Other Infrastructure Study

341 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2204

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Improving Climate Resilience of Federal Road Network in Brazil

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-05) World Bank

Although Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, it has a relatively low number of natural hazards. However, its exposure to natural hazards has increased relative to other countries because of insufficient preventive actions in the past, resulting in more damage from natural hazards to both infrastructure and human lives than countries of comparable size would incur. Brazil faces an increasing risk of natural disasters, in particular floods and landslides. The objective of the study is to strengthen capacity of geohazard disaster resilience of federal highway infrastructure in Brazil through reviewing disaster risk management (DRM) capacity for federal road infrastructure and case studies of applying innovative methodologies for assessing disaster risk and evaluating economic benefits of resilience countermeasures. Although floods and landslides are the most recurrent natural disasters in Brazil, this report focuses on the latter, leaving floods for future studies. This report carefully describes how three innovative methodologies that, if properly applied, could improve the effectiveness of landslide risk management, thus reducing economic and human impacts. The report begins with diagnostics of the institutional capacities of geohazard risk management at the federal government level in Brazil. Chapters 1 and 2 include the backgrounds of natural disasters, road systems, and geohazards on roads in Brazil and a review of the road geohazard risk management with overviews of the following areas: institutional capacity and coordination, system planning, engineering designs, operation and maintenance, nonstructural measures, and contingency programming. Then, Chapters 3 and 4 describe the case study of application of the three innovative DRM assessment methodologies. Finally, Chapter 5 shows the suggestions and recommendations for the next steps.
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.
What Drives the High Price of Road Freight Transport in Central America?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-12) Osborne, Theresa ; Pachon, Maria Claudia ; Araya, Gonzalo Enrique

In Central America, like many other developing regions, high transport costs are cited as an important impediment to trade and economic growth. Prices for road freight transport, a key mode of transport comprising a significant share of total transport costs for both intra, and extra, regional trade, are particularly high. Averaging 17 US cents per ton-kilometer on main trading routes, these rates stand out even relative to other inefficient developing country markets (e.g., central and west Africa). However, the policy and other factors associated with increased prices have not been well understood. Using data from a survey of trucking companies operating on the region's main trade corridors, this paper analyzes the primary drivers affecting firms' cost of providing service, as well as the effect of market structure and competition on markups and prices. We find that whereas improved cost efficiencies could reduce prices by 3 cents per ton?kilometer, increased competition on national routes, those entirely within a nation's borders, will reduce prices by significantly more. Although there are many trucking companies, including small and somewhat informal operators, the degree of competition varies by route due to domestic restraints on competition and the prohibition on international competition on national routes. Our empirical result shows that the effect of barriers to entry and imperfect competition on markups accounts for at least 35 percent of mean prices on national routes. Moreover, a lack of competition is likely to explain the persistence of an inefficient market structure and scale of operation, as well as a lack of innovation to reduce costs and enhance the quality of service.
Peru - Recent Economic Development in Infrastructure : Volume 2. Investing in Infrastructure as an Engine for Growth - Spending More, Faster, and Spending Better

(Washington, DC, 2010-12) World Bank

This report provided the Government of Peru with a comprehensive strategic assessment of three key infrastructure sectors: water/sanitation, transport and electricity, and to propose selected recommendations on how the Government could improve the performance of these sectors. Peru's public expenditure framework shows some rigidities, a number of which were introduced when fiscal resources were scarce or, more recently, because of concerns about a possible risk of inflation. The implementation of the stimulus package has required a laborious transition to remove bottlenecks to faster public spending, sometimes at the risk of affecting the mechanisms that help ensure the quality of public expenditures. The Peruvian authorities have been able to accelerate public investments in infrastructure but little thinking has been dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of such investments. The report concludes that Peru should focus on: prioritizing infrastructure investments through improved planning, promoting efficiency in infrastructure delivery, enhancing sub-national governments' capacity with respect to infrastructure, and leveraging the participation of the private sector.
Understanding Sector Performance : The Case of Utilities in Latin America and the Caribbean

