-- Related Links -- Transport Website

At a Glance 

• Transport is crucial for economic growth and trade, both of which are highly dependent on the conveyance of people and goods. Virtually no production or consumption can take place unless people, raw materials, commodities, fuel, and finished products can be moved to and from different locations.
  
• About one billion people living in rural areas in developing countries still do not have access to reliable (all-weather) roads.
  
• The world population is projected to be more than over nine billion by 2050. Most of the growth will be in developing countries. Over half the world’s people lives in urban areas, and this is expected to increase to 69 percent by 2050.  The number of cities exceeding one million inhabitants is on track to surge to 581 by 2015 from today's 477.This expansion, coupled with continuing globalization and trade liberalization, is expected to significantly accelerate demand for the transportation of both people and goods.
  
• At $48 billion since 2003, transport sector lending is a significant part of the World Bank’s portfolio. In fiscal year 2011, approved Bank transport projects totaled $9 billion, over 20 percent of the Bank’s commitments for the year.

Trends and Issues

The Bank seeks to support transport projects and programs that:

• facilitate economic growth and regional integration through national and international trade;
• make cities work better for their citizens, for the environment, and for economic growth;
• create economic opportunity and growth in rural areas;
• provide access to health and education facilities; and
• ensure that transport is safe, clean, and affordable. 

The context for transport services and infrastructure is marked by major changes.

Rapid urbanization. More than half of the world’s population lives in cities. The urban poor are a large and growing proportion of urban dwellers.

Motorization expansion. Over the next 20 years, more cars may be built than in the auto industry’s 110-year history. This will result in increased congestion, road deaths, and injuries as well as having significant climatic and environmental consequences.

Increased sensitivity of trade flows to transport costs and reliability. International transport costs are an obstacle to economic integration, especially for small landlocked economies. Changes in product markets and logistics systems have increased the time value of freight transport. The increasing time cost of international transport determines not only trade but also location decisions by multinational firms, as well as flows of foreign direct investment.

Enhanced awareness of the collective costs of insufficient transport safety.  More than 1.2 million people are killed and up to 50 million are injured on the world’s roads every year. Every day, more than 3,200 people die from road traffic injuries; low- and middle-income countries account for 90 percent of the deaths.  This costs countries 1-2 percent of their GNP—often more than the total development aid they receive.  Road traffic deaths and injuries are predicted to become the third largest contributor to the global burden of disease by 2020.

Recognition of the transport impact on climate change. Road transport alone accounts for nearly a quarter of the man-made gases that accelerate climate change. The 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change estimated that the transport sector contributes up to 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions, second only to power generation.

Strategy

The World Bank Transport Strategy – Safe, Clean and Affordable - Transport for Development – proposes a consolidated approach to develop safe transport services that are low-carbon and accessible to the poor. The transport and social responsibility agenda cuts across all of these themes, focusing on inclusion, gender, vulnerable populations, access, health (75 percent of maternal deaths might be prevented by timely access to emergency childbirth care), prevention of HIV/AIDS, and environment linkages.

What We Do: The World Bank Group and Transport

In FY11, Bank Group transport financing was $9 billion, down 4 percent from fiscal year 2010. Today, the transport sector supervises 430 projects with total net commitments of $78 billion, representing 23 percent of the Bank’s active portfolio.

·         Financing for roads and highways was 65% of new transport commitments in FY11. The average annual commitment for roads and highways has been $3.6 billion since 2003, reflecting the fact that roads are the predominant form of land transport.

·        In 2009/2010 over 30 countries improved airport facilities with Bank support, enabling more efficient and effective trade.

·         A recent study found that every $1 million invested in the Jamaican transport construction sector created 81 jobs and generated $1.5 million in economic growth

·         The Bank, through the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), is working with six other MDBs to harmonize road safety practice in client countries. The Multilateral Development Banks (MDB) Road Safety Initiative, launched in April 2011, commits the seven MDBs to a shared program to achieve goals of the UN’s Decade of Action for Global Road Safety 2011 – 2020. These include five million lives saved by 2020 and 50 million serious injuries avoided.   

Related Links:

www.worldbank.org/transport

Contacts:                     Christopher Neal: (202)473-2049, Email: cneal1@worldbank.org

Karolina Ordon:  (202) 458-5971, Email: kordon@worldbank.org

Roger Morier: (202) 473-5675,    Email: rmorier@worldbank.org

Updated August 2011