Country Infrastructure Framework

12 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7794

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 12

Assessment of the Financing Framework for Municipal Infrastructure in Vietnam

(Washington, DC, 2013-09) World Bank

A fundamental challenge for Vietnam is to improve the affordability and efficiency of infrastructure investment. The fragmentation of public infrastructure investment results in duplication and waste, and is a major underlying cause of investment inefficiency. Bond issuance has been the most prominent form of debt financing at the sub-national level. At the provincial level, significant disconnects exist between total planned investment needs in infrastructure, and the effective demand for such investment. The success of any initiative to improve the financing of municipal infrastructure in Vietnam hinges on advances in the broader landscape of policy reform as part of the country's long-term development. Meeting these challenges requires a comprehensive approach that addresses issues of governance, financing, and execution. This report has been formulated with the objective of informing the Government of Vietnam (GOV) on how the financing framework for municipal infrastructure in the country can be strengthened. It is based on an assessment of the constraints and opportunities that sub-national governments face in accessing financing for infrastructure development. It also draws upon lessons and good practices from international experience in this area, considering their relevance for Vietnam. A set of recommendations and implementable actions is provided, recognizing the broader context of ongoing reforms that are needed on institutions, incentives and the availability of information.
China Small and Medium Towns Overview

(Washington, DC, 2012-04) World Bank

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate substantially exceeded China's population growth, which averaged 1.4 percent annually between 1978 and 2009, and real GDP per capita accordingly grew at 8.6 percent annually during this period. China's urban population resides primarily in city districts (shiqu) and town districts (zhenqu), which constitute the urban core of larger administrative units called cities (shi) and respectively towns (zhen). Cities and towns in China are expansive regions, with administrative territories much larger than in the rest of the world (Chan 2007). Cities are conceptually equivalent to counties in the U.S. and thus the whole of China's territory is basically covered by 287 prefecture and provincial level municipalities, which within their area include 654 city districts - the cities proper in the conventional sense of this word - and 19,322 towns. Each town in turn includes a town district - an urban core that occupies a fraction of the town's area but accounts for most of the town's urban population. While cities and towns as a whole overlap in their administrative boundaries, with multiple towns nested within each city, city districts and town districts are disjoint structures, being urban embryos within the administrative boundaries of territorially larger cities and towns. The main purpose of this study is to examine the development and features of town districts (zhenqu) - the urbanized core of China's towns.
Unlocking the Public-Private Partnerships Deadlock in Indonesia

(World Bank, Jakarta, 2011-03) Wibisono, Andri ; Delmon, Jeff ; Hahm, Hongjoo

The challenges faced by Indonesia in creating a robust Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program are similar to those faced by many other middle-income countries. This paper provides a gap analysis for Indonesia's PPP framework based on lessons learned and good practice from countries with successful PPP programs. It identifies, in particular, the need for the government to: select good projects for PPP, rather than only complex ones that are less likely to attract private partners. Establish a list of projects by a limited cabinet meeting and stick to it-issuing different lists of projects and holding showcase summits with open agendas tends to confuse the market. Keep those projects on track for PPP-allowing the contracting agencies to develop prospective projects directly, or to award them without competition leads investors to question the commitment and resolve of the government to its own PPP process. Prepare projects well, using the Ministry of Finance to provide access to: 1) a team of PPP experts to help contracting agencies develop projects; 2) project preparation funding to help pay the high costs of preparation; and 3) viability gap funding to make projects more affordable and bankable by defraying some of the capital costs.
Projeto de Fortalecimento das Instituicoes e Infraestrutura do Mercado de Carbono no Brasil : Strengthening of the Brazilian Carbon Market's Institutions and Infrastructure [Bilingual]

(Washington, DC, 2010-11) World Bank

The worldwide carbon market is a reality. It has contributed to the implementation of projects that aim to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in many different sectors and it has turned GHGs, represented by carbon, into economic assets that are no longer mere environmental liabilities. In this context, Brazil currently ranks third in the world in terms of the number of projects on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Brazil pioneered the development of the first large scale methodology and registration for the first project in the history of the CDM. Despite Brazil's significant qualitative and quantitative participation in such projects, there is still great potential for the development of other types of CDM project activities. Given the new methodologies for CDM projects approved over the last few years and the programmatic CDM, which intends to reduce bureaucracy and accelerate the registration process for closely related projects, there exists an even greater potential for CDM projects in several sectors in Brazil. The main objective of this study was to identify the existing technical potential for low carbon projects as described above as well as to stimulate the implementation of low carbon projects in Brazil, thus contributing towards reducing and avoiding Brazil's current and projected emissions and inserting Brazil into the new low carbon economy. Generally speaking, the study focused on sectors where there is still a potential for the application of conventional techniques or technologies to reduce or avoid GHG emissions.
Socio-Economic Assessment of Broadband Development in Egypt

(Washington, DC, 2010-08) World Bank

The Government of Egypt has recognized broadband as being of strategic importance to the country´s economic and social development and it is developing a new strategy to develop access and use of broadband networks and services. As a specific target of this strategy, the government seeks to increase broadband penetration to 20 connections per 100 inhabitants by 2013. This report is the result of the second part of the existing reimbursable technical assistance on communications by which the World Bank has been providing assistance to the government of Egypt in the development of this broadband strategy. The objective of this particular assignment is to support the policy making process to develop broadband services and infrastructure throughout Egypt and achieve substantial economic impact in the economy including specific intermediary sectors. This assignment builds of the outcomes of the previously delivered study (strategic options for broadband development, 2010) and it uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches to provide specific advisory outputs.
A Program of the South-South Experience Exchange Facility

