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This study is a product of the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), a project designed to expand the world's knowledge of physical infrastructure in Africa. Infrastructure contributed 1.8 percentage points to Cote d'Ivoire's annual per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the mid-2000. Raising the country's infrastructure endowment to that of the region's middle-income countries could boost annual growth by a further two percentage points per capita. Cote d'Ivoire made major strides with respect to infrastructure during the 1990s. As a result, the country has broad-reaching national backbones in the road, energy, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sectors, and relatively high levels of household coverage for utility services. However, much ground was lost to conflict in the mid-2000s. Very little investment has taken place in the last fifteen years, leading to recent power shortages, the deterioration of the road network, and the deceleration of progress on safe water access. Cote d'Ivoire's most pressing challenge will be to regain the financial equilibrium needed to restore a reliable energy supply. Reestablishing the prominence of Abidjan's port will require investments in terminal capacity, as well as road and rail infrastructure upgrades on hinterland linkages. The underfunding of road maintenance must also be addressed. Another challenge lies in sanitation, as it is currently unlikely that the country will meet the associated millennium development goal. This report presents the key AICD findings for Cote d'Ivoire, allowing the country's infrastructure situation to be benchmarked against that of its African peers. A social and economic crisis in Cote d'Ivoire has crippled its growth trajectory, which had been that of a middle-income country. It will therefore be compared to low-income countries (fragile and non-fragile groups) and middle-income countries, as well as immediate regional neighbors in West Africa. The study presented several methodological issues.

Accounting --- Bonds --- Capital Costs --- Cost Recovery --- Electricity --- Energy --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Energy Supply --- Freight Transport --- Gross Domestic Product --- Hydropower --- Infrastructure Economics --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Infrastructure Finance --- Natural Resources --- Operating Costs --- Ports --- Power Generation --- Power Sector --- Private Sector --- Productivity --- Public Finance --- Public Sector --- Public Spending --- Railways --- Roads --- Sanitation --- Savings --- Telecommunications --- Thermal Power --- Traffic Volumes --- Transport --- Vehicles --- Water Supply --- Water Utilities

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The involvement of the rural private sector in water supply in Cambodia is unique to the country. The presence of this private sector allows other entities to respond to new demands from people living in the larger villages for household water supply, which the State is not yet able to address. These entrepreneurs operate on a merchant basis, lacking an institutional structure which is still being created. Their business is most often based on pushcart delivering water barrels at the house of villagers or more recently on small piped networks usually distributing raw surface water. Service is rough; the water quality is uncertain, but the users are satisfied with this service, because for them, it constitutes another alternative to the already considerable choice of water supplies available-ponds, wells, boreholes, and rivers. Their demands focus more on a practical objective (a supply in the household) than on a sanitary one, even if surveys show that villagers have a good understanding of health risks associated with water. Through the implementation of 14 small scale water supply systems, the goal was to enhance a qualitative improvement of the water service in some Cambodian small towns through the transformation of rough and informal merchant services to a basic water service supplying drinking water to an extended population under a formal institutional arrangement. The MIREP (Mini Reseaux d'Eau Potable - Small Scale Piped Water Supply System) program, launched in 2001 to transform these very basic initiatives into basic services, began as a pilot project supporting one entrepreneur in the implementation of a small piped water system. In order to move forward, the MIREP program made a choice, in particular linked to its proximity to the Ministry of rural development, to assist the nascent involvement of communes in decentralization, to strengthen provincial power through the process of decentralization, and to respect the cultural heritage of those who devised and financed the project.

Cost Recovery --- Drainage --- Drinking Water --- Engineering --- Groundwater --- Irrigation --- Piped Water --- Population Density --- Public Health --- Rainfall --- Sanitation --- Surface Water --- Town Water Supply and Sanitation --- Urban Areas --- Water Conservation --- Water Resources --- Water Supply --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions --- Water Use --- Water Utilities

