hardware, software, and communication requirements of such architecture, taking into account that any technical solution proposed needs to be adapted to the countries in question, given existing infrastructure and European regulations. The ultimate aim is to improve rail border crossing performance in South East Europe by the use of EDI to improve integration.
  • Publication
    Regional Economic Impact Analysis of High Speed Rail in China : Main Report
    (Washington, DC, 2014-06-25) World Bank
    This report reflects a two-stage work flow designed to fulfill the research objectives: stage one defined the methodology, and stages two tested this methodology and transferred the know-how to the China Railway Corporation and its consultants through case studies. Chapter two summarizes the theoretical framework within which regional economic impacts are discussed and quantified. Chapter three reviews current regional economic impact analyses in China. Chapter four summarizes the approach to practical regional impact assessment in other countries and reviews the relevance of the main methods in the Chinese context. Chapter five summarizes the work that has been carried out by the World Bank to date in estimating regional impacts in China. Chapter six develops a practical approach to quantifying the regional economic impacts of future HSR in China, including methods for data collection, surveys and interviews. Chapter seven presents the implementation of the methodology in the case studies and the interpretation of quantified model results. Chapter eight summarizes the conclusions and the recommendations for further work. In addition, appendices one to three provide further details about existing assessment studies and methodologies. Appendices four and five show the interview and survey forms. A separate report provides a step-by-step how-to guide for a regional economic impact assessment using a four zone generic example model, which as a simple numerical example complements the presentation of the case study applications on Changchun-Jilin HSR and the northern part of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR.
  • Publication
    Reforming the Indian Ports Sector
    (Washington, DC, 2013-06) World Bank
    Maritime transport carries more than nine-tenths of tonnage of world international trade. The international shipping industry, competitive and dominated by private companies, has delivered to trading nations increasing capacity, generally improving service levels, and declining unit shipping costs. To access and extract the maximum benefit from this vital transport resource each nation depends on the performance of its ports sector; not only on the capacity, quality and price of port services but also their connectivity to hinterlands and to the industrial and consumer markets they serve. Ports in India, as in many countries, face continued pressure to handle higher throughput, adapt to larger and more specialized vessels, improve productivity, and adopt new technology and information systems that can meet the increasingly demanding service standards expected by shippers, logistics companies and shipping operators. As in all economic sectors, the success of ports depends not only on investment in its infrastructure but on supportive policy and regulatory structures, and on the effectiveness of the institutions that deliver services to customers. This Report contains an analysis of the current status of India s ports sector, identifies potential constraints on the ability of ports to meet India s future development needs, and sets out a recommended policy framework to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the sector.
  • Publication
    Cairo Traffic Congestion Study : Final Report
    (Washington, DC, 2013-05) World Bank
    The Greater Cairo Metropolitan Area (GCMA), with more than 19 million inhabitants, is host to more than one-fifth of Egypt's population. The GCMA is also an important contributor to the Egyptian economy in terms of GDP and jobs. The population of the GCMA is expected to further increase to 24 million by 2027, and correspondingly its importance to the economy will also increase. Traffic congestion is a serious problem in the GCMA with large and adverse effects on both the quality of life and the economy. In addition to the time wasted standing still in traffic, time that could be put to more productive uses, congestion results in unnecessary fuel consumption, causes additional wear and tear on vehicles, increases harmful emissions lowering air quality, increases the costs of transport for business, and makes the GCMA an unattractive location for businesses and industry. These adverse effects have very real and large monetary and nonmonetary costs not only for the economy of the GCMA, but given its size, for the economy of Egypt as well. As the population of the GCMA continues to increase, traffic congestion is becoming worse and the need to address this congestion is becoming more urgent. In recognition of the seriousness of the problem of traffic congestion, and upon the request of Government, primarily the Ministries of Finance, Transport, Housing, and Interior, the World Bank funded an investigation into its magnitude, causes, and potential solutions in the GCMA. This report documents the results of the study. The results of this study should be of interest to policy-makers and practitioners in the GCMA, the Egyptian Government, other cities facing similar problems, and international financial institutions.
