Transport operations policy

The Transport Operations Policy sets out the general strategic and operational role of the Bank in this sector and establishes the overall framework for the Bank’s activities. Approved by the Board of Directors on 19 April 2005, this is be the third such policy, and replaces the document approved in February 1997.

The Transport sector is crucial for the development of the economies and markets of our countries of operation and is therefore an important sector for the Bank. 

The policy notes the continuing likelihood of a higher volume of transport commitments in the state sector than in the private sector, owing to the difficulty of monetising the benefits of transport infrastructure and the capacity of the state to finance large transport projects. It is expected, however, that in terms of annual business volume the volume of non-sovereign transactions will grow faster than the sovereign one. In addition, there will, however, be an increase in the number of public sector non-sovereign and private sector transactions, as our countries of operation adopt public private partnership structures and commercial interest increases in the Advanced Transition Countries.

The policy re-affirms the key role of an efficient transport sector in the operation of regional markets, as the drive to integration of national economies continues. The Bank will continue to cooperate with the EU on the development of the Trans-European Network corridors and implementation of regional initiatives, such as the REBIS (Regional Balkans Infrastructure Study) initiative in the Western Balkans and the TRACECA (Transport Corridor, Europe - Caucasus-Asia) initiative in Central Asia and the Caucasus.  Continuing co-operation with other IFIs, such as the EIB, International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group and the regional development banks is also a feature of our strategic approach. Environmental issues arising from developments in transport have been highlighted and the Bank will continue to cooperate also with other IFIs in seeking to address these issues in the most appropriate manner.

As the Bank’s countries of operation make the transition towards fully functioning market economies, the channels of achieving transition also change. In countries where the reform process is most advanced, the strength of demonstration impact and enhancing access to markets becomes greater. In such countries, the Bank will increasingly undertake projects primarily on the basis of demonstration impact. The market will assess the success of these innovative transactions and replicate those which show promise. 

In countries which have not reached an advanced stage in the reform process, institutional and regulatory development will continue to be the principle focus of transition. For state-owned clients undergoing commercialisation and restructuring, the Bank recognises an ongoing need to reinforce transition over a series of transactions. This is because of the complexity of the reform process, which takes time to achieve, and the consequent need to maintain momentum over time in its reform dialogue with clients and governments.

There have been substantial changes in the nature of the transition which can be achieved in the Transport sector since the elaboration of the Transport Operations Policy of 1997. For this reason, a new structure has been adopted for the policy, which seeks to highlight the evolution of the transition process in the sector.

The policy addresses these changes and puts forward an approach consistent with the Bank’s transition mandate, which is sufficiently flexible to accommodate more widely varying economic circumstances arising as a result of differing speeds of transition within our countries of operation.

A reference to the Bank activities in shipping and shipyards has been added to this document, taking into account that the financing of these facilities is in the perimeter of the activities exercised by the transport team. The full developed strategy for this sub-sector has already been submitted and approved by the Board on 23 October 2001.