World Bank's Open Learning Campus (Video)

The Economic Survey of India 2014-15 had stated that the expectation that the private sector will drive investment may need to be modified, looking at a combination of the situation of Indian public sector banks and corporate balance sheets. It had also concluded that public investment may need to step in to ramp up capital formation and recreate an environment to crowd-in the private sector. Within this context, this webinar looks at the current status of the financing of PPPs in India, following up on a webinar on April 14, 2015 which took an in-depth look at the evolution of the Indian PPP market.

Cambridge Economic Policy Associates (CEPA) completed a yearlong wide-ranging research programme that was funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). The aim of the programme was to understand the main constraints on the flow of private capital to infrastructure projects in DFID’s focus countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), excluding South Africa. The research has included:

A comprehensive literature review of available studies on the barriers to increasing private finance in infrastructure investment in SSA and South Asia.

Detailed country case studies for Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique and Nigeria. These are based on country visits to conduct face-to-face consultations with stakeholders, telephone consultations, and desk research on the constraints on the private provision of infrastructure finance in each country. In addition to these comparator case studies were completed on the Indian and South Africa infrastructure markets.

Research to consider if there are any barriers specific to regional infrastructure projects.

A report on the barriers to finance from OECD countries.

A policy options paper which explores options to address the problems identified.

The main finding of the research is that a shortage of bankable projects is the major constraint on mobilizing private capital and is more significant than the lack of availability of finance on suitable terms in DFID’s focus countries in SSA. The research found that many of the projects that are developed are typically not creditworthy, primarily due to the risk associated with their own revenue streams. To deal with this issue, projects need to be offered to the market with appropriate structures and support packages that mitigate these risks.

In terms of sources of finance, CEPA found that there is a lack of availability of long-term, local-currency bank and institutional finance. The commercial-bank local-currency finance that exists has generally been for the telecommunications sector and has been provided for more limited tenors of five to seven years. Opportunities for institutional finance have been limited by the prevalence of the project financing approach, which typically precludes opportunities for investments in operational assets by institutional investors. Apart from the case of highly specialized investors, institutional investors such as pension funds require operational and liquid assets, not greenfield, illiquid ones. There is a strong policy rationale for supporting local-currency financing solutions in order to reduce exchange-rate risks.

The vision of Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC) initiative is to create an open smart city market based on the needs of cities and communities (http://connectedsmartcities.eu/open-and-agile-smart-cities/). OASC is contributing to the European and worldwide need of a common Smart Cities framework. A common framework of standards is essential for the creation of a market that enables communities to turn the benefit of new technologies into jobs and growth in urban environment. Deployment of innovative but replicable solutions will increase the competitiveness of businesses, foster competition through avoidance of vendor lock-in (competition), and enable widespread participation of citizens in the service development. Besides improving services offered by cities, such approach can foster PPP and community engagement in every city. PPP approach is build-in to the OASC through partnership established with global FIWARE accelerator program currently rolling out in cities in the EU and Latin America.

The webinar will discuss the importance of networked approach and standardization as vehicle to foster urban development, innovation and entrepreneurship in cities. It will inform the audience about OASC, operational model of such networked approach and engage them to join forces with the initiative.

he vision of Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC) initiative is to create an open smart city market based on the needs of cities and communities (http://connectedsmartcities.eu/open-and-agile-smart-cities/). OASC is contributing to the European and worldwide need of a common Smart Cities framework. A common framework of standards is essential for the creation of a market that enables communities to turn the benefit of new technologies into jobs and growth in urban environment. Deployment of innovative but replicable solutions will increase the competitiveness of businesses, foster competition through avoidance of vendor lock-in (competition), and enable widespread participation of citizens in the service development. Besides improving services offered by cities, such approach can foster PPP and community engagement in every city. PPP approach is build-in to the OASC through partnership established with global FIWARE accelerator program currently rolling out in cities in the EU and Latin America.

The webinar will discuss the importance of networked approach and standardization as vehicle to foster urban development, innovation and entrepreneurship in cities. It will inform the audience about OASC, operational model of such networked approach and engage them to join forces with the initiative.

A suggested agenda for environmental management and sector policies for promoting environmentally sustainable urbanization in China.

This series is based on the joint report by the World Bank and the Development Research Center of China’s State Council, Urban China: Toward Efficient, Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization.

This lecture is part of the Adaptive Leadership module of the e-Learning course on Innovative Business Models.

Tech hubs are public spaces for innovation, generally with a strong interdisciplinary atmosphere and a mixture between offering a stimulating place for professional work activities, promoting the emergence of new and innovative businesses, and exploring innovative societal organizations for work itself. Common features include: the symbolic value of the physical space, openness to the participation of any interested party, and the promotion of new businesses and/or business partnerships. Innovation hubs are a powerful tool for promoting citizen engagement and entrepreneurial creativity in a way that offers strong visibility as part of the urban fabric, allowing a city to position itself as ‘open to innovation’ but also officials to learn and to connect with citizens. This webinar is created in partnership with GTIDR and GSURR.

Historically, Schumpeterian developmental agencies at the periphery of the public sector have facilitated rapid restructuring by engaging in continuous, radical policy experimentation. During this presentation, Dr. Breznitz will argue that these development agencies are less likely to emerge in an increasing politicized environment. Endowing agencies with the authority and resources to administer cutting edge programs enables them to positively influence public and private sector routines, but reduces the likelihood that they develop transformative new initiatives. By contrast, reducing an agency’s profile and resources to the point where it has the flexibility to develop radically new ideas risks marginalizing it within national policy debates.

After briefly reviewing the history of the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development and the Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist, Dr. Breznitz will focus on the performance of three newly established innovation agencies, Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovative Systems (VINNOVA) and Ireland’s Policy Advisory Board for Enterprise and Science (Forfás).

This webinar seeks to look at the public and private perspectives on PPP procurement in India.

Public-Private Partnerships have been seen as an important form of procurement for the delivery of services across sectors in several emerging markets globally. However, developing and bidding out PPPs continues to be expensive for governments. Similarly, the bidding process entails substantial risk in terms of investment of time and money by the bidders in the pre-procurement and procurement processes, including the costs of development of project design and technical parameters as well as the often complicated legal and financial documentation.

Speakers: Shyamala Shukla (Moderator)

Senior Consultant, Infrastructure Finance and PPP, The World Bank, Athar Shahab

Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure and Real Estate, Vedanta Group, and Anand Srivastava

Senior Procurement Specialist, The World Bank