Get documents about "Chapter Transport and Poverty
Document Sample
Chapter 6: Evaluation Highlights
• Both urban and rural poverty can be reduced when transport
improves accessibility and affordability for the poor.
• The distributional impact of transport projects is underresearched.
• Regardless of who implements the project (communities or works
departments), sustainability remains a major issue.
• Pro-poor passenger transport pricing needs more attention for
accessible transport to reach the poorest.
• In fragile states the risks of intervention are high, but the returns can
sometimes be substantial.
• Where there is low institutional capacity, Bank staff tend to under-
estimate the time needed to implement reforms, build capacity, and
build institutions.
6
Transport and Poverty
T
his review began by showing the importance of transport in achieving
poverty reduction and its potential contribution to the MDGs. Trans-
port effects on poverty reduction are largely indirect and not easily quan-
tified. The connection between transport and poverty reduction is that when
transport improves accessibility for the poor, it unlocks employment oppor-
tunities in construction and other areas, and more importantly enables essential
trips to service centers, health and educational facilities, and markets.
In this chapter the experiences and lessons em- are through markets, transfers (both public and
anating from transport projects designed to re- private), and both services and infrastructure.
duce poverty are discussed, first in the rural
context and then in the cities, where accessibil- Transport falls in the latter category; roads are nor-
ity and affordability are also crucial issues. Finally, mally provided through public funding and the ve-
Africa is given special attention, because the Bank’s hicles by both the public and private sectors.
poverty-reduction agenda in recent years has put Nonmotorized transport in a wide variety of forms
a spotlight on this continent. Africa has a greater plays an important role in many countries.
share of fragile states than any other Region, not
only because of its demographics and geogra- Although some of the Bank’s Most rural road
phy, but also because of weak governance and po- main intercity highway projects
projects focus on
litical instability. (especially in China) also in-
clude district and even local access, and many use
Rural Transport and Poverty road components, most rural labor-intensive
The causes of rural poverty are complex and mul- road projects involve basic ac- construction.
tidimensional. They include issues regarding cul- cess roads, many using labor-
ture, gender, climate, markets, and public policy. intensive construction. A labor-intensive approach
Rural poverty accounts for nearly 63 percent of is popular with donors because it generates em-
poverty worldwide, reaching 90 percent in some ployment, but it also requires good technical as-
countries, such as Bangladesh, and between 65 sistance support and strong client commitment,
and 90 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa (Khan 2001). which is sometimes lacking. But such roads are
The ways in which policies affect the rural poor in high demand by the rural population and, in
59
A DECADE OF ACTION IN TRANSPORT
Box 6.1: Improving Road Access in Rural Lesotho and Ghana
The Lesotho Road Rehabilitation and Maintenance Project (ap- 2020 Plan. A more rigorous follow-on pilot project has recently been
proved in 1996) assisted with the rehabilitation of 414 km of rural completed in the Senqu River Valley, where village mobility maps
access roads. An impact study found that the rural residents con- have been created (Lesotho Ministry of Public Works and Trans-
sidered better access to be of great value, a finding that was con- port and World Bank 2005). This will give important information about
firmed by an IEG mission. Employment during construction was also the impact on poverty and gender.
important, and most participants were able to work on these roads A similar study in Ghana analyzed travel patterns of villagers
for an average of 3 months. by mode. It showed that the majority of trips were by nonmotor-
Although the baseline data were sketchy, it is clear that the up- ized means, including on foot, but that motorized trips were more
graded roads led to a range of small businesses being estab- likely to be made for trips to markets or health centers. Gender is
lished. The affected communities also mentioned the improved important in these analyses because rural access improvements
access to economic and social services. These positive impacts may be particularly beneficial to women and children.
are consonant with both the Lesotho PRSP and the Lesotho Vision
Source: World Bank (2006b).
