Presentationfrom South Asia Decentralization Seminar, March 14, 2005, synthesizing insights gained from the conference.

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
Summary Statement
Conference Program
Speaker Bios

This session sets the stage for the following two sessions by outlining the national  framework for promoting urban infrastructure finance in a fiscally responsible framework. Five country cases will be presented (Brazil, China, India, Poland and South Africa). The presentations on the macroeconomic framework will discuss how to achieve fiscal discipline at the sub-national level, and the mechanisms to balance the tension between this objective and the need to mobilize funding for urban infrastructure at the local level. The local government presentations will address the same issues from their perspective, discussing how the national framework affects local government capacity to mobilize funding for infrastructure at the local level, and exploring means of expanding investment capacity without compromising fiscal discipline.  Subjects to be covered include the impact of political and fiscal decentralization, limitations on borrowing, managing moral hazard, the role of the financial sector and achieving the right balance between stringent controls and encouraging local government responsibility for fiscal discipline, coupled with market discipline.

Session Overview
Robert Buckley, World Bank
Presentation

MACROECONOMIC AND FISCAL PERSPECTIVE
Brazil
Luis de Mello, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Presentation  |  Paper
India
Subhash Garg, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Presentation  |  Paper
China
Qiu Wenjin, Deputy Director, Department of Foreign Capital Development, Shanghai Development and Reform Commission
Presentation  |  Paper
Poland
Krzysztof Ners, Vice Governor, Council of Europe Development
Presentation  |  Paper

SUBNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
South Africa
Philip van Ryneveld, former Chief Financial Officer, Capetown
Presentation  |  Paper
China
Deepak Bhattasali, World Bank
Paper

Session II will focus on strategies for mobilizing private savings for infrastructure investments. Presentations will examine: the roles of financial institutions serving primarily municipal borrowers (in India and South Africa), more specialized institutions funding environmental investments (Poland) and promoting private investments in infrastructure (India) and a case study of Shanghai, where  funding from several sources was mobilized in a strategy that successfully achieved a massive expansion of local infrastructure. Brazil’s recent initiative to establish a framework to tap private participation in infrastructure will also be presented. Issues to be discussed include the role of different management and ownership structures, alternative mechanisms for servicing a backlog of investment needs in specialized areas such as environmental improvement, structuring relationships between governments and intermediaries, and experience with blending grant and loan funds.

Session Overview
George Peterson, Urban Institute

DESIGNING AN INVESTMENT FINANCING STRATEGY
China
Gao Gou Fu, President, Shanghai, Urban Development Investment Corporation
Presentation  |  Paper
Brazil
Aser Cortines, Vice President, Caixa Econômica Federal
Presentation  |  Paper

MOBILIZING FINANCE THROUGH MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTIONS
India
L. Krishnan, Special Secretary-Finance, Government of Tamil Nadu
Presentation  |  Paper
South Africa
Johan Kruger, Founder and Former CEO,  INCA
Presentation

MOBILIZING FINANCE THROUGH SPECIALIZED INSTITUTIONS
Environmental Funds: The Experience of Poland and EU Accession States
Sonia Hammam, World Bank
George Peterson, Urban Institute
Presentation

India- Private Infrastructure Investment and Special Financing Vehicles
P.V. Ravi, Vice President, Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd.
(IDFC)
Presentation

This session focuses on government resource mobilization and the measures needed to raise funding to cover the recurrent costs of infrastructure operation and service debt incurred for infrastructure investments. Two key topics will be examined: cost recovery and the role of the intergovernmental system. Strategies for cost recovery in Brazil, China and India will be discussed, examining the performance of systems with cross subsidization for low income users (Brazil and India), direct subsidies from government, and mandated cost recovery targets (China). The presentations on intergovernmental arrangements will cover Brazil, which is managing very tight budgetary constraints while seeking to expand social spending, and India, which is gradually implementing a fiscal decentralization to municipalities, in the context of both massive unmet demands for urban infrastructure services and substantial fiscal deficits at the State level.

Session Overview
Lili Liu, World Bank

COST RECOVERY AND PRICING POLICY FOR THE POOR
Three Country Panel Discussion
Carlos Antonio Luque, Assistant Secretary for Planning, State of Sao Paulo (Brazil)
Presentation  |  Paper
Gao Guo Fu, President, Shanghai, Urban Developmernt Investment Corporation
Qiu Wenjin Deputy Director, Department of Foreign Capital Development, Shanghai Development and Reform Commission
Sameer Vyas,  Managing Director, New Tiruppur Area Development Corporation Ltd.
Presentation 
Om Mathur, IDFC Chair in Urban Economics and Finance, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (India)   
Presentation  |  Paper 

INTERGOVERNMENTAL ROLE IN INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE
Brazil
Sol Garson, former Secretary of Finance, City of Rio de Janeiro
Presentation  |  Paper