EAP - The Pacific Infrastructure Challenge - World Bank (2006).pdf

Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea are less remote, at distances
comparable to some Caribbean countries’ proximity to the US market. Palau is
the least remote of the Pacific countries
Topography. Topography also raises the cost of infrastructure service
provision. Very high mountainous terrain makes it difficult and more costly to
link infrastructure networks with hinterland communities. The Melanesian
countries of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Timor-Leste
are all relatively mountainous.
No land elevation can be equally disadvantageous. Small low lying atolls have
little topsoil, little groundwater and are vulnerable to rising sea levels, high tides
and drought. Kiribati has a small freshwater lens which often is under threat in
times of drought. Alternative water sources, such as desalination plants are
expensive to install and maintain.
Countries comprised of numerous small, dispersed islands or atolls face the
additional cost of linking services between islands. It is easier, and less costly to
extend a telecommunications network to all communities on a single, flat
landmass like Barbados, than it is to link the many islands of the Federated
States of Micronesia, spread over a large Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Table 6.2 shows that most Pacific countries share this disadvantage. They tend
to be chains or archipelagos of more than 20 islands, while most comparator
countries are less dispersed
Susceptibility to natural disaster. Natural disasters such as cyclones,
earthquakes or drought significantly increase the cost of infrastructure service
provision. Damage from such events results in considerable loss of physical
assets and in enormous economic costs. Samoa’s average losses during disaster
years amounted to almost half of their GDP for those years. In Vanuatu, it
amounted to a third 8 . Hazard management procedures and equipment are a
further expense, although they help to reduce the damage (and therefore the
costs) from disasters.
In the Pacific, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga have experienced natural
disasters most frequently – over 30 disasters in the past 55 years. Table 6.2
provides an overview of the potential for natural disaster in Pacific and
comparator countries.
8 Regional Engagement Framework FY2006-2009 for Pacific Islands, May 3, 2005
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