Transport Papers

86 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16994

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Road Asset Governance Filter : Case Study of Kazakhstan and Armenia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-02) Queiroz, Cesar ; Lopez Martinez, Alejandro ; Ishihara, Satoshi ; Hommann, Kirsten

Building upon the transport governance filter developed by the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) transport team, which identified several thematic principles and actionable indicators on the governance of the transport sector at large, this paper seeks to assess the overall governance performance of the road sector as well as the concrete issues that road administrations should address in order to improve sector governance. A pilot survey was conducted in Armenia and Kazakhstan, in which road sector stakeholders were asked to evaluate more than seventy questions structured along four governance dimensions: (i) transparency, disclosure and accountability of the road agency; (ii) transparent and accessible procurement processes; (iii) financial management system; and (iv) administrative procedures and anticorruption effort. This report starts with an overview of the existing approaches to governance and corruption with a particular focus on the road sector. It then outlines the methodological framework developed under the study to assess the governance challenges facing the road sector, and report the governance challenges in Armenia and Kazakhstan using the methodology developed. The report will conclude with an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the methodological approach used and concrete suggestions to strengthen governance in the road sector of Armenia and Kazakhstan.
Private Participation in the Transport Sector : Lessons from Recent Experience in Europe and Central Asia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06) Cuttaree, V. ; Humphreys, M. ; Muzira, S. ; Strand, J-P.

This report was commissioned to draw lessons from the experiences with public private partnerships (PPPs) in the transport sector in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) countries. The report will review experiences to date with private participation in the transport sector with a primary focus on experiences in the ECA countries and Europe. To carefully prepare and select the most desirable PPP projects during the most severe economic downturn since the Second World War, availability of regional best practices would be helpful. This report will provide guidance for successful PPP implementation and will hopefully encourage public authorities to critically evaluate their project designs. The lessons from this study apply regardless of the financial crisis. While the dire economic environment will considerably impact the current PPP pipeline, the fundamental success factors for these projects will remain the same. During times of economic turmoil, evaluating past investment projects can provide lessons for stimulating the next period of economic growth. The report discusses the impact of the financial crisis separately in annex B.
Road User Charges : Current Practice and Perspectives in Central and Eastern Europe

( 2008-11-01) Queiroz, Cesar ; Rdzanowska, Barbara ; Garbarczyk, Robert ; Audige, Michel

This paper covers the most commonly used means to charge road users, including fuel taxes, vehicle taxes, vignettes and tolls. It presents a brief survey of road user charging systems in selected European countries and a more detailed overview of current status and perspectives of road user charges in Poland. Consideration is also given to private financing of roads through different forms of public-private partnerships (PPP), including a review of potential applications of the World Bank toolkit for PPP in highways as an instrument to help decision makers and practitioners to define the best PPP approach for a specific country.
Launching Public Private Partnerships for Highways in Transition Economies

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-09) Queiroz, Cesar

In many countries the private sector has been involved in financing infrastructure through concessions under a public-private partnership (PPP) program. PPP schemes, however, are somewhat underutilized in transition economies, where the potential financing gaps are significant and growing, and there seems to be an enormous potential for more private sector involvement in the financing and operation of highway assets in these countries. Institutions such as the World Bank can contribute to enhance private financing of road infrastructure through greater use of their guarantee power, in addition to supporting, when required, the public sector contribution to the construction cost of a PPP project through loans. Partial risk guarantees are particularly relevant in the context of seeking more private involvement in the financing of road infrastructure. This paper reviews potential applications of partial risk guarantees, the required legal framework (for example, concession law) for attracting private capital for PPP schemes, possible steps for a country to launch a program of private participation in highways, the concept of greenfield and road maintenance concession programs, and the treatment of unsolicited proposals. It also summarizes potential applications of the World Bank Toolkit for PPP in Highways as an instrument to help decision-makers and practitioners to define the best PPP approach for a specific country.
Privatizing British Railways : Are There Lessons for the World Bank and its Borrowers?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-09) Thompson, Louis S.

The privatization of British Railways (BR) has been deeply controversial. Having concluded that the old BR had run out of financial and managerial steam, the Conservative Government of John Major embarked in 1992 on a radical reform program involving the breakup of the formerly unitary system into over a hundred parts and their subsequent privatization. The Bank's railway borrowers often react to the British experience (and the similar policies in the European Union requiring infrastructure separation) by arguing either that the situation in the U.K. was so particular that it has little application anywhere else, or by asserting that the U.K experience was a "failure" and should be ignored: this report argues that neither assertion is true. Though the assertions are convenient, governments cannot ignore their railways for all the reasons outlined in a long series of World Bank reports on railway restructuring. Aside from the sheer financial and economic burden of an inefficient railway, the non-market benefits of rail services in urban transport, in relieving highway congestion and pollution management, and in accident reduction, mandate government intervention if they are to be maximized. Accepting the specifics of the U.K. conditions, and with the acknowledged benefit of hindsight, this report aims to draw some useful conclusions. In short, both restructuring and private sector involvement remain viable options; but, neither is a panacea and implementing either requires care.