Transport infrastructure is crucial to connect developing countries and help them to boost trade, growth and regional integration. This is because cross-border or long-distance roads and railways as well as international ports and airports are needed to move products and people around in a ...
This report describes evaluation methods for transport infrastructure investments to ensure that scarce resources are allocated in a way that maximises their net return to society.
This book addresses the prospects and challenges concerning both soft and hard infrastructure development in Asia and provides a framework for achieving Asian connectivity through regional infrastructure cooperation towards a seamless Asia. Key topics included are: ' demand estimates of national and regional infrastructure in transport, electricity, information and communication technology, and water and sanitation; ' empirical results on the costs and benefits of regional infrastructure for economies and households; ' the impact of infrastructure development on the environment and climate; ' sources and instruments of infrastructure financing; ' best practices and lessons learned from the experiences of the Asian region and other regions; and ' experiences of public_private partnership projects. This insightful book will serve as a definitive knowledge product for policymakers, academics, private sector experts and infrastructure practitioners interested in the regional and national infrastructure demand, investment and benefits in the region. Concerned officials from private and public sectors, and other experts involved in environmental and natural resources studies will also find this compendium invaluable.
This book analyses how closer regional connectivity and economic integration between South Asia and Southeast Asia can benefit both regions. With a focus on the role played by infrastructure and public policies in facilitating this process, it provides a detailed and up-to-date discussion of issues, innovations, and progress. Country studies of national connectivity issues and policies cover Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, examining major developments in trade and investment, economic cooperation, the role of economic corridors, and regional cooperation initiatives. Thematic chapters explore investment in land and sea transport infrastructure, trade facilitation, infrastructure investment financing, supporting national and regional policies, and model-based estimates of the benefits of integration. They also identify significant opportunities for strengthening these integration efforts as a result of the recent opening up of Myanmar in political, economic, and financial terms. For the first time for these regions, the book employs a state-of-the-art computable general equilibrium (CGE) model incorporating heterogeneous firms to estimate the advantages of integration. Providing perspective on the latest thinking on integration policy, Connecting Asiais an essential resource for academics, policymakers, and business people alike. Contributors: A. Bayley, T. Chalermpalanupap, K. Cheewatrakoolpong, S. Chirathivat, M.I. Chowdhury, M.I. Corpuz, P. De, H. Florento, J.-F. Gautrin, F. Hutchinson, B. Karmacharya, R. Mishra, K.G. Moazzem, P.J. Morgan, N. Perera, M.G. Plummer, M. Rahman, P.B. Rana, S. Ray, F. Sehrin, T.M.M. Than, M. Thuzar, D. Weerakoon, D. Wignall, M. Wignall, G. Wignaraja, F. Zhai
Roads are the arteries through which the economy pulses. They connect sellers to markets, workers to jobs, students to education, and the sick to hospitals. Yet much of the developing world, Africa in particular, lacks adequate transportation infrastructure. Accordingly investments in transportation remain a cornerstone of the development agenda. Sub-Saharan Africa spends roughly $6.8 billion per year on paving roads, and the World Bank invests more on roads than on education, health, and social services combined. Despite the development focus on transportation, methodologies for evaluating which road projects to fund are often dis-jointed and unreliable. This report hopes to improve upon the current approaches by establishing a new methodology for prioritization which can be applied to a diverse set of scenarios, regions, and projects. This book demonstrates how modern econometrics and geospatial techniques can be combined to analyze the latest available geo-referenced datasets at the smallest possible scale to answer some of the most important questions in development. Uniquely this report attempts to shed light on some of the most profound puzzles in determining the impacts of roads and where to locate these. Does road infrastructure unleash a virtuous growth cycle? Is it advisable to improve roads in conflict prone zones? What is the effect of improving market access on farming practices? And what are the impacts of roads on forests and biodiversity? It is envisioned that the approach used in this book can be a reference guide to researchers from across the spectrum of international development, who are seeking new tools and insights into the many issues (technical and non-technical) of this important field.
Transport infrastructure connectivity (TIC) has strong endogeneity issues, which makes it difficult to directly assess its impact on local conflict resolution. This study takes a position into the dispute about the two-edged effects of TIC in the process of peace and stabilization, and compares developing and developed countries to highlight the importance of sound institutions in conflict resolution. Based on global conflict data from 2010 to 2017, this paper adopts a series of machine learning and natural experiment methods to investigate the impact of TIC on global conflict resolution. The empirical results show that:(1) TIC can significantly improve countries' global ranking for conflict resolution (an average of 6-13 ranking positions), and, in particular, the marginal benefit of developed countries is greater than the one of developing countries; (2) the mechanism behind this effect is the promotion of trade facilitation, a more balanced employment ratio across gender, and improved income levels through TIC, which further enhances the conflict governance capacity of countries. In light of the findings, policy making process should consider the opportunity to combine TIC with greater security for the realization of economic and social benefits, taking into account the significant opportunities for developing countries and the importance of balance across genders and income levels.
This book will be of interest to governments in the region and to multilateral and bilateral aid and lending agencies, as well as to graduate students, faculty, and researchers in African studies and transport studies. --Book Jacket.
Liberia has been influenced by the Ebola crisis since 2014, but the economy is now recovering quickly. Still, significant challenges lie ahead. Agriculture, an important sector that employs approximately half of the labor force, still has a weak growth trajectory. Many rural people are not well connected to markets and live below the poverty line. To use limited resources effectively, strategic planning and prioritization of public investment are essential. Particularly, the Ebola crisis revealed the vulnerability of the country's transport connectivity and health systems. This book analyzes the country's transport connectivity, identifying the existing bottlenecks and possible economic potentials. By taking advantage of the country's first-ever georeferenced road network data, the analysis casts light on various aspects of connectivity, such as rural accessibility, market access, access to port and health facilities and multimodal connectivity, including cabotage. It is shown that transport connectivity is crucial to increasing agricultural production, stimulating agglomeration economies, and supporting people's access to health care services. Significant resources are likely to be required to meet the existing gap. The book estimates the financial needs by development objective and discusses important policy issues, including the possibility of public-private partnerships to finance transport infrastructure.
