[rts] Week 2 Discussion

[Dschelling at worldbank.org]

Joaquin,

thanks for injection life into the discussion.

While we all agree that RTS interventions should complement RTI (rural transport
infrastructure) interventions,  the problem is that we don't know what to do to
promote RTS and that is precisely why this discussion and paper is important and
timely.

The Bank has and is doing RTS work in Africa, definitely on the policy side
through RTTP, but also on the ground in Senegal, Ghana, Sierra Leone and plans
to do more in many RT projects.  However,  large scale results are still to be
seen.

Fact is that the provision of RTS is largely a private sector issue (we don't
want to go back to government provided RTS, though in some places, such as in
some states in India, these function fairly well and provide important services
to the poor).  The government must provide the enabling environment for the
private provision of RTS and, perhaps needs to intervene selectively to
jump-start improved RTS and introduce IMT.

Regards

Dieter Schelling, Africa Transport, AFTTR
World Bank, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington D.C. 20433, USA, , Room No. J-7047
Phone 202 473 5722; Fax 202 473 8326; e-mail: dschelling at worldbank.org