Editorial: Understanding funding and financing of transportation infrastructure

Investment in transport infrastructure is under pressure. On the one hand, the need for maintaining and/or replacing existing assets as well as building new ones is higher than ever. On the other hand, funding either for maintaining existing assets or building new ones, is severely constrained. Earlier literature proposed to combine all the above factors in the form of indicators that can describe the elements of the transport infrastructure delivery system. At the heart of this system lies the business model, which generates funding and attracts financing. System elements are drawn and kept together by the efficiency and flexibility of their contractual governance. An important element that determines the overall functionality of the system is the contextual setting: the implementation and transport mode contexts. This special issue brings together multiple research contributions that showcase the importance of understanding the funding and financing characteristics of transport infrastructure. A key common conclusion is that success or failure is not dependent on a single factor but rather a group of factors, which are not the same for all targeted outcomes. All papers, in their analysis of respective factors, identify “turning points” in their positive or negative effect on project performance

Development and introduction of the Filariasis Test Strip: A new diagnostic test for the Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis

A key component to achieving the global goal of elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) is the availability of appropriate tools for disease mapping, monitoring, and surveillance. However, the development of these tools for a neglected disease such as LF can be a challenge. The lack of a commercial market and low familiarity with these diseases leave little incentive for diagnostic manufacturers to invest in this space. The Filarial Test Strip (FTS) development story provides a case study on how a multi-stakeholder, public-private partnership model facilitated the development, evaluation, and introduction of a new monitoring and surveillance tool for LF. This paper will reflect on the experience with the FTS and document the process from development of the target product profile to adoption and scale-up in country programs. Lessons learned from both the successes and challenges experienced during this process may help inform future efforts to develop and introduce new diagnostic or surveillance tools for neglected diseases

Connecting the dots in infrastructure development and management: The Africa agenda for new innovation

It is widely accepted that the growth and prosperity of nations is dependent on economic infrastructure. Infrastructure is constituted by cyber-physical systems that enable communications (e.g. postal, telephone and internet) as well as transportation (e.g. road, water, air), energy (e.g. electricity and gas) and other utilities (e.g. drinking water and waste) (Chandler, 1977; NAO, 2013). It provides the basis for economic growth and prosperity through the provision of essential services that enable economic and social activity. As a result, it delivers significant benefits, both directly through the services it delivers, and indirectly through the impact of those services on the rest of the economy (Nightingale et al 2016). However, these benefits come at a cost. Infrastructure is expensive to build, operate and maintain. The provision of infrastructure involves degradation and the consumption of natural ecosystems, displacement of local communities, CO_{2} emissions, noise and pollution. Infrastructure is typically long-lived and the costs of poor choices and mistakes can affect future generations. This is especially prominent with politically motivated infrastructure investment decisions, which have a lifespan that coincides with electoral cycles. To complicate matters further, the costs and benefits of infrastructure provision fall unequally across society in a way that benefits a minority (usually local to the area of infrastructure development) although the distribution of costs are more widely spread (for example in investments funded by taxes) (ibid). In this context, infrastructure investment decisions are not only complex they are inherently political

Clone of RE: ELA administration

interview with the BOG Director of Financial Stability about several topics related to the design and implementation of ELA in Greec

Follow-up Interview

follow-up interview with the BOG Director of Financial Stability about solvency assessment and ELA bureaucratic processe