Person:
Iimi, Atsushi
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Industrial organization,
Development economics
Degrees
External Links
Departments
Transport Global Practice
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
August 2, 2023
Biography
Atsushi Iimi is a Senior Economist in the Transport Global Practice of the World Bank where he specializes in development economics related to the Bank’s transport operations in Africa. He joined the World Bank in 2006 after earning a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University. Before joining the Bank, he also worked at IMF and JICA/OEFC, Japan. His research interests include spatial analysis, rural accessibility, evaluation of transport and energy projects, growth and public expenditure. His research on these topics has been published in scholarly journals, such as the Review of Industrial Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Applied Economics, the Development Economies, and IMF Staff Papers.
Publication Search Results
1 - 5 of 5
-
Publication
Estimating Global Climate Change Impacts on Hydropower Projects : Applications in India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-09)The world is faced with considerable risk and uncertainty about climate change. Particular attention has been paid increasingly to hydropower generation in recent years because it is renewable energy. However, hydropower is among the most vulnerable industries to changes in global and regional climate. This paper aims to examine the possibility of applying a simple vector autoregressive model to forecast future hydrological series and evaluate the resulting impact on hydropower projects. Three projects are considered - in India, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. The results are still tentative in terms of both methodology and implications; but the analysis shows that the calibrated dynamic forecasts of hydrological series are much different from the conventional reference points in the 90 percent dependable year. The paper also finds that hydrological discharges tend to increase with rainfall and decrease with temperature. The rainy season would likely have higher water levels, but in the lean season water resources would become even more limited. The amount of energy generated would be affected to a certain extent, but the project viability may not change so much. Comparing the three cases, it is suggested that having larger installed capacity and some storage capacity might be useful to accommodate future hydrological series and seasonality. A broader assessment will be called for at the project preparation stage. -
Publication
Adapting Road Procurement to Climate Conditions
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-04)The world's climate is changing. It is well recognized that technical standards and project specifications of public infrastructure have to be adjusted, depending on the climate. However, it is less recognized that the public infrastructure procurement also needs to be adjusted. This paper examines a particular case of rural road procurement in Nepal. Severe weather conditions, such as heavy rains and storms, are likely to interrupt civil works and wash away unpaved or gravel roads. It is found that heavy precipitation causes delays, but not cost overruns. The paper also shows that budgetary efficiency and credibility could be improved by taking climate conditions into account. If future precipitation were anticipated by backward-looking expectations, many large project delays could be avoided. If the autoregressive precipitation model were used, the vast majority of the observed delays could be eliminated. -
Publication
Optimizing the Size of Public Road Contracts
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-04)Procurement packaging has important effects on not only the bidders' bidding behavior, but also contractors' performance. By changing the size of public contracts, procurers can encourage (or discourage) market competition and improve contract performance, avoiding unnecessary cost overruns and project delays. In practice, there is no single solution about how to package public contracts. With procurement data from road projects in Nepal, this paper examines the optimal size of road contracts in rural areas. The optimum varies depending on policy objectives. To maximize the bidder participation, the length of road should be about 11 kilometers. To minimize cost overruns and delays, the contracts should be much larger at 17 and 21 kilometers, respectively. Compared with the current procurement practices, the findings suggest that procurers take more advantage of enlarging road packages, although contracts that are too large may increase the risk of discouraging firms from participating in public tenders. -
Publication
Efficiency in Public Procurement in Rural Road Projects of Nepal
( 2011-07-01)Transport infrastructure is important for economic growth. In Nepal, about 20 percent of rural residents have to spend more than 3 hours to go to the nearest marketplace or agriculture center. Public procurement is an important policy instrument to use resources wisely and efficiently. This paper analyzes a series of policy questions, from procurement design to contract management and project quality assurance. The paper finds that the competition effect is significant. To enhance competition, bidding documents can be distributed free of charge on a website. The bid preparation period can be extended. Security issues are also found to be particularly important to avoid unnecessary cost overruns and project delays. Heavy rainfall and the bidders' low-balling strategy are identified as other factors of project delays. The quality of roads would deteriorate with not only security incidence but also time, precipitation and traffic volume. -
Publication
New Rural Access Index: Main Determinants and Correlation to Poverty
( 2016-11)Transport connectivity is essential to sustain inclusive growth in developing countries, where many rural populations and businesses are still considered to be unconnected to the domestic, regional, or global market. The Rural Access Index is among the most important global indicators for measuring people’s transport accessibility in rural areas where the majority of the poor live. A new method to calculate the Rural Access Index was recently developed using spatial data and techniques. The characteristics of subnational Rural Access Index estimates were investigated in eight countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. It was found that for the countries in Africa, road density and road condition are important determinants of the Rural Access Index. For the South Asian countries, improvement of road condition is particularly relevant. The evidence suggests that significant resources are likely to be required to achieve universal access through rehabilitating the existing road network and expanding the road network.