Private Solutions for Infrastructure in Lesotho : A Country Framework Report

Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility

Washington, DC:World Bank

关键词: ACCESS TO CAPITAL;    ACCESS TO INFORMATION;    BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE;    BASIC SERVICES;    BOT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/0-8213-6205-4
RP-ID  :  34354

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The report looks at Lesotho, apredominantly mountainous, land-locked, poor country with asmall population, limited natural resources, and a veryfragile ecology. It has low gross national income, and asignificant poverty level. To ameliorate this condition, thegovernment has embarked on a pro-poor, growth strategy thatincludes public, and private investment in infrastructure.It explores the level of private participation at this phasein the evolution of the reforms, which is considerable,given the country's small size, limited institutionalcapacity, and lack of public and private investment capital.Telecommunications has recorded the most significant reformof any of the infrastructure sectors. Other thantelecommunications, reforms in other sectors have notadvanced significantly. Not surprisingly, the reportidentifies specific lessons learned from thetelecommunications sector, and examines their relevance toreform efforts under way in the other sectors. In summary,this report finds that private participation ininfrastructure could offer Lesotho three key advantages: 1)augmenting budget resources in cases where the privatesector undertakes to finance projects, or services thatwould not otherwise be funded, 2) improving the quality andefficiency of service delivery, and, 3) acceleratinginvestments in infrastructure. By the same token, the reportmakes clear that private participation in infrastructure(PPI) carries significant down-side risks that, despite thebest of intentions, could lead to negative fiscal impacts,lower than expected service quality, disruptions to service,or more dire consequences. The report presents an actionplan with three primary elements: 1) the creation of a PPIFacilitation Unit to assist line ministries in implementingPPI projects; 2) specific priorities pertinent to eachrespective infrastructure sector; and, 3) cross-cuttingreform measures addressing policy, regulatory, and legalactions needed to provide an enabling framework, andfacilitating environment for PPI projects.