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The role of the public sector in the provision of economic infrastructure in the post independence Commonwealth Caribbean has been rooted both in tradition inherited from the pre-independence colonial practice, and in the political effort in the period just before and after independence to evolve and implement a philosophy for social and economic progress. This essay reviews some aspects of the paths pursued by governments of the Region since independence, and analyses the main issues of public sector performance on the roles assumed, thereby drawing attention to possible lessons from the Region's experience on economic infrastructure. The approach taken herein is to provide as far as possible, a positive analysis (what was, what is, and what will be) rather than normative (what ought to be), in keeping with the allocation of preparatory work for the 1996 meeting of the Caribbean Group for Cooperation in Economic Development (CGCED).

It is well documented that road infrastructure is an important catalyst of the South African economy because of the interchange of people, goods and services which are dependent upon transport. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived impact of public sector leadership on road infrastructure service delivery. A qualitative methodology approach was employed using a purposive sampling technique. Twenty, in-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted with respondents from both the public and private sectors. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and the findings of this research indicate that public sector leadership is ineffective in driving road infrastructure development. The results also suggest that the lack of accountability and corruption hinders the delivery of infrastructure.

The social sector in many developing countries is not keeping pace with what is needed to promote growth. As this sector is underdeveloped and government resources dwindling, new ideas and strategies such as partnerships are urgently needed. The social sector in developing economies may work better by establishing partnerships between private and public actors. At different stages of economic development, various needs and demands are made on the public sector. However, the answers are not simply the introduction across the board of privatisation or market mechanisms to the provision of social services. Instead, the public and the private sectors have common goals and partnerships can take advantage of the separate strengths of each to achieve those.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As Hurricane Katrina so forcefully demonstrated, the nation's critical infrastructures--both physical and cyber--have been vulnerable to a wide variety of threats. Because about 85 percent of the nation's critical infrastructure is privately owned, it is vital that public and private stakeholders work together to protect these assets. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is responsible for coordinating a national protection strategy and has promoted the formation of government and private councils for the 17 infrastructure sectors as a collaborating tool. The councils, among other things, are to identify their most critical assets, assess the risks they face, and identify protective measures in sector-specific plans that comply with DHS's National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP). This testimony is based primarily on GAO's July 2007 report on the sector-specific plans and the sector councils. Specifically, it addresses (1) the extent to which the sector-specific plans meet requirements, (2) the council members' views on the value of the plans and DHS's review process, and (3) the key success factors and challenges that the representatives encountered in establishing and maintaining their councils. In conducting the previous work, GAO reviewed 9 of the 17 draft plans and conducted interviews with government and private sector representatives of the 32 councils, 17 government and 15 private sector."

In view of the importance of managing assets and the lack of research in managing assets in the infrastructure sector, we develop an asset management model in this study. This model is developed in line with the unique characteristics of the infrastructure assets and asset management principles and criteria. In the proposed model, we consider activities at three levels, namely the strategical, tactical and operational levels. The interviews with experts in asset management and officials in several Dutch organizations have proven the potential of our asset management model.

Intro -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- About the Authors -- Abbreviations -- Prologue: The Delhi Noida Toll Bridge -- 1 Infrastructure and Public-Private Partnerships: Overview and Key Issues -- 1 Infrastructure and PPPs-An Overview -- 1.1 Infrastructure Deficit in Developing Countries -- 1.2 Who Should Provide Infrastructure -- 1.3 How Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) Can Help -- 1.4 Not Always a Perfect Solution -- 1.4.1 Renegotiation of Long-Term Infrastructure Contracts -- 2 What Lies Ahead-The Plan for the Rest of the Book -- Infrastructure PPPs-Concepts and Evidence -- 2 Infrastructure Challenges -- 1 Defining Infrastructure -- 2 Infrastructure Characteristics -- 2.1 Lumpy with Large Upfront Investments -- 2.2 High Sunk Costs -- 2.3 Long Gestation Period -- 2.4 Long Payback Period -- 2.5 Public Planning, an Important Aspect -- 2.6 Natural Monopoly Characteristics -- 2.7 Non-tradability of Output -- 2.8 Large Externalities -- 2.9 Interconnected System -- 2.10 Some Public Good Characteristics -- 3 Infrastructure and Development -- 3.1 The Infrastructure-Competitiveness Connection -- 4 Supply and Demand of Infrastructure Around the World -- 4.1 Investment in Infrastructure -- 4.2 Distribution Between Public and Private Infrastructure Investment Worldwide -- 4.3 Infrastructure Deficit -- 4.4 High-Cost Infrastructure -- 5 Who Funds Infrastructure-A Quick Survey of Recent History -- 5.1 Private Participation was Important in Nineteenth Century and the First Half of the Twentieth Century -- 5.2 Widespread Nationalization of Infrastructure After World War II Till Early 1980s -- 5.3 Full Circle-Back to Private Provision of Infrastructure -- 6 The Rationale and Challenges of Public Funding of Infrastructure -- 6.1 Residents' Quality of Life -- 6.2 Macroeconomic Stimulus -- 6.3 Concerns About Natural Monopoly

International audience ; In line with a number of other countries, Norway has decided to base their ICT solutions in the public sector on a common ICT architecture. This article discusses some challenges related to this work. The theoretical basis for the discussions is our understanding of information infrastructures, which we claim offers a fruitful perspective to the building of ICT architectures. Of particular relevance is its installed base: the history of technical and non-technical components that determines its further development. We argue that an ICT architecture for the public sector should be seen as an important element of a government information infrastructure. However, it has to be adapted to other principles and fulfil a wider range of needs than traditional types of infrastructures, including the specific political, regulatory and organizational context that it targets.

Infrastructure policy is of the utmost significance for economic improvement, & should be given full attention, especially in developing countries. One of the main problems is the lack of funds required to put infrastructure programs into practice. This problem should be solved by providing high quality infrastructure, which results in large investments. In the case of India, different investment models (voluntary, coalition, & partnership) have been put into practice to deal with funding problems. The Sustainable Cities Programme supported by the UN Development Programme is an example of one of the best models of public-private partnership in infrastructure development. Applied in the city of Chennai in India, it required the involvement of both the public & private sectors, as well as community organizations, in order to achieve successful results. Circumstances in India appear favorable for the government to carry out a determined policy of infrastructure investment. 4 References. Adapted from the source document.