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Learning to regulate fairly, effectively, and at arm's length may be the main challenge governments face in attracting private investment and financing to the transport sector; Governments should increasingly be able to rely on the private sector for help supporting (and financing) the transport sector - especially infrastructure support services for which there is heavy demand - but first they must improve their regulatory tools and sort out the institutional mess surrounding the regulatory process. Some countries have put together creative restructuring models and financing designs that tap potential in the private sector. Roads will continue to need significant public funding, but there are innovative ways (including shadow tolls) to attract private financing for road maintenance and investment. Partnerships between the public and private sectors have remained largely untapped at ports and airports. To attract more private capital to the sector, regulators must know the cost of capital, know how to be fair to captive shippers, and have a better handle on demand - so they have more credibility when conflicts arise. Governments have overemphasized making deals and have generally underestimated the difficulty of taking on their new job as regulators. They are increasingly switching to contract-based regulation, to firm up the commitments of all parties involved, but are not adequately emphasizing contract design that anticipates problems and addresses unpredictable situations. This increases the risk of arbitrary regulatory rulings, which increases regulatory and political risks, which raises the expected rate of return required by potential investors. And all that makes future projects costlier or more difficult, adding to the effects of the 1998-99 financial crisis. As a result of increased risk, the two groups most interested in the sector are: Large, strong operators in the sector - typically in tandem with local construction companies - that feel confident they can take on regulators in case of conflict; Risk-takers carving a niche for themselves. Either way, taxpayers and transport users are exposed to government, regulator, or operator failures that result in contract renegotiations (the norm, rather than the exception, in transport infrastructure projects). Gains from privatization might not reach consumers, simply because governments are ignoring the importance of ensuring fair distribution of long-run gains through the early creation of independent and accountable regulatory institutions that work closely with effective competition agencies. This paper - a product of Governance, Regulation, and Finance, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to increase understanding of infrastructure regulation. The author may be contacted at aestache@worldbank.org.

Air --- Airports --- Bus --- Costs --- Driving --- Infrastructure Projects --- Private Transport --- Public Works --- Rail --- Railways --- Roads --- Safety --- Toll --- Transport --- Transport Activity --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning --- Transport Infrastructure --- Transport Infrastructures --- Transport Operators --- Transport Policies --- Transport Projects

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Knowledge about development effectiveness is constrained by two factors. First, the project staff in governments and international agencies who decide how much to invest in research on specific interventions are often not well informed about the returns to rigorous evaluation and (even when they are) cannot be expected to take full account of the external benefits to others from new knowledge. This leads to under-investment in evaluative research. Second, while standard methods of impact evaluation are useful, they often leave many questions about development effectiveness unanswered. The paper proposes ten steps for making evaluations more relevant to the needs of practitioners. It is argued that more attention needs to be given to identifying policy-relevant questions (including the case for intervention); that a broader approach should be taken to the problems of internal validity; and that the problems of external validity (including scaling up) merit more attention.

Beneficiaries --- Counterfactual --- Economic Theory and Research --- Education --- Impact assessment --- Impact evaluation --- Infrastructure projects --- Intervention --- Learning --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty Monitoring and Analysis --- Poverty outcomes --- Poverty Reduction --- Programs --- Science and Technology Development --- Science Education --- Scientific Research and Science Parks --- Targeting --- Tertiary Education

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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.

Banks and Banking Reform --- Costs --- Debt Markets --- E-Business --- Economic Theory and Research --- Emerging Markets --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Government Procurement --- Infrastructure --- Infrastructure development --- Infrastructure Economics --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Infrastructure investment --- Infrastructure projects --- Investment and Investment Climate --- Investments --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Private Sector Development --- Public Sector Economics and Finance --- Road --- Roads --- Sanitation --- Transport --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning

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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.

Banks and Banking Reform --- Costs --- Debt Markets --- E-Business --- Economic Theory and Research --- Emerging Markets --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Government Procurement --- Infrastructure --- Infrastructure development --- Infrastructure Economics --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Infrastructure investment --- Infrastructure projects --- Investment and Investment Climate --- Investments --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Private Sector Development --- Public Sector Economics and Finance --- Road --- Roads --- Sanitation --- Transport --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning

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This paper evaluates the impact of economic regulation on infrastructure sector outcomes. It tests the impact of regulation from three different angles: aligning costs with tariffs and firm profitability; reducing opportunistic renegotiation; and measuring the effects on productivity, quality of service, coverage, and prices. The analysis uses an extensive data set of about 1,000 infrastructure concessions granted in Latin America from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. The analysis finds that as the theory indicates, regulation matters. The empirical work here reported shows that in three relevant economic aspects-aligning costs and tariffs; dissuading renegotiations; and improving productivity, quality of service, coverage, and tariffs-the structure, institutions, and procedures of regulation matter. Thus, significant efforts should continue to be made to improve the structure, quality, and institutionality of regulation. Regulation matters for protecting both consumers and investors, for aligning closely financial returns and the costs of capital, and for capturing higher levels of benefits from the provision of infrastructure services by the private sector.

Debt Markets --- Developing economies --- Emerging Markets --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial returns --- Gross domestic product --- Infrastructure Economics --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Infrastructure projects --- Infrastructure Regulation --- Private infrastructure --- Private investment --- Private investments --- Private Participation in Infrastructure --- Private Sector Development --- Privatization --- Regulatory frameworks --- Sustainable Development