TY - BOOK ID - 135020122 TI - Procurement Efficiency for Infrastructure Development and Financial Needs Reassessed AU - Estache, Antonio AU - Iimi, Atsushi PY - 2008 PB - Washington, D.C., The World Bank, DB - UniCat KW - Banks and Banking Reform KW - Costs KW - Debt Markets KW - E-Business KW - Economic Theory and Research KW - Emerging Markets KW - Finance and Financial Sector Development KW - Government Procurement KW - Infrastructure KW - Infrastructure development KW - Infrastructure Economics KW - Infrastructure Economics and Finance KW - Infrastructure investment KW - Infrastructure projects KW - Investment and Investment Climate KW - Investments KW - Macroeconomics and Economic Growth KW - Private Sector Development KW - Public Sector Economics and Finance KW - Road KW - Roads KW - Sanitation KW - Transport KW - Transport Economics, Policy and Planning UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:135020122 AB - Infrastructure is the engine for economic growth. The international donor community has spent about 70-100 billion U.S. dollars on infrastructure development in developing countries every year. However, it is arguable whether these financial resources are used efficiently, particularly whether the current infrastructure procurement prices are appropriate. Without doubt a key is competition to curb public procurement costs. This paper analyzes procurement data from multi and bilateral official development projects in three infrastructure sectors: roads, electricity, and water and sanitation. The findings show that the competition effect is underutilized. To take full advantage of competition, at least seven bidders are needed in the road and water sectors, while three may be enough in the power sector. The paper also shows that not only competition, but also auction design, especially lot division, is crucial for reducing unit costs of infrastructure. Based on the estimated efficient unit costs, the annual financial needs are estimated at approximately 360 billion U.S. dollars. By promoting competition, the developing world might be able to save at most 8.2 percent of total infrastructure development costs. ER -