Transport Papers

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Rethinking Infrastructure Delivery: Case Study of a Green, Inclusive, and Cost-effective Road Program in Nicaragua

2014-06, Muzira, Stephen, Hernandez de Diaz, Damaris

This paper presents a development case study on alternative thinking in rural infrastructure delivery. Delivery in this case is achieved in a manner that advances the green growth, social inclusion and cost-effectiveness agendas. The need for green and inclusive approaches in reaching development goals cannot be overstated. At the same time, the use of public funds should ensure value for money and stretch government resources as far as they can go. Inclusion refers to the empowerment of all citizens to participate in, and benefit from the development process, removing barriers against those who are often excluded. The use of a community development approach is presented in this paper to demonstrate how this has been achieved on large scale and in a cost-effective way without compromising quality or timing. Heightened roles and responsibilities are conferred to the local target authorities and populations in this infrastructure delivery approach, and this experience is presented as a best practice that could be emulated in similar development work. On the technical front, most road infrastructure delivery in many countries is heavily mechanized and undertaken using default asphalt surfacing. This paper presents the adoption of an alternative and green paving material that is also cost-effective at the secondary rural road level.

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Review of Performance Based Contracting in the Road Sector : Phase 2. Review of Training Materials and Resources

2014-03, Gericke, Ben, Henning, Theuns, Greewood, Ian

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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Metropolitan Transportation Institutions : Six Case Studies - Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, and the United States

2011-03, World Bank

Transportation has always played a fundamental role in the formation of cities. Ports evolved where rivers flowed into the ocean or at the confluence of major rivers; sleepy outposts at the junction of major roads became bustling trading hubs. Although this relationship between transportation and development has been evident since the creation of the earliest urban societies, all previous conceptions of the city were made obsolete by the advent of the industrial revolution. The transportation challenges raised by this new city centered on congestion. Early forms of transit provided some relief, but as motor vehicles became common place, existing urban streets were overwhelmed. As roadways were enlarged and expressways constructed, the population of new suburbs expanded and the automobile became the dominant form of transportation in many developed cities. To address issues at this scale, cities and countries around the world have developed new institutions that sit between the scale of local and higher order governments. The example of Boston, presented in the accompanying figure, is illustrative. The city of Boston has a population of 620,000, but its metropolitan area is commonly defined to include 101 cities and towns with 4.5 million total residents. An organization known as a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) that covers the territory of all the cities and towns in the region has been created to coordinate planning of major transportation investments. The primary purpose of the current study is to provide an overview of the ways in which systems of metropolitan transportation governance are organized in a six different countries in order that these systems might provide models for World Bank client countries currently developing institutions for managing urban transport problems. The best method for understanding how each of these systems operates is consulting the county case studies provided in the final section. This study is organized as follows. The first section presents an overview of several themes that run through the cases. In the subsequent sections, each case is reviewed individually.

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Monitoring Road Works Contracts and Unit Costs for Enhanced Governance in Europe and Central Asia

2011-01, Alexeeva, Victoria, Queiroz, Cesar, Ishihara, Satoshi

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.

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A Guide to Delivering Good Asset Management in the Road Sector through Performance Based Contracting

2014-03, Gericke, Ben, Henning, Theuns, Greewood, Ian

The road sector represents a significant asset to any country both in terms of the physical cost to build it, and the social and economic benefits that it facilitates. Good asset management in the road sector is about obtaining the desired benefits at the least whole-of-life cost, and it is therefore natural to seek to implement a robust asset management approach on what is typically a nation's largest asset. Implementation of performance based contracting (PBC) necessitates the identification of many of the cornerstones to asset management, such as knowing the asset, managing risks, and determining the sustainable level of service for the funds available. The aim of this guide is to help understand: (1) what asset management is and why it is important; (2) how performance based contracting delivers good asset management; and (3) the issues and challenges associated with successful implementation of a performance based contract. This guide is focused on PBCs with a significant contract term. This guide draws extensively on the report, review of performance based contracting in the road sector, phase 1: tasks 1 to 6 which examined 35 projects across 27 countries, combined with the knowledge of an international project team.

