Publication:
Colombia - Recent Economic Developments in Infrastructure : Balancing Social and Productive Needs for Infrastructure, Volume 2. Main Report

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (23.61 MB)
209 downloads
English Text (830.54 KB)
209 downloads
Date
2004-11-01
ISSN
Published
2004-11-01
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to provide an integral evaluation of recent economic developments in Colombia's infrastructure sectors. Specifically, the study covers the electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, water, and transport sectors. Colombia presents high levels of access to basic household services compared to its Latin American peers, while access to services in the country is relatively equitable across the income spectrum, but relatively inequitable between urban and rural areas. However, Colombia lags behind its peers as regards paved roads, internet access, and electricity generation capacity. Energy use is strongly driven by the underlying structure of the economy, and paved road density is driven by the internal spatial distribution of economic activity. Moreover, there is mixed evidence as to the relative quality, and efficiency of Colombia's infrastructure service providers. The report stipulates Colombia needs to enhance its performance on productive infrastructure, while preserving its achievements in the social sphere. On the basis of this comparative assessment, the challenge for Colombia would appear to lie primarily in reorienting its infrastructure investments towards the productive sectors, without jeopardizing its strong performance in social infrastructure. While the private sector can play an important role in addressing the deficits in energy and telecommunications, the key challenge of financing improvements in the road network will necessarily remain a predominantly public responsibility, given that the limited scope for toll roads has already been largely exploited.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2004. Colombia - Recent Economic Developments in Infrastructure : Balancing Social and Productive Needs for Infrastructure, Volume 2. Main Report. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14512 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Colombia - Recent Economic Developments in Infrastructure : Balancing Social and Productive Needs for Infrastructure, Volume 1. Executive Summary
    (Washington, DC, 2004-11-01) World Bank
    The purpose of this study is to provide an integral evaluation of recent economic developments in Colombia's infrastructure sectors. Specifically, the study covers the electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, water, and transport sectors. Colombia presents high levels of access to basic household services compared to its Latin American peers, while access to services in the country is relatively equitable across the income spectrum, but relatively inequitable between urban and rural areas. However, Colombia lags behind its peers as regards paved roads, internet access, and electricity generation capacity. Energy use is strongly driven by the underlying structure of the economy, and paved road density is driven by the internal spatial distribution of economic activity. Moreover, there is mixed evidence as to the relative quality, and efficiency of Colombia's infrastructure service providers. The report stipulates Colombia needs to enhance its performance on productive infrastructure, while preserving its achievements in the social sphere. On the basis of this comparative assessment, the challenge for Colombia would appear to lie primarily in reorienting its infrastructure investments towards the productive sectors, without jeopardizing its strong performance in social infrastructure. While the private sector can play an important role in addressing the deficits in energy and telecommunications, the key challenge of financing improvements in the road network will necessarily remain a predominantly public responsibility, given that the limited scope for toll roads has already been largely exploited.
  • Publication
    Peru - Recent Economic Development in Infrastructure : Volume 2. Investing in Infrastructure as an Engine for Growth - Spending More, Faster, and Spending Better
    (Washington, DC, 2010-12) World Bank
    This report provided the Government of Peru with a comprehensive strategic assessment of three key infrastructure sectors: water/sanitation, transport and electricity, and to propose selected recommendations on how the Government could improve the performance of these sectors. Peru's public expenditure framework shows some rigidities, a number of which were introduced when fiscal resources were scarce or, more recently, because of concerns about a possible risk of inflation. The implementation of the stimulus package has required a laborious transition to remove bottlenecks to faster public spending, sometimes at the risk of affecting the mechanisms that help ensure the quality of public expenditures. The Peruvian authorities have been able to accelerate public investments in infrastructure but little thinking has been dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of such investments. The report concludes that Peru should focus on: prioritizing infrastructure investments through improved planning, promoting efficiency in infrastructure delivery, enhancing sub-national governments' capacity with respect to infrastructure, and leveraging the participation of the private sector.
