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Infrastructure and Public Utility Regulation
Increasingly, a country's infrastructure endowments are viewed as a contributing element to overall economic competitiveness. Questions related to competition in providing electricity, water, and information and communications technology services influence the attractiveness of a site for foreign and local investors. Key aspects related to governmental policies on infrastructure and public utilities include the need for transparency and public oversight of utility rates in order to ensure cost-recovery, but at the same time also to ensure competition at rates sufficiently low as to encourage expansion of demand. The treatment of the provision of infrastructure and public utility services in free trade zones is also coming under greater scrutiny. As key components of the "enabling environment" for economic growth, competitiveness in infrastructure and public utility services can reinforce a country's other natural advantages.
AIRD experience in this area relates to the following specialty areas:
- Electricity pool integration
- Rural electrification
- Irrigation and river basin management
- Regulatory policies and institutions
- Information and communications technology
- Free trade zones
Recent Activities:
Senior Economist Daniel Plunkett has supported the development of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) since its inception in 1999. Plunkett provides institutional support to the ECOWAS Executive Secretariat and the WAPP member states, including economic analysis and power pool modeling in collaboration with Purdue University.
AIRD President and Chief Economist, Dirck Stryker, has worked in the field of irrigation and river basin management for 30 years. He has played a key role in analyzing the financial and economic viability of irrigation systems in the Senegal River Basin, the Office du Niger in Mali, and Madagascar.
In the Information and Communications Technology Sector, AIRD has undertaken policy analyses on the industry’s present and potential contribution to the building of capacity for trade in developing countries. Recent studies include a case study on ICT for trade capacity building in Mali and Uganda, as well as a USTDA financed field mission in Guatemala to asses its ICT sector’s development needs facing entry into a Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States.
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