RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic
Sept 23 2005
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Emphasis On Infrastructure Could Boost CIS States
By Robert McMahon
The World Bank annual meetings this week are reviving focus on
infrastructure development as a way of lifting countries out of
poverty. The new emphasis has special importance for the poorest of
the Soviet successor states, which inherited major infrastructure
stocks but have been unable to maintain them. This has contributed to
a decline in living standards in states from Moldova to Tajikistan.
Washington, 23 September 2005 (RFE/RL) — Distinct from other regions
in transition, the former communist states of the Soviet bloc do not
lack roads, sanitation systems, or electrical networks.
But the World Bank says the quality of this infrastructure is
substandard and declining in the poorest countries of the region,
particularly in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Peter Thomson is a top World Bank expert on infrastructure and energy
for the Europe and Central Asia region. He told RFE/RL that many
former Soviet states are still struggling economically, making it
difficult to maintain or adapt the infrastructure they inherited.
Deteriorating Infrastructures
`There has been quite extensive deterioration in the quality of the
infrastructure so what we now face is not an access problem but a
real quality problem,” Thomson said. “We have issues where clean
water supplies are limited, where electricity is supplied only on a
sporadic basis and the risks of a collapse in major utility services
are becoming an increasing concern.’
A World Bank report issued this week noted that Georgia, for example,
averages more than 60 days of electrical outages per year due to a
crumbling electricity grid. Another recent World Bank report found a
sharp deterioration in water quality in Moldova and Kazakhstan.
World Bank spending globally on infrastructure declined through the
1990s, when private business was expected to take the lead in
projects such as transport and energy.
Private Sector Failed To Step Up
But that investment never reached expected levels. The bank report
issued this week calls for increasing funding for projects in
developing countries by $1 billion per year over the next several
years.
Compared to other developing regions, former Soviet states have
generally high access to infrastructure services. But Thomson says
this creates unique problems for some of the poorest countries in the
region, such as Tajikistan.
Tajikistan, he says, clearly has a much less functional
infrastructure network than it had back in 1990 and much fewer means
to repair it.”We have issues where clean water supplies are limited,
where electricity is supplied only on a sporadic basis and the risks
of a collapse in major utility services are becoming an increasing
concern.’ — World Bank analyst Peter Thomson
`Normally what you have in the case of Tajikistan here, with a
country with GDP per capita in the sort of $200 range, you’re talking
about a country you would expect to have very similar to that of
various parts of Africa but it has a much, much more extensive
network than that,” Thomson said.
Thomson says countries such as Armenia and Azerbaijan have progressed
enough to invest in infrastructure improvements. Georgia, he says,
still needs major help in its power and road sectors as it emerges
from years of deep-rooted corruption and a dysfunctional bureaucracy.
Infrastructure problems impede country efforts to meet the so-called
United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which call for
halving poverty and improving areas such as education and water
quality by the year 2015.
Arup Banerji, the bank’s human development manager for the Europe and
Central Asia region, tells RFE/RL just one infrastructure improvement
— in water supplies — could make a significant difference in the
quality of life in the region.
But despite high levels of access to water systems, he says, there is
declining water quality and infrequent availability of water supplies
in a number of states.
`This is what really is significantly affecting the welfare of the
people in this region and especially in the poorest countries of the
region and countries such as Moldova and Tajikistan especially in the
region, it doesn’t look like they are going to achieve the
environmental MDGs by 2015 just because of quality issues,” Banjeri
said.
World Bank studies have also noted a decline in another MDG —
universal primary education — in parts of the former Soviet Union.
Azerbaijan, to cite an extreme example, went from an enrollment rate
of near 100 percent in 1990 to 80 percent in 2002. Some of this can
also be linked to infrastructure, says Banerji, in terms of providing
transport for teachers and students as well as adequate teaching
materials:
`The whole curriculum in these schools was geared to a totally
different system than they are facing in these countries today — the
market economy, the globalized economy,” Banerji said. “And I think
part of the major challenge to improve quality in schools is
therefore first to get the kids there, second once the kids get
there, are there people to teach them? And thirdly, if the teachers
are there, are they teaching the right thing, do they have the right
equipment?’
Infrastructure Lending On The Rise
On the positive side, recent World Bank studies show a steady growth
in infrastructure lending over the next few years for the Eastern
Europe and Central Asia region. Programs such as the U.S. Millennium
Challenge Account, which just announced a $300 million deal to
improve roads and an energy pipeline for Georgia, signal the
recognition for infrastructure improvements among major donor states.
In addition, the World Bank says, countries like Ukraine and
Azerbaijan are showing strong interest in borrowing funds for a wide
range of infrastructure activities.
(The World Bank reports can be found at:
)