Lesotho, for example, have recorded positive im- spillways, and hanging bridges could benefit large
pacts (box 6.1). numbers of people (37,000 households in this
case). Improvements of farm-to-market roads in
Typically, some of these roads are constructed India (Assam) showed that cropping intensity im-
under the district works department and in the proved by as much as 45 percent, which led to a
Bank fall under the Transport Sector Board, while substantial increase in employment. Another study
others are part of community-driven or social fund in India indicated that expenditure on roads had
projects. In the latter case they may be a compo- by far the largest impact in reducing rural poverty.
nent of a package of infrastructure improvements For every $22,000 invested in rural roads, 163 peo-
ranging from water and sanitation to new com- ple were lifted out of poverty (Fan, Hazell, and Tho-
munity centers. Community projects within the rat 2000).
Bank fall under sector boards other than transport.
The works-managed projects, where appropriate Although the contribution of transport opera-
technical staff were used, were generally more tions to poverty reduction is generally indirect,
successful than the community projects, with 26 most direct poverty-targeted interventions such
of 36 (72 percent) rated satisfactory. The main as schools, clinics, nutrition programs, and even
reasons given for the less satisfactory perfor- credit extension depend on transport in one
mance in the other 28 percent of cases were in- way or another. The distributional impacts of
sufficient finance, poor technical skills and capacity, transport projects and their effects on poverty
and insufficient priority given by government. are relatively underresearched and are often
anecdotal rather than results-based, but there is
In Indonesia it was also demonstrated that large evidence that village road improvements signifi-
structures built using labor-intensive methods cantly affect school enrollment and attendance.
could cost about one-third According to studies by WHO, between 40 percent
Projects have generally less than equivalent works and 60 percent of people living in developing
performed better when constructed through gov- countries live more than 8 km from health care
construction is managed ernment agencies. In the facilities; in rural areas this distance can be even
Philippines it was proven greater, and this is especially problematic in the
by the district works that small infrastructure case of accessing maternal and child care (WHO
department. works such as foot trails, 2005).
60
TRANSPORT AND POVERTY
Recent work in Bangladesh using household-level large-scale transport invest- The distributive
panel data confirms the importance of rural ac- ment. In such cases a major
impact of transport
cess and suggests that road investments are pro- infrastructure project can
poor, meaning the gains are proportionately make a huge difference to projects is relatively
higher for the poor than the nonpoor (World poverty reduction; the Ja- underresearched.
Bank 2006c). Bank research in Morocco showed muna River Bridge in Ban-
that investments in new roads had gender impli- gladesh is a fine example of a multifunctional
cations; safer roads encouraged parents to send structure that led to improved income for a sig-
their daughters to school, thus increasing female nificant number of people (box 6.2).
primary school enrolment. In Bhutan the travel
time involved in getting to and from school was Urban Transport and Poverty
substantially reduced, and in one village school at- Much of the growth in the world’s population
tendance increased eightfold. for the foreseeable future will take place in the
cities and towns of the developing world. In 2000
Bank community-based projects often involve the world’s urban population in developing coun-
much deeper engagement with the local people, try cities was 2.1 billion; it is expected to reach at
but the difficulty in assessing the effectiveness of least 2.9 billion by 2015. Cities in developing
such projects is that they frequently fall under sec- countries with a population exceeding 1 million
tor boards other than transport. The evaluation numbered 268 in 2000, but by 2015 the figure is
rating (59 percent moderately satisfactory or bet- predicted to rise to 358 (World Bank 2001; UN
ter) reflects the entire project in which the trans- Habitat 2001).
port component may be a fairly small part. Typical
reasons for failure are, however, very similar to Over the next 20 years, many countries will for the
works-managed projects because sustainability first time become more urban than rural. In part
is less assured. at least, urban poverty is created by the efforts of
the rural poor to escape the
In Moldova the road component was poorly tar- poverty trap by moving to Community-based
geted at reaching the poor, and in Lebanon con- the cities, where they per- projects often fall short
struction goals were not met because of difficulties ceive that better opportu-
in getting landowner agreement and because of nities exist. Although the
on sustainability.
issues related to maintenance responsibility. A benefits that urbanization
recent QAG assessment of the quality of transport brings cannot be overlooked, the speed and scale
components under other sector boards confirmed of this transformation presents many challenges.