(World Bank, 2009-07-29) World Bank

This report provides innovative approaches to better understand infrastructure sector performance by focusing on the links between key indicators for private and public utilities, and changes in ownership, regulatory agency governance, and corporate governance, among other dimensions. By linking inputs and outputs over the last 15 years, the analysis proposes key determinants that have impacted sector performance in infrastructure sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It is about understanding how and to what extent the effect of such elements result in significant changes in the performance of infrastructure service provision. This report focuses on the distribution segment of basic infrastructure services. It covers electricity distribution, water distribution and sewerage, and fixed telecommunications. More specifically, the report does: i) depict sector performance with a broad set of indicators that describes the current situation as well its evolution during the last 15 years; ii) propose analytical frameworks for themes less developed in the literature such as regulatory governance and corporate governance for state-owned enterprises (SOEs); iii) benchmark the institutional designs of the regulatory agencies in the region for the water and electricity sectors; and iv) analyze the relationship between sector performance and regulation, private sector participation, and corporate governance.
Infrastructure in Latin America : An Update, 1980-2006

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009-05-29) Calderón, César ; Servén, Luis

This paper documents the trends in infrastructure in major Latin American economies over the last quarter century. Drawing from an expanded and updated data set, the paper sheds light on the region's infrastructure performance along four major dimensions. First, the paper documents the trends in the quantity of Latin America's infrastructure assets, using a comparative cross-regional perspective. Second, the paper presents a battery of indicators of the quality of infrastructure services, taking the same comparative perspective. Third, the paper reviews Latin America's performance in terms of the universality of access to infrastructure services. Lastly, the paper offers a detailed account of the trends in infrastructure investment in Latin America's six major economies since 1980, disaggregated by both sector of origin (public and private) and destination (power, transport and telecommunications).
Colombia : Inputs for Sub-Regional Competitiveness Policies

(Washington, DC, 2008-06) World Bank

In recent years, the Government of Colombia (GoC) has placed a high priority on competitiveness. Increasing globalization trends and Colombia's decision to increase trade integration, with the negotiation of a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US, has led the government to focus on a complementary agenda to boost competitiveness in order to reap the benefits of increased trade integration. A bottom-up process of consultation, known as the Domestic Agenda, was launched with the aims of identifying key constraints at the local and sector levels and developing a set of competitiveness-oriented measures. This study aims at helping the GoC to fine-tune the mix of policies and actions to assist its regions in meeting development challenges and grasping opportunities from trade liberalization. Defining competitiveness as policies and actions to increase total factor productivity (TFP), this report seeks to provide inputs for the establishment of a strategy for sub regional competitiveness and growth through both examining the recent literature on the main instruments directed towards these objectives and evaluating sub-regional endowments, capacity, productive structure and the determinants of productivity levels in selected regions of Colombia. Three key areas for competitiveness are further explored: (a) overall investment climate; (b) infrastructure and logistics; and (c) human capital and innovation.
Brazil - São Paulo : Inputs for a Sustainable Competitive City Strategy, Volume 2. Background Report

(Washington, DC, 2007-03) World Bank

Through an analysis of selected topics, this study aims to offer inputs for a successful recovery strategy for the city and the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo (MSRP) in Brazil. The study first presents an analysis of the underlying factors of the economic transition in the MRSP, highlighting the factors behind the recent performance of the MRSP in terms of job creation and growth. Then, four inputs that would lead to a 'recovery strategy' for the MRSP are discussed in detail: The key area in the recovery strategy is 'Improving Fiscal Performance and Creditworthiness.' This is discussed in Chapter 2 and it provides an assessment of the current fiscal situation, revising the fiscal scenario, and the links between economic performance and fiscal spending. A second area of focus within the recovery strategy is 'Improving Competitiveness and the Investment Climate.' Chapter 3 assesses this issue along with the business environment in the MRSP, using both direct surveys and econometric models. A third area of focus under the MRSP recovery strategy is 'Improving Institutional Partnerships.' Chapter 4 explains this issue as confusing institutional framework; overlapping responsibilities, the lack of coordination across government levels, and little interaction with the private sector have hampered the MRSP's ability to react to economic and fiscal shocks. Finally, 'Improving Service Delivery' is the fourth focus area within the MRSP recovery strategy and is covered in chapter 5. The challenges of service delivery are illustrated in this chapter through careful examination of housing policies and programs in the Municipality of Sao Paulo.