The challenges of strengthening infrastructure management in Colombia and the region

(Bogota, June 2, 2009 ).- An analysis of the challenges of the quantity and quality of infrastructure in the region was made during the presentation today of the fifth edition of Report of Economy and Development (RED) 2009 "Paths for the future: infrastructure management in Latin America," during a seminar organized by the Andean Development Corporation, the Colombian Chamber of Infrastructure (CCI), and Banco de la Republica.

During the opening event, CAF director-representative in Colombia Vctor Traverso said that infrastructure - as well as playing a fundamental role in the objectives set by governments to improve levels of productivity and competitiveness - is also a key sector for marking economic growth in a world recession like the current one.

Pablo Sanguinetti, research director of the CAF Office of Public Policy and Competitiveness, argued during his presentation that decision-making on allocation of public resources in infrastructure projects has to be increasingly based on knowledge, which results in a growing need for rigorous evaluation of intervention initiatives.

He emphasized the importance of strengthening the institutional capacity of the public sector for effective provision of infrastructure services, which requires regulatory improvement and the existence of investment planning bodies for the medium and long term, and highly qualified bodies for contracting with the private sector, a very important partner for guaranteeing these services in the region.

In the case of Colombia, RED 2009 highlights the Bogota Transmilenio system as one of the projects through which infrastructure can have a positive impact on the development of the country. In addition to improving the travel conditions of the population (e.g. travel time), it has had an impact on other variables which have noticeably affected the well-being of households such as personal insecurity. Implementation of this mass transport system reduced crime rates by approximately 80% around Avenida Caracas, one of the main thoroughfares where the system first began to operate.

Other participants in the presentation of the report were: co-director of Banco de la Repblica, Juan Pablo Zrate; president of the Colombian Chamber of Infrastructure, Juan Martn Caicedo; director of the National Planning Department, Esteban Piedrahita; Dean of the Faculty of Economics of the University of the Andes, Alejandro Gaviria; president of Analdex, Javier Daz; director of Fedesarrollo, Roberto Steiner; former minister of Economic Development, Eduardo Pizano; CAF deputy research director, Jos Pineda; and vice president of the Colombian Chamber of Infrastructure, Francisco Surez.