IEG’s findings that in multisector projects the Urban transport projects cover construction or
quality of preparation for technical and sustain- rehabilitation of urban roads, bridges, and inter-
ability issues is subsumed by community partici- changes; improvements to traffic management
pation issues. QAG looked at the Quality at Entry and systems; and (in a few cases) support to
of 16 projects and found that only 25 percent suburban rail transport and renewal of bus and
were satisfactory. As it is not cost effective to have trolley-bus fleets. Performance indicators have in-
a transport team member on all such projects, cluded increased passenger
QAG’s proposal that the Transport Sector Board and fleet capacity, reduced Large-scale
draw up guidelines for handling future transport travel and waiting times, and
investments that can
components in multisector projects is a sensible improved passenger com-
suggestion. fort and safety. open significant areas
of rural potential can
Sometimes a major leap forward in poverty re- Bank emphasis has often
have substantial
duction can be achieved by going beyond the been on encouraging the
“grassroots” village project. The opening of sig- design of urban transport impacts on poverty
nificant areas of rural potential may depend on a projects to improve the reduction.
61
A DECADE OF ACTION IN TRANSPORT
Box 6.2: Bangabhandu Jamuna River Bridge, Bangladesh—How Transport Infrastructure Can
Stimulate Development
This project aimed to establish an efficient and reliable multimodal new connecting track, and assisting with institutional reforms in
transport link across the Jamuna River to connect Bangladesh’s the Bangladesh Railway Company.
less-developed northwestern region with its more developed east- Before the bridge was constructed the only connection was a
ern region. The intention was to accelerate economic growth in slow-moving ferry; traffic jams at the ferry terminals often lasted
the northwest and to integrate the area more fully into the econ- for several days. The completed project has reduced journey times
omy of the nation. and transport operating costs and has stimulated interregional
The bridge, which is nearly 5 km long, carries a four-lane high- trade. Computer simulations have predicted major shifts of persons
way, rail line, utility connections, and fiber optic cables; it was out of abject poverty locally with wider distributional improve-
opened in June 1998. This structure, which cost $962 million, ments to both local and national welfare.
was financed by the government of Bangladesh with the support IEG rated the project outcome as highly satisfactory. The phys-
of several international financial institutions, including the World ical works were completed without major implementation delays,
Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Japan Bank of the quality of construction met international standards, and the en-
International Cooperation. The rail component financed mainly by vironmental and resettlement plans were largely successfully ac-
ADB added value by including improvements to the rail system, such complished. Even though the road was tolled, the level of traffic
as connecting two different rail gauges, constructing 99 km of has been 41 percent higher than expected.
Sources: IEG (2000), ADB (2005), Luppino and others (2004).
Urban growth integration between services ments in access to metro stations through intro-
and to increase the access of ducing connecting minibus services lines with sub-
predictions are
urban poor to employment sidized fares have proved successful. However,
spectacular; the centers, health centers, and poor people often live too far away from these pub-
concern is whether educational facilities (table 6.1). lic transport corridors to benefit from such proj-
A new contingent of policy ects. This is also an international problem because
transport investments
makers is assuming the diverse the urban poor, whether in Moscow, Paris, or Jo-
can keep up. responsibilities of urban gover- hannesburg, tend to live on the city peripheries
nance—as many national gov- where land is cheaper, but where travel distances
ernments decentralize and devolve their functions; are longer, more costly, and less convenient.
and programs in poverty, health, education, and
public services are increasingly being placed in the Some of the early projects that included compo-
hands of hitherto untested municipal and re- nents on bus deregulation and privatization proved
gional governments. unsustainable (Sri Lanka), and in recent years the
Bank has resisted bus replacement, unless ac-
Many of the Latin American urban transport proj- companied by significant regulatory reforms to
ects based on urban railway restructuring or pub- achieve longer-term sustainability (for example, in
lic transport reform have been de facto instruments Uzbekistan and Kyrgz Republic)—a strategy vali-
to catalyze broader institutional dated by project performance. Moreover, the Bank
The Bank’s emphasis reform, such as the creation of has discouraged metro and light rail construction
in urban transport metropolitan authorities, modal worldwide (with a few exceptions) in favor of more
has often been on the coordination, resource genera- cost-effective solutions such as buses, bus priority
integration of tion for the development of measures, and exclusive busways. It has, however,
activity poles, and the private supported improving the capacity (Korea) or con-
services to increase concessions of operations. In nectivity (Brazil) of existing metros. Competitive
access for the poor. some Brazilian cities improve- contracting has also been actively encouraged.
