Public and Private Sector Roles in the Supply of Transport Infrastructure and Services – Operational Guidance for World Bank Staff

The Bank’s Infrastructure Action Plan sets out a series of measures to revitalize the Bank Group’s infrastructure business and requires the Bank to provide a broad menu of options for public and private sector infrastructure service provision. There is a need for the Bank to explore and offer clients alternative solutions in the ownership, financing and operation of transport infra structure and transport services. Implementing a particular approach successfully will often depend on supportive sector policies and regulatory processes. This Guidance Note provides a framework for Bank Group staff for identifying and assessing the different models for public and private roles in the transport sector; highlights policy and regulatory issues which are important in judging the suitability of different models; and summarizes the range of instruments available to the Bank Group to support particular models. The transport challenges facing developing countries are many and various. What may be an acceptable policy in one country may be anathema in another for political, geographical or historical reasons. And what may work in one institutional and market environment may not work in another. Bank staff should match solutions to the country context. Therefore, this Guidance Note does not prescribe fixed solutions. It offers guidance in thinking about the options available and the factors that are important in judging between them.