  • Publication
    Mongolia : Improving Public Investments to Meet the Challenge of Scaling Up Infrastructure
    (Washington, DC, 2013-01) World Bank
    The objective of this report is to analyze in depth the current public investment management system and to assess whether or not it is able to meet this challenge of delivering good quality projects in the priority areas in a macro-economically sustainable manner; and to recommend what needs to be done to improve the system so that it is able to effectively transform natural resource revenues into sustainable capital assets. In making its recommendations, this report focuses on some of the details that need to be laid out in implementing regulations in order to make the Fiscal Stability Law (FSL), Budget Law of Mongolia (IBL), and Public Procurement Law of Mongolia (PPLM) work. The report also suggests amendments to some of the existing laws that pose a risk to meeting the four objectives. In proposing policy options, the report is conscious of the political economy of reform and, wherever possible, analyzes the compatibility of the technical solutions with the political interests of policy-makers.
  • Publication
    Air Transport and Energy Efficiency
    (Washington, DC, 2012-02) World Bank
    The air transport sector is enjoying an optimistic growth rate while at the same time eliciting growing concern, due to its environmental impact and its vulnerability with respect to energy security. These issues have put the sector at the forefront of the tide in achieving energy efficiency. Efforts have been made on every front to improve efficiency through better technology, optimized operation, as well as energy-saving infrastructure. This report includes five chapters. Chapter 1 will introduce the air transport energy consumption outlook though the analysis of the growth of air services as well as consumption of fossil fuel-based energy. Chapter two will discuss air transport's impact on the environment and the response and actions from the air transport sector. Chapter three will detail potential energy efficiency gains in aircraft design, air service operation, as well as infrastructure design. The role of the government and private sector in fostering and supporting those energy efficiency gains will also be discussed. Chapter four will enumerate policy options for countries with respect to air transport energy efficiency, focusing on fiscal measures. Finally, chapter five presents an analysis of support and financing measures that can be taken by the World Bank and its member countries. This report compiles a maximum of information on the issues culled from existing research as well as from open sources provided by partner organizations and industry. It aims to guide the air transport industry, policy makers, and development institutions on where to focus their investments or support in developing and emerging markets in order to address the energy and climate change challenges ahead.
  • Publication
    Performance of Transport Corridors in Central and South Asia: Measurements 2008-2009
    (Washington, DC, 2011-05) World Bank
    This study is part of the ongoing dialogue on reforming trade logistics, and facilitating trade and transportation in Central and South Asian countries. It presents key findings from several rounds of first-hand observations and interviews conducted with multiple stakeholders to measure the performance of key road transport corridors across the region, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and to some extent, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The study identifies obstacles that hinder efficient movement of goods along transport corridors, and offers recommendations for short- and medium-term reforms for participating country governments with particular emphasis on the performance of border crossings. The overall objective of this study is to provide basic information on transport corridor performance so that national policy makers and private sectors have a basis to open discussions on how they might cooperate to facilitate international trade and transport by addressing infrastructure and operational bottlenecks in the region.
  • Publication
    Regional Cross-Border Trade Facilitation and Infrastructure Study for Mashreq Countries
    (Washington, DC, 2011-04) World Bank
    Many opportunities for trade of the Mashreq (Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Syria) countries are being lost because of inefficient trade facilitation processes and procedures, and to a lesser extent because of underdeveloped transport infrastructure. Implementation of the Pan Arab Free Trade Agreement has substantially reduced formal trade barriers between the countries. There is today extensive knowledge on the institutional arrangements for such agencies that work best under different conditions. Trade facilitation and transport services are largely the responsibility of private operators, yet an increase in their effectiveness would come through this agency which would include both private and public sector representation. The institutional proposals included in the short and medium term action plans are designed to create this new context. Recent initiatives within the Arab League to establish sub-regional committees of transport ministers have a similar objective of bringing a more focused attention to addressing trade facilitation issues. The proposal for a corridor management system presented in this report builds on these initiatives and draws on the experience gained from the operation of management systems in other corridors. This study used two analytical tools to assess the major trade and transport impediments to increased trade.