62
TRANSPORT AND POVERTY
Pro-poor fare pricing with targeted subsidies, Although a few projects have The Bank has tended
such as the vale transporte, has been successfully tackled the issue of integrat-
to discourage light rail
promoted in Brazil, where it is an important so- ing nonmotorized traffic and
cial safety net (this subsidy is a compulsory re- pedestrians in motorized and metros in favor of
quirement for employers; through this they cities, this can be a difficult more cost-effective bus
finance part of the commuting costs of their em- challenge because the in- transport.
ployees). Without the vale transporte, millions of cumbent professionals have
formally employed users earning $300 per month often been trained in Western countries or fol-
or less would have trouble paying their fares. low developed country philosophies toward the
However, the vale transporte does miss the poor- control of transport in developing cities. Some-
est people, and a future challenge is how to ex- times a change in locally accepted notions of
tend its benefits to the informal employment appropriate city planning is warranted (Tiwari
sector. Decisions on appropriate fare structures 2002). Nonmotorized transport projects are
also have to be taken in the context of trading off still comparatively rare, given the huge num-
cheaper fares and poorer services; in the Kyrgyz bers of nonmotorized transport users. Current
Republic it was demonstrated that the poor may estimates show, for instance, that there are 1.4 bil-
sometimes be willing to pay more for better ser- lion bicycle users worldwide, including 500 mil-
vice. The Bank staff has solid guidance for deal- lion in China.2
ing with the various pricing techniques from Cities
on the Move (2002a) and other publications. Considering the current huge Enforcement capacity
growth in developing cities
was central to
In a 2003 IEG evaluation summary of urban trans- (in East Asia and Pacific, 70
port1 30 Bank interventions in urban transport percent of Regional economic successful traffic
over the preceding 20 years were reviewed; 87 per- growth), the number of urban management
cent were found to have had satisfactory out- transport projects appears programs.
comes. The reestimated average ERR was found comparatively low (see table
to be 30 percent, compared with 43 percent at ap- 6.1). Over the fiscal 1995–2005 period, such proj-
praisal. These results are slightly higher than ects have only accounted for between 5 percent
those covered by the review period of this study and 8 percent of the transport portfolio and ap-
(1995–2005), whereby 30 of 40 (75 percent) had pear to be declining slightly rather than increas-
a moderately satisfactory or better outcome. ing, as might be expected. Chapter 7 argues that
this is partly due to insufficient capacity and/or pri-
However, inspection of the objectives shows that ority in the Bank’s transport network and some-
later projects have had more institutional content. times to taking on too few
Considering the rate
In terms of upgrading physical infrastructure, large, complex projects that
most projects achieved or even surpassed their require lengthy preparation of urban growth, the
physical objectives, while traffic management pro- time; this important issue de- Bank seems to invest
grams were more successful in countries that serves serious attention by
too little in urban
have the ability to enforce traffic regulations, such management. Given the suc-
as Brazil and Korea. Projects that tried to bring cessful outcome results re- transport.
about better integrated development, such as in ported (above 75 percent), the longer preparation
Belo Horionte and Recife, sometimes took longer time with more consultation does appear to pro-
than expected to implement because of exoge- duce more positive outcomes.
nous factors (Brazil imposed severe fiscal con-
straints after 2002 following the macroeconomic African Transport and Poverty
upheaval in Argentina). Sustainability was con- Africa is the world’s poorest continent, and Sub-
sidered likely, however, in more than two-thirds Saharan Africa is the Bank Group’s largest Region
of all urban transport projects assessed. with the most client countries and the highest
63
A DECADE OF ACTION IN TRANSPORT
Table 6.1: Distribution of Urban Projects and Components, Closed and Active
(1995–2005)
1995–2000 2001–06 1995–2006
Total number of urban projects 41 37 78
Components 78 77 155
Urban roads 27 24 51
Traffic management and safety 10 9 19
Institutional, regulatory, and planning 12 19 31
Nonmotorized transport, urban poor 7 7 14
Urban environment, air quality 3 3 6
Public transport 19 15 34
Source: World Bank data.
