Urbanization is not a side effect of economic growth; it is an integral part of the process. While creating tremendous economic opportunities, urbanization also makes demands for infrastructure investment that can unbalance government budgets and stymie growth at the macro level. How can the goal of increasing public investment in urban infrastructure be reconciled with the need for prudent fiscal management?

Different countries have approached this challenge in different ways -- from tight central controls on local investment to decentralized fiscal choice. Their experiences are recounted and assessed in this book -- from the perspective both of central government fiscal managers and local government officials who must provide infrastructure services to their citizens. The chapters compare the approaches taken by Brazil, China, India, Poland, and South Africa and examine the fiscal implications of different infrastructure financing options. The book offers a rare perspective on intergovernmental policy design and the politics of policy implementation.

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Forward by Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, IDFC Private Equity Co. Ltd., Mumbai

Part I: National Frameworks to Balance Fiscal Discipline and Local Investment Needs

Chapter 1: Fiscal Responsibility Legislation and Fiscal Adjustment: The Case of Brazilian Local Governments
Luiz de Mello, Head of the Brazil/South America Desk of the Economics Department of the OECD

Chapter 2: China: Fiscal Framework and Urban Infrastructure Finance
Su Ming, Research Institute for Fiscal Science (RIFS), Ministry of Finance, China; and Chancellor and member of the Standing Council, China's Institute for Urban Finance
Zhao Quanhou, Research Institute for Fiscal Science (RIFS), Ministry of Finance, China

Chapter 3: Overview of Urban Infrastructure Finance in India
Subhash Chandra Garg, served as Joint Secretary (State Finance), Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Chapter 4: Infrastructure Development in Poland: The Issues at Stake
Krzysztof Ners, served as Deputy Minister of Finance, Government Plenipotentiary for EU Funds

Chapter 5: Fiscal Decentralization and the Financing of Urban Infrastructure in South Africa
Philip van Ryneveld, was Chief Financial Officer of the Cape Town Municipality

Part II:  Mobilizing Local Infrastructure Finance

Chapter 6: Urban Infrastructure Investment and Financing in Shanghai
Gao Guo Fu, President of the Shanghai Chengtou Corporation (Urban Development Investment Corporation)

Chapter 7: Mobilizing Financing for Urban Sanitation Infrastructure in Brazil
Aser Cortines, served as Vice President, Urban Development and Government Affairs, Caixa Economia Federal in Brazil
Sandra Bondarovsky, was an economist with Caixa Economica Federal

Chapter 8: Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund: Public-Private Partnership in and Infrastructure Finance Intermediary
L. Krishnan, worked for the Government of India as Special Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu

Chapter 9: INCA: A South African Private-Sector Intermediary
Johan Kruger, founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of the Infrastructure Finance Corporation Ltd of South Africa
George Peterson, served as Senior Fellow in international public finance at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC

Chapter 10: Land Leasing and Land Sale as an Infrastructure Financing Option
George Peterson, served as Senior Fellow in international public finance at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC

Chapter 11: Urban Infrastructure Finance from Private Operators: What Have We Learned from Recent Experience
Patricia Clarke Annez, Urban Advisor at the World Bank in Washington, DC

Editors

George E. Peterson
Senior Fellow, Urban Institute

George E. Peterson is Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., working on international public finance and intergovernmental relations. Previously he has been Director of Public Finance Center at the Urban Institute, where he directed the institute's programme in intergovernmental finance in the United States. He is also the recipient of the Donald C. Stone Award for intergovernmental management and research from American Society for Public Management. He recently published Decentralisation in Asia and Latin America: A Political and Economic Comparison.

Patricia Clarke Annez
Urban Advisor, World Bank

Patricia Clarke Annez is the Urban Advisor in the Finance Economics and Urban Department at the World Bank. She has worked in World Bank’s Operations and Finance Departments as well as the Research and Policy section of the Bank, and has operational experience in South Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. She was a member of the core team of the WDR 1992 on Development and the Environment. As chief of the Urban Division, she managed the Bank’s contributions to the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul in 1996. Ms. Annez is now the head of the Municipal Finance Thematic Group. She has also worked as an economic and financial advisor for ABB in Canada, and for US corporate clients in New York.