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

Box 9.1: Will benchmarking help provide a better picture of infrastructure performance
It is difficult to determine how effectively or efficiently infrastructure is performing
without making comparisons with systems in similar countries.
We have suggested that benchmarking initiatives in the electricity and water
sectors should be maintained and strengthened through publicizing the results
and continuing to develop utilities’ capability to gather and measure data, and
utility managers’ ability to use and act upon the benchmarking information to
improve performance.
Although each country’s specific circumstances will be unique, introducing
performance benchmarking to other infrastructure sectors will help to improve
performance and will encourage better coordination and accountability.
Benchmarking will also help to identify areas of infrastructure underperformance,
given the specific constraints faced by each country.
A regional benchmarking unit, responsible for overseeing and assisting data
gathering, measurement and analysis for all sectors and all countries would help to
overcome capacity and capability constraints.
Box 9.2: What public sector reforms will benefit Pacific countries
How much more efficient can the existing public sector providers become with
appropriate reforms Experience elsewhere shows the outcomes for infrastructure
investment are significantly better when public sector entities operate
commercially, and at arms length from day-to-day political interference. How
realistic is this objective given the makeup of political and governance structures
in the region
If public sector reforms are to be successful, it is important that infrastructure
operators are able to recover their full and reasonable costs of operation. If this is
politically unacceptable, for example in countries with low income levels, subsidies
should be made explicit.
Skilled, capable management is necessary for successful reforms. Countries with
small pools of human resources should consider appointing individuals from
outside the country. Offering higher salaries may help to attract the right people,
and may be worth the extra expense if the individual is able to turn performance
around.
Staff redundancies may be necessary to improve efficiency and to provide
incentives for good performance. Governments can encourage the development of
small businesses to compete for the provision of non-core services. Where this is
not politically feasible, staff may be re-deployed at a minimum wage to perform
other value added activities. These staff should not be replaced once they leave or
retire.
Implementing public sector reforms may only be possible over the medium term.
However, actively recruiting skilled management, (if existing managers are
deficient), is a short term priority, as it is important that senior managers have
input to the reform planning process.
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