volume of IDA lending. The UN Food and Agri- demonstrated in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, and
culture Organization recently warned that in 2006 Nigeria. Ratings for completed Bank transport proj-
some 27 countries would urgently need food aid ects in Africa at first appear favorable—78 percent
(BBC 2006). However, the Bank’s 2005 annual were assessed as having a moderately satisfactory
study of the continent shows that 30 percent of outcome or better. However, only 61 percent re-
African states have managed to achieve a growth ceived a sustainability rating of likely or better, and
rate greater than 4.5 percent since the 1990s and only 57 percent received a substantial or better in-
that the number of African conflicts has fallen stitutional development impact rating.
from a peak of 16 in 2002 to 5 in 2005. An impor-
tant development has also been debt relief for A closer look at outcomes also shows that one-third
the heavily indebted poor of the positive ratings were only moderately sat-
The Bank has countries, many of which are isfactory, and in 10 projects the sustainability rat-
recognized the need to in Africa. In several cases ings were categorized as nonevaluable, usually
improve feeder roads. (Ghana, for example) the sav- because of political uncertainty or doubts about in-
ings in debt relief have made stitutional capacity. Recently there has been some
available additional funds for poverty-reduction ex- focus on multimodal regional corridor projects to
penditure programs.3 reduce bottlenecks at international borders and to
harmonize customs and trade policies. These proj-
Sustainability is a In the transport sector two ects, though, have not yet been evaluated by IEG.
initiatives are particularly rel-
major issue in Africa. evant; first, the World Bank However, some success is evident in the Bank
Group Africa Action Plan (box Group’s increased effort with the legal and reg-
6.3), which provides a result-oriented framework ulatory frameworks to encourage more private
to achieve clear goals (such as the MDGs), and sec- sector investment (Cameroon, Mozambique, Tan-
,
ond, the SSATP a program specifically designed to zania, and Zambia). In Cameroon, for example, the
improve transport performance in Sub-Saharan Ministry of Public Works was restructured to in-
Africa (discussed under the section on Donor Co- clude units specifically for rural roads, and the Min-
operation; see box 3.1). istry of Transport was refocused on planning and
policy regulation.
Bank Transport Project Performance in Africa
The Bank has recognized the need to improve Relatively few outcome objectives were directly fo-
feeder roads in addition to national networks, as cused on poverty reduction, although indirectly
64
TRANSPORT AND POVERTY
Box 6.3: The World Bank Group Africa Action Plan
The Bank Group’s Africa-led action plan starkly observes that amount of the sector’s contribution to health issues, such as re-
Sub-Saharan Africa continues to present the world with its most ducing the role inadvertently played by transport in spreading
formidable challenge. During the past two decades the number of HIV/AIDS and reducing the unacceptably high road accident rate.
poor in Africa has doubled, from 150 million to 300 million, more than Many of the countries in Africa are fragile states, also known as
40 percent of the Region’s population. It has the highest poverty low-income countries under stress (LICUS).
incidence among all developing regions, and extreme poverty is These countries share a common fragility in two respects.
twice the global rate. Only 34 percent of Africa’s rural population First, state policies and institutions are weak, making them vul-
lives within 2 km of an all-season road. Africa is also the only Re- nerable in their capacity to deliver services, control corruption, and
gion that remains behind on most of the MDGs. provide proper accountability. Second, they face risks from wars
In this plan, a number of components have direct links to trans- and political instability. A problem that the Bank and others are only
port. They include closing the infrastructure gap, creating an ex- beginning to grapple with but that badly affects the transport sec-
port push, developing the private sector, supporting Regional tor is the difficulty of retaining college-educated professionals. In
integration, and improving governance and institutional capacity. Sub-Saharan Africa skilled workers make up only 4 percent of the
Other issues are the extent of improvements to rural accessibil- total workforce, and more than 40 percent of these educated peo-
ity, the potential impact of reductions in freight costs, and the ple leave their countries in search of jobs overseas.
