SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

State of the Basin Report - 20038. Government transport policies and IWT developmentA study undertaken in 1982 for the Congressional Budget Office of the US Congress concludedthat inland barge transport was at least three and a half times more energy efficient than trucktransport, and 1.7 times more energy efficient than rail transport. m These conclusions werereinforced by other studies undertaken in the United States of America during the 1970s and1980s, which found even greater margins of advantage for inland waterway transport in terms ofenergy consumption. nWhile the relative energy efficiency and other cost advantages of inland waterway transport haveyet to be fully investigated and confirmed for the Lower Mekong Basin, there is no reason toexpect that IWT in this region would not enjoy the same, or even greater, advantages over landtransport as those recorded in the United States. However, there is evidence that the economicadvantages of IWT may not be properly reflected in the comparative commercial charges of IWTand road transport operators in some areas of the Lower Mekong Basin. In fact, informationprovided by the Ministry of Communication, Transport, Post and Construction in Lao PDR suggeststhat in some cases, charges made by IWT operators are three times the applicable road transportcharges for the same traffic.To some extent, this may be due to distortions in government charges which fail to recover the fullcost of providing road infrastructure from truck operators, while also penalising boat operators whoare obliged in all LMB countries to contribute to road development funds, through their paymentsof fuel tax. o Boat operators in some LMB countries, notably in Lao PDR, may also be preventedfrom realising maximum commercial advantages from theiroperations because during the low water season, they mustoperate small boats with a payload capacity smaller than thatof a ten-wheel truck (but without a commensurate reductionin operating costs).What is reasonably clear, is that in all LMB member countries,government transport expenditure priorities consistently failto recognise the environmental and economic advantages ofthe IWT mode. A comparison of government capital andoperating expenditures on inland waterways and roads duringthe most recent five-year period for which data were available,shows that in three of the four LMB countries, inlandwaterways attract less than 1.5 percent of all expenditure onboth modes. This comparison is shown in Table 2.With World Bank funding, two major canal routes in Viet Namare being dredged to a depth of three metres, allowingoperation of barges of 500 DWTm Congressional Budget Office, US Congress, Energy Use in Freight Transportation, Washington DC, February1982, page 10.n Mooz, W.E., The Effect of Fuel Price Increases on Energy Intensiveness of Freight Transport, Rand Corporation ,Santa Monica, CA, December 1971 and Eastman S.E., Fuel Efficiency in Freight Transportation, The AmericanWaterway Operators Inc., Arlington, VA, June 1980.o In Lao PDR, for example, government tax revenue represents 28 percent of the pump price of diesel fuel in Vientiane(about 2,635 Kip or about US 30 cents per litre), including a direct “road fund” contribution of 40 Kip per litre.[Information obtained during an MRC mission to Vientiane in April 2002]234