ASi" kUCTURE FlOR DEVELOPMENT

L ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ... ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ C- l'
__ a.~~~~g ~~ vestments have often been misallocated-too much
t~EiereSThcoa(bsithnohnfrstrucure~' to new investment, not enough to maintenance; tDo
i tdmi{Etcoutsici,'! much to low-priority projects, not enough to essen-
1ial evcs The delivery of services has been hamp-r
by technical inefficiency and outright waste.
0- 9And too few investment and deiverv decisions
have been attentive to meeting the varied demands
.~ - different M.of user groups, or to the consequences for
the environment
.* R a ;ffi2 X Inadequate mnainitezance has been an almost uni-
*- - versal (and costly) failure of infrastructure pro-
: m .- s 1 _ g viders in developing countries. For example, a well-
'm~ _1 # -maintained paved road surface should.last for ten to
fifteen years before-needing resurfacing, but lack of
main tenance can lead to severe deterioration in half
* 4 t- -that time- The rates of return from World Bankassisted
road maintenance projects are nearly twice
* 3
jcxC _4zJ ..
those of road construction projects. Timely mainte-
: . _ g 1t. cnance expendi t ures of $12 billion would have saved
4l:h- x road reconstruction costs of $45 billion in Africa in
. -ow -r. &tMi fthe past decade. On average, inadequate mainte-
*nom eŽ-j ct; -.- ,S income #' -ls 'm=ome- nance means that.power systems. in developing
* - - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~countries
have only 60 percent of their generating
* r4 nSt.-~ .~ ... w .. t ~ age of 70 percent of their output to users, compared
-El -gation, _-. -g with best-practice delivery rates of 85 percent Poor
* xr. g - maintenance can also reduce service quality and ine~~~
~ Sow ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ crease the costs for users, some of whom install
-, backup generators or water storage tancs and private
wells
Fa-.-ilgs in maintenance are often compounded
rapidly growing cities, infrastructure expansion is by il-advised spending cuts Curbingcapital spendlagging
behind population growth, causing local ing is justified during periods of budgetry austerenvinonments
to deteriorate. . it, but reducing maintenance spending is a. false
In developing countries, govenunents own, op- economy. Such cuts have to be compensated for
erate, and finance nearly all infrastructure, prinar- later by much larger expenditures on rehabilitation
ily because its production characteristics and the or replacement Because inadequate maintenance
public interest involved were thought .to require shortens the usefud life of infrastucture facilities
monopoly-and hence govermnent-provision. and reduces the capacity available to provide ser-
The record of success and failure in infrastructure is vices, more has to be invested to produce those serlargely
a story of govremment's perfornance.
vices. Donor objectives (such as seeldng contracts
: . hifrastructures past growth has in some respects for capital-goods supply or consultancy services)
been spectacular. The percentage of households and may also play a part in the preference for new inbusinesses
served has increased dramatically, espe- vestment over maintenance- In many low-income
. dciaily in telephones and power (Figure 3). The per countries, donor financing underwrites nearly half
capita provision of infiastructure services has in- of all public investment in infrastructurecreased
in all regions; the greatest improvements Project invetstents misalloated by many countries
have been in East Asia and the smallest in Sub- have created inappropriate .infrastructure or pro-
- Saharan Africa, reflecting the strong association vided services at ; _rong standard. Demands of
between economic growth and inastructe-
users for services of varying quality and affordabil-
In other important respects, however, the perfor- ity go unmet even when users are willing and able
nmance has been disappointing. Infrastructure in- to pay for them. Low-income communities are not
4