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This paper includes an overall introduction to the uses (and abuses) of business licenses, and to the way business licensing reforms can be organized. It also provides a broad overview and framework for licensing reforms. This paper is supported by more detailed case studies of licensing reform in particular sectors, and other guidance for facilities and field operations. This includes a detailed manual on 'how to' review and reform licenses and also information about how to apply effective and insightful Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) to licensing reviews and reforms. Part one of this paper provides a contextual overview of key issues associated with government regulation. The rationale for government regulation (including licensing) is discussed, along with a description of the benefits and features of good regulatory design. Part two discusses the features of business licenses, the potential advantages and disadvantages of licensing and a discussion of the use of licensing fees and charges. Part three provides an overview of 'how to' reform business licenses and licensing systems. It summarizes broad approaches to reform, such as using a comprehensive 'top-down' approach to reviewing the stock of existing licenses, or where appropriate using a more targeted approach which focuses on particular types or categories of licenses. Part four of this paper focuses on M&E of licensing reform and simplification programs. This includes developing an M&E framework and measuring the significance and effects (e.g., the frequency and administrative burdens) generated by different types of licenses.

Accounting --- Administrative & Regulatory Law --- Administrative Costs --- Advisory Services --- Auctions --- Audits --- Business Environment --- Competitiveness and Competition Policy --- Cost Recovery --- E-Business --- Economic Costs --- Financial Institutions --- Financial Services --- Innovation --- Law and Development --- Licensing --- Natural Resources --- Private Sector --- Private Sector Development --- Productivity --- Project Management --- Property Rights --- Public Policy --- Public Safety --- Quality Control --- Regulators --- Regulatory Agencies --- Technology Transfer --- Telecommunications

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Reforming business licenses is part of a suite of products delivered by the World Bank group's investment climate advisory services, under the business operations practice. The approach to reforms highlighted in this handbook fits into the broader policy framework for business licensing reform and simplification. The framework paper provides the context for business licensing practices; establishes the key principles and concepts underpinning licensing; and gives an overview of licensing reform objectives, issues, and processes. It includes an overall introduction to the use (and abuse) of business licenses, and a further elaboration on the way business licensing reforms can be organized. This handbook is part of a suite of knowledge management products dedicated to business licensing. This handbook is written for business regulation practitioners. It aims to provide reformers with detailed information and guidance on how to implement fast-track, top-down licensing and regulatory reform projects. Its structure follows the process underpinning such reforms, taking readers step-by-step through the successive stages of reforms.

Administrative & Regulatory Law --- Administrative Costs --- Advisory Services --- Business Environment --- Business in Development --- Chambers of Commerce --- Competitiveness and Competition Policy --- Cost Recovery --- Economic Development --- Electricity --- Enterprise Surveys --- Environmental Hazards --- Financial Institutions --- Law and Development --- Legal System --- Legislation --- Marketing --- Private Sector Development --- Public Sector --- Regulators --- Regulatory Agencies

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Water and sanitation utilities in Africa operate in a high-cost environment. They also have a mandate to at least partially recover their costs of operations and maintenance (O&M). As a result, water tariffs are higher than in other regions of the world. The increasing block tariff (IBT) is the most common tariff structure in Africa. Most African utilities are able to achieve O&M cost recovery at the highest block tariffs, but not at the first-block tariffs, which are designed to provide affordable water to low-volume consumers, who are often poor. At the same time, few utilities can recover even a small part of their capital costs, even in the highest tariff blocks. Unfortunately, the equity objectives of the IBT structure are not met in many countries. The subsidy to the lowest tariff-block does not benefit the poor exclusively, and the minimum consumption charge is often burdensome for the poorest customers. Many poor households cannot even afford a connection to the piped water network. This can be a significant barrier to expansion for utilities. Therefore, many countries have begun to subsidize household connections. For many households, standposts managed by utilities, donors, or private operators have emerged as an alternative to piped water. Those managed by utilities or that supply utility water are expected to use the formal utility tariffs, which are kept low to make water affordable for low-income households. The price for water that is resold through informal channels, however, is much more expensive than piped water.

Affordable water --- Consumption charge --- Cost recovery --- Energy --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Household connections --- Households --- Infrastructure Economics --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Low-income households --- Private operators --- Sanitation utilities --- Service providers --- Sewerage authority --- Sewerage corporation --- Tariff structure --- Town Water Supply and Sanitation --- Urban water --- Urban Water Supply and Sanitation --- Utilities --- Water board --- Water company --- Water consumption --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Systems --- Water tariff --- Water tariffs --- Water utilities