The objective of Chile's port reform, is to encourage investments for improved port equipment, in the hope that this will lead to more efficient service, in part by attracting larger, more modern ships. The first four major concessions, under which integrated terminals are run exclusively by...

This note, which draws on the World Bank's Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI) database, provides an overview of recent trends in infrastructure projects with private participation in developing countries. Three main trends have emerged during the past decade. Private activity in...

In developing countries the provision of water and sanitation services is often subsidized. These subsidies take the form of a general underpricing of water, numerous cross-subsidies, and inefficient billing and collection. An essential part of infrastructure reform is the redesign of subsidies....

In August 1999 the Moroccan government awarded a second mobile telecommunications license through international tender. All bidders made commitments on quality, coverage, and tariffs that would significantly expand and improve telecommunications services. The winning bidder, Medi Telecom, paid...

Auctions may be an appropriate way to reorganize the liabilities of some overindebted East Asian firms - those that are generally well run, for which there is merit in keeping the existing owners in place, but for which conventional bankruptcy procedures are proving too slow. This Note proposes...

Resolving systemic banking and corporate distress is not easy. The large scale of the East Asian financial crisis has made the task even more daunting in Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. Two years into the process, bank and corporate restructuring is still a work in...

The global catastrophe insurance market exhibits inherent cyclical risks. Disaster-prone countries can improve their protection against catastrophic risk and premium volatility by using capital markets to boost the capacity of the private sector to absorb and spread the risks -- both...

Recent power outages in Argentina are largely the result of transmission problems that could be solved by more investment. Private concessionaires now operate the main and regional networks, but they are under no obligation to expand capacity. In a decentralized electricity market such as...

This note focuses on rail projects with private participation, that reached financial closure in 1990-1997, surveying regional trends, types of private participation, and project size. Through database analysis, the paper reveals that operations, and management contracts - including leases and...

Nontraditional infrastructure service providers supply many low-income consumers in slums and urban peripheries in developing countries. And technological change has eased entry by new providers. But the current approach to private participation in infrastructure typically gives exclusivity to a...