Transport Papers
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Publication
Review of Performance Based Contracting in the Road Sector : Phase 2. Review of Training Materials and Resources
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-03)Performance Based Contracts (PBC's) are not new to the transport sector, with many variants in use in different countries for close to two decades. International lending institutions, such as the World Bank, have played a significant role in pushing PBCs into developing nations as part of loan assistance packages. However, there has been a tendency for a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to the implementation, with the result being a variation in the success of any implemented PBCs, as well as a significant proportion of the proposed PBCs not making it to the contract award stage. To address these issues, the World Bank has commissioned a review of performance based contracting in the road sector (contract number 7158253) led by Opus International Consultants Limited. Outputs from the project to date include: phase one report covering the review of previous PBCs (Opus 2011); a guide for the application of PBCs (Opus, 2012a); points to guide Bank implementation of PBCs (Opus, 2012b); and this review of existing training materials and resources. -
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Review of Performance Based Contracting in the Road Sector : Phase 1
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-03)There has been a tendency for a one-size-fits-all approach to the implementation, with the result being a variation in the success of any implemented performance based contracts (PBCs), as well as a significant proportion of the PBCs not making it to the contract award stage. To address these issues, the World Bank (WB) has commissioned a review of PBC in the road sector. PBC involves a significant shift away from more traditional approaches to the delivery and maintenance of road infrastructure and associated services by departing from the client's having responsibility for the design and supervision of construction and maintenance activities, to focus upon the key outcomes that the client wishes to achieve. There are two objectives for this study including: (1) to produce a strategy that will guide the WB's future engagements in PBC projects; and (2) to improve the WB's service to clients by offering a variety of PBC options, to suit different operating conditions and client needs. The report details phase one, review and synthesis of existing practices and its following six tasks: task 1, taking stock of various types of PBC projects; task 2, defining various types of PBC methodologies; task 3, outlining PBC's strengths and weaknesses; task 4, clarifying both various types of PBCs and federation internationale des ingenieurs-conseil (FIDIC)-type (input and bill of quantities) contracts; task 5, discriminating between successful and less successful factors of PBC projects; and task 6, developing a work program on how to move the second phase forward. -
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Road Freight in Central America: Five Explanations to High Costs of Service Provision
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-06)An efficient system to transport goods domestically and internationally is a key element of the logistics chain. Road freight transport has a direct impact on poverty as it employs millions of people and generates a significant portion of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, especially in low and middle-income countries. Trucking is the primary form of transportation for domestic, trans-border, and international cargo, in Central America. Road freight transport is now vital to production, distribution, and mobilization, driving economic, social, and environmental progress. In short, trucking is the backbone of economies around the world. In the past 20 years, the industry has advanced as technology has improved communication, management, productivity, including vehicle efficiency. Their objective in doing so is to expand markets, generate wealth on the basis of efficient specialization, introduce competition, and lower costs for production, distribution, services, and research and development. When road freight transport services are efficient, they support these objectives; when they are not they act as nontariff barriers to trade, creating delays, raising costs, worsening congestion and pollution. Such barriers prolong and destabilize delivery schedules, hinder 'just in time' inventory management and industrial processes, and impede the efficient combination of factors of production. -
Publication
Transport Emissions and Savings in Health Costs
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012)The paper aims to provide the basis for an estimation equation and will focus on the relation between transport emissions and air quality in an urban environment. This is directly related to the fact that most health impacts are related to local air quality levels. The aim of the paper is to create an understanding of the factors that play a role in the causal relation between transport emissions and health effects and provides approximations from existing studies that can be used to assess these health impacts and related costs. The paper focuses on the translation of air pollution levels into health impacts and health costs. The overall structure of the paper follows the two key steps and elaborates on the inherent challenges: (1) identify and measure the health effects of air pollution, and (2) to estimate the costs of the health effects. The paper is divided into four chapters: chapter one is introduction- outlining the goals and background to the project; chapter two gives impacts of air pollution from transport on health; chapter three presents valuation of health impacts- reviews the literature on how to value the impacts on health associated with air pollution; and chapter four gives guidelines for calculating the health effects of air pollution from traffic. -
Publication
Sustainability of Transport Projects: Toolkit
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012)This report is the output of the finalize toolkit phase (phase three) for the project sustainability toolkit for transport projects. The overall objective, as defined in the terms of reference, is 'to make development projects more sustainable by reducing the risk of failure of projects attaining their long-term development goals and enhance the prospects for their sustained impact on development ensuring that there is local commitment to longer-term buy-in'. The main deliverable of the project is a project sustainability toolkit, of which this report outlines the final version. This toolkit helps to gauge the potential for the project to be sustainable into the long-term and provide advice to help overcome common barriers to the successful development and implementation of projects. The guidance covers the expected opportunities and constraints related to sustainability. The toolkit is intended to reduce the risk of project failure in terms of sustainable development and enable recipient country clients to incorporate core sustainability principles into transport projects at every stage of project planning, design and delivery. This will improve the prospects for longer-term sustainability and will enhance the long-term impacts of development projects. Task Team Leaders (TTL's) will benefit from additional evidence that supports investments intended to consolidate long-term development, and borrowers will benefit from projects with improved and demonstrable longer-term beneficial impact. The toolkit provides general advice for transport sector investments and is not modally specific. Information on the sub-components of the key sustainability principles has not been included since it was considered that this did not add value or further understanding of the issues. -
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Making It to the School: Education and Transport Policies for Children in South East Europe