  • Publication
    How to Revitalize Infrastructure Investments in Brazil : Public Policies for Better Private Participation, Volume 1. Main Report
    (Washington, DC, 2007-01) World Bank
    Amid a shifting policymaking environment from private to public, volume one of this report discusses how public policies could attract more and better private investments. In attracting back private capital, this report argues that Brazil must do three things. First, it must eliminate remaining regulatory bottlenecks and policy uncertainties in selected sectors. Secondly, design infrastructure concessions to avoid "excessive" renegotiations while simultaneously guaranteeing an adequate rate of return for investors and protecting consumers' welfare. And finally, strengthen the quality of the regulators for technically sound and coherent decision-making processes. Volume two is the background report and looks at infrastructure statistics in Brazil and international benchmarks, regulatory policy issues, contract negotiations, and gives conclusions and policy implications on these topics.
  • Publication
    Investigation and Analysis of Natural Hazard Impacts on Linear Infrastructure in Southern Kyrgyzstan : Desk and Field Studies Report
    (Washington, DC, 2008-12) World Bank
    This report presents the findings of a study of geohazards along 850 km of roads in Southern Kyrgyzstan (KG) and their potential impact on road rehabilitation projects throughout the country. This report presents the findings of a short "fact finding" study on geological hazards (or geohazards) as they relate to ongoing and future planned road rehabilitation projects throughout KG and provides recommendations on activities that could be carried out in KG over the coming years in order to utilize the expertise and data available in country in order to facilitate and improve road design and monitoring/mitigation of geohazard impacts. Section two provides an introduction to the report and section three provides background information behind the study, the objectives and a brief description of the scope of work. Section four describes geohazards in general and details those specifically threatening road developments in KG. Section five describes current road design practices and codes and standards within KG while. Section six discussed briefly the potential economic consequences of geohazards on major roads in KG. Section seven discusses geohard design, mitigation and monitoring of geohazards and presents two examples of detailed geohazard assessment and design and construction techniques developed in other countries. Sections eight and nine present the conclusions and recommendations arising from the study. References are listed in section ten.
  • Publication
    Information and Communication Technologies for Rural Development : Issues and Options, Volume 1. Main Report and Annexes
    (Washington, DC, 2005-10) World Bank
    Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a potentially revolutionary means of empowering the poor. Realizing this potential will require investments that increase access to ICTs in remote low productivity areas and the development of innovative applications that cater to the needs of the poor and small firms. The costs of these kinds of investment have been decreasing rapidly, but still yield low short term private returns. The private sector cannot alone be expected to underwrite the costs of these developments. If Government does not support these public investments, economic disparities will rise, undermining social stability and future growth. Effective public sector action is required, to establish a regulatory and legal framework that enables the rise of a vibrant innovative competitive private telecommunications and ICT services sector, and to institute selective efficient and transparent public subsidies with high social payoff but low financial returns. This is needed most urgently precisely in developing country contexts where public institutions are often ineffective, corrupt and unaccountable. The challenge takes added significance in Indonesia, a country still recovering from severe economic and political crisis, hardest hit by the biggest natural disaster in recorded human history, undergoing major changes to a decentralized system of governance, and that has very weak public institutions. The overall objective of the report is to identify the policies, technologies, institutions and investments needed to improve the access of rural communities to information services in Indonesia. Specifically, the report would illustrate the opportunities that ICT offers policy makers and practitioners in agricultural and rural development and the policies and institutions that would be necessary to achieve social and economic progress on a sustainable basis for the benefit of rural populations with a focus on farming communities and women. For the purposes of the report, ICTs are defined as electronic communication technologies with a focus on the internet and telephony. Radio, multi-media, other communication tools are addressed only to a limited extent.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.
  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    The Journey Ahead
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31) Bossavie, Laurent; Garrote Sánchez, Daniel; Makovec, Mattia
    The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.
  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022
    (Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank
    The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.