Regional Balkans Infrastructure Study Transport - WBC-INCO Net

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The course of further reforms has been set, but much preparatory work is still
required. This is an area where technical assistance would facilitate and accelerate
the development.
Efficient information systems are of key importance to the management of the
transport sector. Such systems require up-to-date information about the features
and condition of the infrastructure as well as traffic and accidents. There is a
need for improvement in this area, and financial and technical assistance would
be valuable. In the rail, port, airport and inland waterway sectors, the existing
systems are mostly paper-based which hampers efficient utilisation of data. In
three of the countries, the road inventories have not been updated recently, and
there is a lack of data on the condition of pavements and structures. In all countries,
the police are responsible for the collection of road accident data (except
Kosovo) and there is no formal co-operation between the police and the road
authorities which substantially hampers the systematic improvement of road
safety.
One of the bottlenecks for improving the transport infrastructure is the lack of
recent experience - in the region - on the preparation of projects for international
financing and tendering. Within REBIS, training seminars have been
held in the 5 capitals in order to present an overview of the project cycle and to
introduce EC procurement procedures. The participants were public servants
from the relevant transport authorities and companies, but also staff from the
private sector. The seminars were very well received, but they also revealed a
huge need for further capacity building in this area.
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There are substantial differences in the taxation levels of road users in the five
countries. Particularly, the taxation on heavy vehicles in the Republika Srpska
is low compared to other countries, and there may be scope for harmonisation
in order not to distort competition, particularly if the level of road user charges
is increased, in the future. The present levels of charges are far below the levels
of the EU.
Given the severe backlog in road maintenance and reconstruction, it is important
for the countries of the region to develop sustainable financing strategies
within the road sector. Available information seems to indicate that present
road user charges largely cover present spending on routine and periodic maintenance
of the networks. There are, however, strong indications that present
spending is totally insufficient to maintain an acceptable quality of the networks,
in the long run. This is particularly the case in Serbia and Montenegro
where present spending may only cover about 10% of the needs. Thus, there is
a clear need to allocate further funds to the road sector.
One way to secure sufficient and stable financing of the road sector could be to
increase road user charges and channel these to the transport sector.
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