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-10)Providing at least basic education to all children especially those coming from poor or disadvantaged families is an important factor for increasing chances to improve their lives in the future. Many countries recognize the need to better educate their populations and do so by trying to improve the equity and quality while taking care of efficiency. The provision of equal educational opportunities is a challenge for every society, where specific solutions typically depend on a number of factors. The intention of this document is to raise awareness and provide support to decision makers in planning the measures that will secure access to quality education for all children above all to those who are under higher risk of dropping out of the education system through a set of transportation and education policy measures. The document aims to equip municipal authorities, as well as transport and education stakeholders, with a systemized approach for assessing the access and accessibility of education services, and tools for the selection of the most appropriate options for improvements. The document is organized as follows: chapter one provides a short introductory review of the demographic changes in South East Europe (SEE) countries; chapter two is a valuable source of information on the experiences of countries in the SEE region and worldwide; chapter three gives decision-making framework for local authorities; chapter four provides a summary and a set of recommendations for local- and national-level authorities on the most effective ways of fulfilling legal obligations and ensuring a basic children's right- access to education; chapter five and six sets paths for making chosen policy options sustainable and for future developments based on innovative transport and education approaches and proven practices; and chapter seven gives literature and data sources. -
Publication
Road Asset Governance Filter : Case Study of Kazakhstan and Armenia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-02)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. -
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Monitoring Road Works Contracts and Unit Costs for Enhanced Governance in Europe and Central Asia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-01)The present study generates a specialized dataset of road sector contracts for Bank-financed projects in 14 countries of Europe and Central Asia. The data sample covers 200 completed or ongoing road works contracts signed between 2000 and 2010. Trends for each country are captured through the following indicators: (i) difference between contract values and their engineers' estimates; (ii) cost overruns; (iii) time overruns; (iv) bidding indicators for contracts with and without prequalification: number of firms that applied for prequalification, number of prequalified firms, number of firms that bought bidding documents, number of bidders, number of disqualified bidders; (v) time elapsed between bid opening and contract signing dates; (vi) cost per kilometer of similar works; (vii) road works unit costs; and (viii) ratios between supervision contract values and the related road works contract values. An inventory of risks is developed for each road works contract using a checklist of possible entry points of corrupt activities or red flags. The frequency of observations is measured for the selected types of red flags from a sample of 200 road works contracts surveyed. The contracts with complaints received by the Bank's Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) are examined separately to check if they exhibit a pattern of indicators consistent with the presence of allegations of corruption or fraud. The study looks further into the determinants of road rehabilitation and reconstruction costs. It concludes with selected recommendations to sustain the platform fostering governance and integrity in the procurement and implementation of road sector contracts under Bank-funded operations. -
Publication
Energy Efficient Inland Water Transport in Bangladesh
(Washington, DC, 2011)IWT is more energy efficient that modes like road or rail. The bigger capacity of IWT units means that the sector is able to ship more tons per kilometer per unit of fuel than what is possible with other modes. This benefits the climate and makes the sector relatively cost-efficient. Even so, few countries fully exploit the potential benefits of IWT and in many countries the share of road transport is increasing at the cost of IWT. There are various possible reasons for this trend. Among the main reasons given by shippers to avoid IWT are advantages of road transport such as speed of delivery and flexibility, limitations imposed by IWT infrastructure (water levels, bridge clearances, port access) and underdeveloped intermodal facilities (transshipment from IWT to truck for pre- and end-haulage). For shippers these arguments are more important than the potential reduction of transport costs and CO2 emissions. Chapter two compares the global energy-efficiency of IWT with that of other transport modes. It also discusses the reasons for differences between modes and the implications of each for CO2 emissions. Chapter three deal with the varying energy-performance of IWT vessels in various regions in the world. Chapter four explores several energy efficiency benchmarking methods. The conclusions of part A are presented in chapter five. -
Publication
Measures to Reduce the Economic and Social Impact of High Fuel Prices
(Washington, DC, 2011)High volatility in the world prices of petroleum has been a characteristic feature of the global economy in the last decade. World petroleum prices increased four-fold between 2004 and 2008 and, and following a drop in prices in the second half of 2008, petroleum prices have been rising again, and they are several times higher than they were two decades ago. Since high and volatility of prices is likely to be a permanent feature of the global economy for the foreseeable future, they merit a reconsideration of the national transport and taxation policies that were put in place when fuel prices were not such a significant component of trade-related transactions costs in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. Transport practices that were based on the assumption of low price of fuel are not sustainable, and policies neglect fuel efficiency considerations through lowering the fuel consumption of vehicles measures are no longer sustainable. Efficient and low transport cost is essential to achieve regional economic integration and strengthen Africa's competitiveness in external markets. Higher diesel prices also impact on the prices of all other goods which use diesel as an intermediate input. The most significant among them with implications for the poor in low-income developing countries is food, on which the poor spend a disproportionately high share of their total household expenditures. This report is in three parts in the first part, transport fuel prices in the countries of SSA are compared with those of other regions of the world. The comparison is not only in terms of the actual retail prices but also, but taking account of per capita incomes and truck revenues, also in terms of affordability. This Part also provides evidence of the make-up of transport fuel prices in SSA countries, as a first step in assessing how they can be dealt with. The second part provides new evidence of the impact of these high fuel prices on the export competiveness of a sample of six SSA countries. It also provides a shorter description of the results of a study of the impact of fuel prices on logistics costs in Central America, since so far there have not been any studies of the impact of high transport fuel prices on logistics and food costs in SSA countries. The third part deals with the ways in which the impact of high transport fuel prices can be addressed. Two main areas of action are described, those that would reduce the retail price of transport fuel and those that would increase fuel efficiency, so they impact of high prices would be reduced. This section focuses on diesel fuel, as this is by far the most used by the trucks that transport export products and are involved in domestic logistics. This section concludes with some ideas on what could be done next to make progress on implementing the most promising ideas for reducing the impact of high transport fuel prices.
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