Economic and Financial Analysis

The guidance document describes a generic procedure for calculating the asset value of highway infrastructure assets. Specific guidance is provided for roads, segregated footpaths and cycle routes, structures, highway lighting, street furniture, traffic management systems, off-highway drainage and land (associated with the highway).

Transport Note TRN-28. This note presents a number of policy options to improve basic access and promote the mobility of Pakistan's rural population in support of the Government's Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Report on four guiding principles on using infrastructure to reduce poverty. This report elaborates these guiding principles and their application to various infrastructure sectors, including transport, energy, information and communication technology, and water, sanitation and irrigation. This framework and its findings should help broaden consensus among donors on how best to enhance infrastructure’s contribution to economic growth and poverty reduction.

Paper on the need for good transport systems, issues facing developing countries in relation to roads maintenance, and possible solutions.

This note highlights key issues relating to Government guarantees and other forms of public support in the process of trying to attract private investment into toll roads in Indonesia. It first discusses some relevant international experience on toll roads followed by issues specific to Indonesia.

This document summarises a generic approach for the evaluation of Euro-Regional projects.

Evaluation guidelines concerning a common approach to the evaluation and reporting of project results and provides guidance on project evaluation. The report also provides a base for further development of common PI's and measurement techniques.

Method for appraising road investments which considers the poor

This Paper describes and documents the methods and outcomes of ARRB Transport Research response to the Challenge Case Study using the Pavement Life Cycle Analysis and Treatment Optimisation (PLATO) system.

Powerpoint presentation of vehicle overloading photos

This technical note presents a methodology for an analytical study done to access economically justified levels of road works expenditures on unpaved roads with different traffic levels.

The objectives of this report are to enhance current understanding of how transport and energy infrastructure and services contribute to poverty reduction, to fill knowledge gaps, and to identify lessons learned and good practices.

The Brookings Institution Policy Brief discussing Government options for reducting traffic congestion.

This study provides a framework for understanding overall vehicle economics and key economic variables in relation to individual ownership costs, operating decisions and replacement intervals.

The paper reports on an empirical study to develop a methodology for valuing rural travel time savings in the LDCs. Apart from identifying the theoretical and empirical issues in valuing travel time savings in the LDCs, the paper presents and discusses the results of an analysis of data from Bangladesh.

Study investigating the optimal axle load for roads in India.

Papers presented at first conference on road funds.

Paper on rural road economic evaluations and the necessity to include social benefits to make them economically justifiable.

This report is part of the strategy to promote trade competitiveness within the East Asia and Pacific Region. The paper presents an overview of the logistics issues facing East Asia countries and proposes a development agenda for them. This is based on a recognition that the countries have basic differences in their level of development, extent of openness, and composition of trade.

TWU-47. The purpose of this paper is to assist rural transport planners, rural road agencies, donor agencies, local governments, and communities in the design and appraisal of rural transport infrastructure (RTI) interventions. It especially focuses on how RTI can contribute to poverty reduction.

TWU-32. This study is an international edition of a report on managing and financing roads first published as a World Bank technical paper in the Africa Technical Series. The paper has been expanded to include examples of sound management and financing practices from all parts of the world—drawing on examples from industrial, developing, and transition economies—and to include more details on institutional management structures and road funds.

Economist Guide provides guidance on the appraisal of investments intended to improve access in rural situations where existing traffic levels are low. It deals with both sectoral and project based approaches to appraisal.

This chapter of the Economist Guide provides guidance on the appraisal of investments intended to improve access in rural situations where existing traffic levels are low. It deals with both sectoral and project based approaches to appraisal.

This guide points economists in the direction of relevant guidance that already exists for projects and programmes in this sector. It also reflects the recommendations from the ODA Synthesis of Road Evaluations and Experience (Evaluation Report EV587, 1996) and provides additional guidance on two specific roads projects issues: (i) the valuation of small time savings; and (ii) the optimal timing of roads investments.

The main objective of this study by P. Christensen is to address the issue of rural roads in Saskatchewan which are suffering under increased volumes of heavy truck traffic. The Dept of Highways & Transportation is consideirng a range of haul policy and road structure investment options.

This report presents the findings of a regional technical assistance (TA) 5871: Road Funds Strategy, which was carried out between April 2000 and March 2001 to examine the problem of road funding and propose solutions.

TWU-47. The paper is based on detailed reviews of experience in seven African countries in which the World Bank has had some involvement in the establishment of second generation road funds (Kumar, 2000) and one (Uganda) where government sought to improve the performance of the sector but rejected the arguments for a road fund (Kumar, 2001). Experience in other countries for which there is less complete data is referred to where appropriate. The commentary is organized by element rather than by country. The article concludes with a judgment on what now needs to be done.