(Washington, DC, 2010-07) World Bank

The SERENE program, coined as an acronym for South-South Exchange of Research and Education Network Experience, was a series of activities that applied what is called the 'blended learning' approach, using a combined variety of tools such as web based discussions, live multisite videoconferences, and in person study visits and workshops, as a program of the global development learning network. Given the global and collaborative nature of contemporary research and the digitization of knowledge resources, access to internet and to research networks has become a pre-requisite for the provision of quality higher education in a country. Yet in some South Asian countries access to internet is poor and still very expensive, leading to academic isolation, exclusion from global research and low quality of teaching. The objectives of the program were to assist the participants in producing country policy plans for building research networks in their own countries and to encourage the establishment of a regional association of South Asian National Research and Education Networks (NRENs). The eventual outcomes of the program were, on the one hand, a conviction by the participating policy makers that an NREN was essential for the development of their higher education systems, and on the other, a series of policy notes to their respective governments on how to go about establishing and managing such a network.
New Uses for Global Forecasts

(Washington, DC, 2010-01) World Bank

In accordance with the goals of the innovation grant, World Bank staff undertook a study tour to Turkey to observe Turkey's innovative system to deliver farmer-focused weather alerts by cell phone. The regional priority on climate change adaptation highlights an adaptation mechanism that has emerged with broad support: upgrade and dissemination of spatially-resolved, accurate weather forecasts and robust mechanisms to place this information in the hands of farmers on a timely basis. The objective of this innovation grant-funded activity was to bring Europe and Central Asia (ECA) staff up to date on the emerging good practice in Turkey, providing an opportunity for staff working on the Central Asia portfolio to discuss with Turkish experts and colleagues how the model could be applied in Central Asia. A second phase of the activity will address the issue that, while Turkey generates its own high-resolution weather forecasts, the bank's Central Asian clients do not. The activity therefore set out to identify practical options and methods to adapt the Turkish good practice by using publicly available forecasts from international sources. The applicability of such global forecasts to the purpose of providing weather alerts to farmers in Central Asia will be reviewed and tested in the field.
Operational Risk Assessment (ORA) for Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in Bangladesh : Final Report, Volume 2

(Washington, DC, 2009-10) World Bank

The Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGD) agreed, as part of the identification of a follow-up project to the on-going Rural Transport Improvement Program (RTIP), to launch an Operational Risk Assessment (ORA) of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). The ORA draws on and adapts previous work to develop methodologies to assess and suggest mitigation measures for fiduciary risks, as well as inherent risks linked with road and infrastructure construction and maintenance, administrative control risks, and risks associated with political influence. The Fiduciary and Operational Risk Management Improvement Plan (FORMIP) built on the first report to: (i) assess fiduciary and operational risks in LGED's management of projects, assets and other resources, and in LGD's oversight function, that are likely to be major factors in possible funds leakages, delays and undue interferences and overall inefficient use of public resources; (ii) prioritize options which are realistic and available to effectively minimize (and where possible, eliminate) the major operational risks identified; and (iii) identify options for mechanisms which (drawing on this ORA as a 'baseline') will facilitate efficient future monitoring of operational risks in LGED and the LGD. An important conclusion of the ORA is that most of the recommended actions are within LGED's authority to take, with support from development partners and routine budgetary spending and staffing authorizations from other agencies. However, the action plan proposed in the report will be greatly enhanced if supported by further development of the Government's, Bank's and development partners' programs to improve governance and reduce overall operational risk in Bangladesh. Individual sub-sector reports such as these ORA can only have a limited impact in the absence of wider and widely supported programs.
Operational Risk Assessment (ORA) for Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in Bangladesh : Final Report, Volume 1

(Washington, DC, 2009-10) World Bank

The Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGD) agreed, as part of the identification of a follow-up project to the on-going Rural Transport Improvement Program (RTIP), to launch an Operational Risk Assessment (ORA) of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). The ORA draws on and adapts previous work to develop methodologies to assess and suggest mitigation measures for fiduciary risks, as well as inherent risks linked with road and infrastructure construction and maintenance, administrative control risks, and risks associated with political influence. The Fiduciary and Operational Risk Management Improvement Plan (FORMIP) built on the first report to: (i) assess fiduciary and operational risks in LGED's management of projects, assets and other resources, and in LGD's oversight function, that are likely to be major factors in possible funds leakages, delays and undue interferences and overall inefficient use of public resources; (ii) prioritize options which are realistic and available to effectively minimize (and where possible, eliminate) the major operational risks identified; and (iii) identify options for mechanisms which (drawing on this ORA as a 'baseline') will facilitate efficient future monitoring of operational risks in LGED and the LGD. An important conclusion of the ORA is that most of the recommended actions are within LGED's authority to take, with support from development partners and routine budgetary spending and staffing authorizations from other agencies. However, the action plan proposed in the report will be greatly enhanced if supported by further development of the Government's, Bank's and development partners' programs to improve governance and reduce overall operational risk in Bangladesh. Individual sub-sector reports such as these ORA can only have a limited impact in the absence of wider and widely supported programs.
Strategy and Business Plan for the Pakistan Infrastructure Project Financing Facility : Infrastructure Financing Market Update

(Washington, DC, 2009-05) World Bank

The report presented a detailed assessment of the infrastructure Public Private Partnership (PPP) financing market in Pakistan, including key financing gaps as existent in 2007. This note builds on the report by presenting an update of the state of the Pakistan infrastructure financing market as on date, and in particular, by analyzing the implications of the global financial crisis and the changes in the macroeconomic environment in Pakistan. This note is structured as follows: section two provides background information on the Pakistan economy; section three summarizes the key effects of international financial shocks and domestic political issues on the Pakistan economy; section four summarizes the progress on the infrastructure enabling environment; section five provides a summary update of the demand for infrastructure finance; section six presents recent developments in the supply of infrastructure finance; and section seven sets out the key conclusions.