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Publication Rethinking Infrastructure Delivery: Case Study of a Green, Inclusive, and Cost-effective Road Program in Nicaragua(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06) Muzira, Stephen; Hernandez de Diaz, DamarisThis 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.Publication Freight Flows,Logistics Costs, and Efficiency: Optimal Path Analysis(Washington, DC, 2012-06) World BankIn Central America, cargo is transported almost entirely by road. The movement of imports and exports to and from international seaports is done by truck. Rail service is almost nonexistent and air transport serves less than one percent of the cargo generated within the Central American Common Market (SIECA, 2004). Intra-regional trade is much more important in Central America than it might seem at first glance. The second largest trading partner of Central America is the region itself. In 2010, one quarter of the exports from Central America were destined for final consumption within the region. Half of the exports of Central America (54 percent in 2010) correspond to agricultural products and a large proportion of them supply markets inside the region. Nearly 40 percent of intra-regional exports consist of food, beverages, animals and plants (SIECA, 2011). Perishable food products are transported on trucks, and spatially restricted by the geography and the road infrastructure. In this context, inefficiencies in the supply chain and delays in freight flows lead to economic losses and amplify the negative impact of the distance to the markets on trade. A gravity model of trade showed that the negative effect of distance1 on total intra-regional exports is 77 percent higher in Central America than in the European Union (World Bank, 2010). More precisely, an increase in distance by 1 percent is expected to reduce intra-regional bilateral exports in Central America by 1.65 percent. In terms of volume, the negative effect of distance within the region exceeds the effect in Europe by 50 percent in grains and up to 550 percent in processed food. In the latter case, an increase in distance by 1 percent is expected to reduce intra-regional bilateral exports of processed food in Central America by 2.88 percent.