TWU-48 Poor access to transport in the rural areas of developing countries constrains economic and social development and contributes to poverty. Improving rural people’s access to essential services requires improving mobility, through better transport infrastructure and services and attention to the location, quality, and price of facilities. Better mobility gives people better access to services (education, health, finance), markets, income-earning opportunities, and social, political, and community activities.

The Working Group investigated current evaluation studies of major transport infrastructure projects in OECD Member countries with an aim to identify impacts of transport infrastructure investment on regional development and to improve current appraisal methodologies.

This article presents results from the first statistically significant study of cost escalation in transportation infrastructure projects. Based on a sample of 258 transportation infrastructure projects worth US$90 billion and representing different project types, geographical regions, and historical periods, it is found with overwhelming statistical significance that the cost estimates used to decide whether such projects should be built are highly and systematically misleading. Underestimation cannot be explained by error and is best explained by strategic misrepresentation, that is, lying. The policy implications are clear: legislators, administrators, investors, media representatives, and members of the public who value honest numbers should not trust cost estimates and cost-benefit analyses produced by project promoters and their analysts.

Prioritization of low volume roads in Ghana.

Prioritization of low volume roads in Ghana.

Paper looking at the effect of geography on costs and trade.

This document looks at alternative ways of providing a secure and stable source of finance for roads (excluding toll roads and concessions – see main node on Toll Roads and Concessions) without introducing undue fiscal inflexibility. It focuses on the key issues you need to know about financing roads through the government’s general budget, or through a second-generation off-budget financing mechanism.

Paper by Anthony J. Venables. To bring countries further into the trading system it is important to understand both the determinants of transport costs, and the magnitude of the barriers to trade that they create. This paper investigates these issues.

Paper describing the methods etc of conducting asset valuations.

World Bank transport note on the economic case for paving unpaved roads.

The objectives of the PAV-ECO Project were to develop economic models for the evaluation of life-cycle costs of pavements, and to study the effects on road infrastructure maintenance when new road links are added to a road network.

Detailed analysis of some of the costs of motor-vehicle use in the U.S. This paper explains the purpose of estimating the total social-cost of motor-vehicle use, briefly review recent research, explain the conceptual framework and cost classification, and present and discuss our preliminary cost estimates.

Report from the World Bank covering methodological work on the appropriate concept of road use cost; on the derivation of road use cost from road network and traffic data under different maintenance regimes; on the corresponding rules for charging cost to users; on pure taxation of transport; on the price-level and distributional impact of transport taxes, taken on their own or relative to other taxes. It includes also detailed empirical work, to estimate some of the relationships, and as required for a full-dress application of the methodologies to the case of Tunisia.

The Government is considering options for reforming the way roads are managed in NZ. Some options involve roads being owned and managed by publicly owned regional roading companies with the power to set prices and charge users directly. This paper sets out a framework for determining optimal prices for road use which can in turn be used as a baseline for assessing the road companies’ pricing policies.

This note sets out some general principles and indicators of determining when a Road Fund might be an appropriate instrument; what activities it should be responsible for; what revenue sources it should employ; and key features for its governance.

A Scoping Paper for the Energy Foundation. Focussing on 3 questions: 1. Will road pricing increase or reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and the associated environmental and social costs? 2. How will road pricing affect urban form and land use? 3. Will road pricing facilitate or inhibit highway expansion?

Report prepared by Rust PPK for the World Bank on methodologies for feasibility studies in China.

Overseas Road Note 5. This Note gives guidance on carrying out feasibility studies for road projects in developing countries. It is intended for administrators, economists, transport planners and engineers in road and transport ministries in developing countries who are responsible for preparing or appraising project submissions. It will also be of interest to personnel in aid agencies and consultancies who are responsible for road projects.

The RTIM2 Model was developed by the TRL for economic analysis of rural roads.

Report by DFID on study of the impact of feeder roads was carried out in the Ashanti Region of Ghana by the Building and Road Research Institute (Kumasi) in cooperation with the Transport and Road Research Laboratory. The purpose of the study was to determine how parameters of rural development (particularly agricultural practises, costs and prices) varied with accessibility within the region.

This report discusses the relationship between tie load and road transport costs in developing counties and considers the ‘optimum’ tie load at which the total road transport costs are minimised.

Early World Bank paper laying foundation for the economic analysis of road maintenance.

Study on transportation issues in rural areas. Research study on the needs of rural social infrastructure and its relationship to urban centers.