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Improving Accessibility to Transport for People with Limited Mobility : A Practical Guidance Note

2013-05, World Bank

This document aims to provide practical guidance on how best to include consideration of accessibility for People with Limited Mobility (PLM). While disabled people are a primary focus, the definition of PLM considered within this guidance note therefore also encompasses this broader range of users with mobility constraints and needs. Barriers to addressing the needs of PLM are often a product of a lack of information for transport professionals and facility designers, combined with limited resources. To assist client countries with implementing the principles and binding obligations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), it is clear that World Bank Task Team Leaders (TTLs) need to understand how to build in accessibility for disabled people in the design and implementation of transport projects. This guidance note therefore aims to aid World Bank TTLs when specifying and managing Bank funded transport projects in order to improve the accessibility of transport systems for PLM. It is intended to serve primarily as a point of reference for TTLs on how to include, and improve; the accessibility of PLM in Bank supported transport operations, as well as being useful for other organizations and government agencies. Following this introductory chapter, chapter two provides concise technical descriptions of different transport accessibility measures, of their costs, benefits and implementation issues, and of relevant standards and sources of further detailed design guidance. In chapter three these accessibility features are gathered into ranked lists to which TTLs may refer in order to see which measures represent low cost options, and those which are likely to have the best benefit/cost relationships. Chapter four sets out information on relevant regulatory and institutional framework issues. Chapter five summarizes potential funding sources and mechanisms for providing accessibility improvements for people with limited mobility. Finally, chapter six (operational road map) provides guidance on the process for designing accessibility into World Bank transport projects.

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Making a Small Market Thrive : Recommendations for Efficiency Gains in the Latin American Air Cargo Market

2011-03, Serebrisky, Tomás, Schwartz, Jordan, Pachón, María Claudia, Ricover, Andrés

Air cargo origin destination flows in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region are heavily concentrated in the largest economies of South America and Mexico. With 32.7 percent of the airfreight moved to, from, and within the region, Brazil is the largest cargo market, followed by Colombia and Mexico, with 17.9 percent and 16.0 percent, respectively. The relatively small size of the air cargo market in LAC can be explained by: (i) low levels of demand for air cargo services (supply responds adequately to a low demand for air cargo services in/from LAC), or (ii) restrictions to a properly functioning market that impede the air cargo market to reach its full potential. The analysis carried out for the preparation of this paper indicates that the low levels of demand is the most reasonable explanation for the small size of the LAC air cargo market. There is room to improve some regulations which would make the air cargo market work more efficiently and probably at lower costs, but the size and diversity of the market will not significantly change as a result. Airport infrastructure quality fairs well overall, although some isolated issues exist in certain airports in LAC. Infrastructure limitations were evaluated through a survey conducted by an association of LAC airlines (ALTA). The results of the survey show that even the worst rated airports received an acceptable score in absolute terms. Policies aimed at reducing operating costs and related to soft constraints should also be implemented paperless customs procedures, improved security in airport premises and streamlining of custom inspection processes.

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Review of Performance Based Contracting in the Road Sector : Phase 1

2014-03, Gericke, Ben, Henning, Theuns, Greewood, Ian

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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Performance-Based Road Rehabilitation and Maintenance Contracts in Argentina : A Review of Fifteen Years of Experience (1996-2010)

2011-09, Marcela Silva, Maria, Liautaud, Gerard

The road sector is the dominant mode of transport in Argentina carrying nearly 80 percent of total freight volume. The road network has a total length of about 630,000 km (11 percent paved), divided in three administrative levels: national, provincial, and municipal. However, more than 70 percent of total traffic volumes are concentrated on the paved national and provincial network, with the municipal network consisting of unpaved roads, access roads to farms and feeder roads with very low traffic volumes. A survey carried out in 1992 confirmed that only 44 percent of the national paved network was in good condition, with a high 35 percent of roads in poor condition. Rehabilitation works for the non-concessioned portion were contracted to the private sector under the traditional ad-measurement type or unit price-based system while maintenance activities continued to be carried out by force-account. In 1993 a loan from the World Bank was approved to finance, for the first time, high priority rehabilitation and maintenance works on the non-concessioned paved network, leading to the development of a long-term maintenance strategy based on the gradual expansion of performance-based contracts, a modality that is currently being replicated in other countries around the world. This paper is organized as follows: chapter one presents the national road network of Argentina; chapter two gives origins and definition of the Contrato de Recuperacion y Mantenimiento (CREMA) contracts; chapter three gives evolution in the procurement and the design standards of the CREMA; chapter four presents the market's response to the CREMA system; chapter five presents impact of the CREMA on the condition of the national road network; chapter six deals with cost effectiveness of the CREMA system; chapter seven presents Bank's strategy and role in the road sector in Argentina; and chapter eight gives lessons learned.

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Road Asset Governance Filter : Case Study of Kazakhstan and Armenia

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.