Decentralizing Infrastructure Services : Lessons from the East Asia Experience

Decentralizing Infrastructure Services : Lessons from the East Asia Experience

Decentralization is the transfer of responsibilities from the central government to subnational agencies empowered to act as increasingly autonomous entities within their geographical and functional domains. In theory, decentralizing infrastructure services can deliver efficiency gains when service benefits accrue mainly to the local population-such as in water and sanitation, urban transit, and waste management. Subnational agencies are indeed better placed than the central government to tailor infrastructure services to the needs of local constituencies (allocative efficiency) and deliver them at lower costs (productive efficiency). In practice, the economic benefits of decentralized infrastructure services are by no means a given, as they are contingent upon effective coordination among tiers of governments (regional coordination) and accountability mechanisms for results achieved.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Elisa Muzzini
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2007-02
Subjects:AGGREGATION PROCESS, ALLOCATION OF WATER, ALLOCATION OF WATER RIGHTS, BENCHMARKING, CAPITAL PROJECTS, CITIES, DRIVING, ECONOMIC BENEFITS, ECONOMIES OF SCALE, EFFICIENCY SAVINGS, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS, INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION, INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR, INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS, INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES, INLAND WATERWAYS, LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, MUNICIPALITIES, PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, PERFORMANCE TARGETS, POWER, PRIVATE SECTOR, PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION, PRODUCTIVE EFFICIENCY, RAILWAY, RAILWAY PROJECTS, REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE, ROAD, ROAD NETWORKS, ROADS, SANITATION, SANITATION SERVICES, SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENTS, TRANSPORT, TRANSPORT REGULATION, TRUCKS, URBAN DEVELOPMENT, URBAN TRANSIT, UTILITIES, VEHICLES, WASTE, WATER SECTOR, WATER SUPPLY,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/02/7406897/decentralizing-infrastructure-services-lessons-east-asia-experience
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/9579
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Summary:Decentralization is the transfer of responsibilities from the central government to subnational agencies empowered to act as increasingly autonomous entities within their geographical and functional domains. In theory, decentralizing infrastructure services can deliver efficiency gains when service benefits accrue mainly to the local population-such as in water and sanitation, urban transit, and waste management. Subnational agencies are indeed better placed than the central government to tailor infrastructure services to the needs of local constituencies (allocative efficiency) and deliver them at lower costs (productive efficiency). In practice, the economic benefits of decentralized infrastructure services are by no means a given, as they are contingent upon effective coordination among tiers of governments (regional coordination) and accountability mechanisms for results achieved.

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