the poor benefited through improved accessibil- dict, however, is whether Most transport projects
ity and the opening up of markets. Physical up- the progress that has been
were structured to
grading was generally satisfactory at 72 percent, achieved will be undone later
and railway and port concessions have been par- by political unrest. Setbacks in indirectly benefit the
ticularly successful at 82 percent. Other activities road management caused by poor.
scored lower, with maintenance objectives scor- conflicts or governance issues
ing 60 percent and road safety 50 percent. Suc- abound, including in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau,
cesses included institutional improvements to Liberia, Niger, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe.
improve efficiency and accountability, such as the
establishment of road funds and road agencies; the Despite the fact that 27 road funds have been
phasing out of force account maintenance in favor established in Sub-Saharan Africa, the efficiency
of small contractors; and training initiatives for of these funds is highly variable. In only one-third
these emerging enterprises. Zambia, for exam- of the cases are the funds able to cover routine
ple, generally had positive experiences in these maintenance needs.
areas, but it could not sustain similar efforts in road
safety. A road safety action plan was compiled but
Lack of Capacity
not implemented because of lack of capacity, and
A 2000 multidonor evaluation of experiences in the
the accident record actually worsened. Road safety
road sector in Ghana concluded that the main
continues to be a concern in Africa. The Bank
constraint to more rapid improvement of the in-
needs to deploy more resources in this direction.
tegrity of the road network was the lack of capac-
ity in the Ministry of Roads
Bank Transport Sector Performance in Africa
and Transport (appendix B). The Bank has had
Road Management and Maintenance The road program was too some success with asset
The Bank has had some success in moving forward ambitious for both the fund-
management in
with road management, especially in countries ing capacity of the govern-
where responsibility for this function has been ment and the absorption African countries with
vested in road agencies. What is difficult to pre- capacity of the ministry. In established road funds.
65
A DECADE OF ACTION IN TRANSPORT
Box 6.4: Lesotho Road Rehabilitation Project—Limited Capacity Impedes Reform
Experience from four earlier Bank-financed road projects in Institutional development impact was rated modest. An action
Lesotho showed that ongoing road maintenance activities were plan for policy reform was agreed to during preparation, but progress
constrained by a lack of sustained operational and institutional was laborious. Two separate rural road agencies were success-
capacity in the implementing agencies. The Lesotho Road Re- fully combined under the Department of Rural Roads and a road fund
habilitation Project (approved in 1996, completed in 2003) was established, but only about 60 percent of the required funding has
thus designed not only to restore sections of the road network been provided.
that had reverted to poor condition but also to strengthen the Sustainability was rated nonevaluable because of continued
capacity of the road sector agencies through policy and institu- uncertainty with regard to the substance and effectiveness of the
tional reforms. reforms. A proposal for a semiautonomous roads agency was put to
The outcome of the project was rated moderately satisfactory. the Cabinet but rejected. A new, scaled-down proposal was then
Although some progress was made in enhancing the condition of developed, envisaging a Roads Directorate within Ministry of Public
the overall network, improving access to several remote commu- Works and Transport. It took into account the ongoing decentraliza-
nities, and developing emerging contractors, the institutional ob- tion effort and ensured that a substantial reduction in staff would be
jectives were not fully achieved. At midterm, only 20 percent of effected. Although the current proposal is less ambitious, it addresses
the project funds had been disbursed, so $14 million of the credit some of the core deficiencies of the current arrangements and will
was cancelled, which meant that the upgrading program had to be provide a platform for a further projects, which can provide support
cut back. during the implementation of the new institutional arrangements.
Source: World Bank (2006b).
