Results: Ongoing Progress in the Transport Program in East Asia and Pacific

As described in the topic brief, the World Bank invests in four transport sub-sectors: roads, urban transport, waterways and railways. What follows are examples of the achievements in each of these sub-sectors.

 Roads
 Urban Transport
 Inland Waterways
 Railways

Roads

The China road program has supported the development of the National Trunk Highway System (see Infrastructure Project map, 1.7mb pdf). Since 1990 China has constructed some 41,000 km of high grade highways in a co-ordinated effort to improve transport links between the provinces. At the same time as constructing expressways, each project also had components which improved local roads and institutional strengthening.

In Thailand, the Bank is currently supporting the Department of Highways with a Highway Management Project. This project has reconstructed pavements throughout the country, as well as providing widening and flyovers to alleviate congestion.

 

Cambodia  is much less developed than China and Thailand, so the road projects undertaken there have been fundamentally different. The Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project helped to rehabilitate the economic and social infrastructure damaged by the 2000 floods, while also indirectly supporting recovery in rural production and incomes.

 

The Road Rehabilitation Project re-opened and improved a number of high priority national roads. This project also included the restoration of several ancient Khmer bridges. Among the unique challenges faced by the project was the removal of unexploded ordinance.

 

Institutional strengthening activities are key elements of many projects. In countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Samoa and the Philippines, the Bank supported the establishment of computerized road management systems.

 

Major data collection surveys were undertaken to map the countries and provide road condition data for planning purposes (see chart on Samoa).  The Cambodia project has created a web site at www.lrcs.info where data on the road network and conditon can be viewed.

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Urban Transport

 

Cities in the region have used Bank support to enhance both the physical road and public transport infrastructure and also to improve planning methods, regulatory systems, operational and management systems.

 

The China  urban transport program has supported upgradation of bus facilities in project cities including passenger and maintenance facilities, advanced technology, support for cost-effective bus priority and the development of Bus Rapid Transit projects.

 

The Bank also financed metro rolling stock and investments to integrate rail and bus services in Pudan (Busan), South Korea.

 

Bank projects in China, Vietnam  and Phillipines have supported capacity enhancements in urban road systems through a combination of new roads and enhanced management. 

 

A particular focus of Bank financed projects has been to improve traffic management and safety, specially for pedestrians and cyclists. 

 

The Bank has supported installation of traffic signals, improvements to intersection design and the development of safety strategies to support traffic engineers and police in client cities.   

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Inland Waterways

 

Southern China is exceptionally well endowed with long navigable rivers that can carry large volumes of bulk cargo at low cost, offering a cleaner and safer alternative to the already overloaded highways and railways. 

 

The Bank has made five loans to China to help improve the year-round navigability of these rivers, so that larger vessels can operate further inland and at lower cost.

 

The main investment in each project has been the construction of multi-purpose dams equipped with ship locks.  The dams stabilize river flows, not only aiding navigation but also making an important addition to power generating capacity and protection against floods.

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Railways

 

Railways have always played a central role in China's economy, moving large quantities of coal and other bulk freight cheaply from inland provinces to the major cities.  They are also fundamental for enabling millions of migrant workers to return home during each year’s three week-long national holidays. 

 

From the early days of its lending to China the Bank has helped financed expansion of the railway network, by far the most heavily used railway system in the world.  The Government’s emphasis has been to use Bank projects to enhance its access to international best practice in planning, technology, track design and management, as well as in improving its own practices for minimizing environmental impacts and coping with resettlement. 

 

Recent projects have double-tracked and electrified strategic links on the network, as part of a progressive raising of operating speeds that cuts trip times and expands capacity to keep pace with the steadily growing demand.

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August 2006