Where there is low countries with low insti- Because the quality of capacity building is crucial
tutional capacity, opera- in Africa, greater efforts are needed to ensure
institutional capacity,
tional staff tend to be that CASs include the specific capacity needs of
Bank staff tend to overly optimistic about the transport sector. There appears to be a ten-
underestimate the time how long it will take to dency to favor more successful countries to the
achieve legislative and or- neglect of weaker ones that need more help and
needed to make reforms,
ganizational change and that have significant numbers of desperately poor
build capacity, and build to build human capacity. people. Weak capacity leads to poorly maintained
institutions. Bank staff and clients alike infrastructure, lack of enforcement of traffic reg-
sometimes frame institu- ulations, and appalling road traffic safety records.
tional objectives and milestones that are imprac-
tical for a typical 5-year project. Fragile States
More than half of the African countries that have
This is illustrated by the very slow, incremental made limited progress in the transport sector are
progress with institutional reform in Lesotho (box also fragile states (formerly called low-income
6.4). Progress with reform in this case was hin- countries under stress [LICUS])4 and many are also
dered by weak government capacity and pro- in the lower rankings of the 2006 Corruption Per-
crastination on key decisions. Continuity and ceptions Index.5 Although the share of lending and
timing of support, as exemplified in Burkina Faso trust funds to fragile states in the Africa Region rel-
urban development and Tanzanian railways proj- ative to their population is higher than other
ects, coupled with lessons learned through pre- regions, IEG estimates that fragile states in the
vious projects, are equally important. Africa Region have the lowest number of ESW
66
TRANSPORT AND POVERTY
products per country and a lower share of the WBI (with one-third of its initiatives in the Africa
administrative budget. ESW for transport in African Region), and the African Capacity Building Foun-
fragile states is minimal, but this is partly explained dation,6 which has not yet found an effective way
by the extent of work carried out under SSATP . to link the ad hoc programs it funds to individual
country needs.
IDA’s performance-based aid-allocation mecha-
nism has meant that IDA financing has been a rel-
atively limited source of aid to fragile states. HIV/AIDS
Nevertheless, according to a 2006 IEG evaluation HIV/AIDS has severe demographic, economic,
of fragile states (IEG 2006c), some experts be- and social impacts that run counter to poverty re-
lieve that the potential returns from aid in such duction efforts and the transport sector is a major
states can be extraordinarily high if a policy turn- vector for the disease. Long-haul truck drivers are
around is achieved, even though the risks of fail- the highest risk group in the road sector (World
ure are also substantial. Selectivity and a clear Bank 2004c). HIV/AIDS prevention components
strategy are obviously important. have been included in some of the more recent
active transport projects
Liberia is a case where the recent changes in gov- in Africa. Moreover, an HIV/AIDS prevention
ernment have presented an opportunity to seek HIV/AIDS framework has initiatives show promise
a major reversal in the economy, and the transport been developed for the but will need systematic
sector is seen by the government and the Bank sector and draft standard
as pivotal to that effort. This opportunity for fast- clauses for works con- evaluation upon
track assistance should be carefully monitored. tracts drawn up. completion.
The Bank clearly can be stronger on donor co-
ordination in fragile states but needs to give much An innovative HIV/AIDS Abidjan-Lagos Transport
more focused attention to capacity building. Other Corridor Project was entirely designed around
similar transport-focused reconstruction projects using corridor transport as a means to provide ac-
are active in Angola, the Democratic Republic of tive awareness, prevention, and treatment ser-
Congo, and Sudan. vices to corridor users, truck drivers, and border
communities. In Ethiopia, a country with one of
Programmatic Lending the highest number of people infected by HIV/
More programmatic lending or SWAps designed AIDS in Africa, the Bank, together with the
to achieve specific capacity-building objectives Ethiopian Roads Authority, has launched a com-
may be appropriate. Special initiatives under the prehensive HIV/AIDS strategy for the roads sector
umbrella of SSATP to share experiences could with three components: (i) information, education,
also be encouraged. A capacity-building strategy and communication; (ii) care and support; and
for the transport sector in each African country (iii) capacity building and policy development.
could also be considered to help transport proj- As baseline studies are carried out, it will be pos-
ects be more sustainable. Such a strategy could sible to gauge the outcome of this initiative. So far
help to inform and guide the efforts of the coun- this undertaking looks promising, but it is still
try programs and should include the SSATP the, too early to assess the overall impact.
67
Related docs
