CDB to host road sector institutional reform workshop

Senior level representatives from public sector institutions involved in the transportation and road infrastructure sector in the Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs) of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) are to attend a Road Sector Institutional Reform Workshop at the Bank’s Headquarters in Barbados on December 1 and 2, 2011.{{more}} The workshop will facilitate discussions on organisational effectiveness and efficiencies, and their impact on the ability to deliver services that are responsive to road user needs. It will also provide a platform for understanding and responding to common institutional problems.

The road transport sector is a vital pillar supporting economic development in CDB’s BMCs. Despite the large investment in the sector, BMCs continue to face significant difficulties in adequately operating and maintaining their networks. One of the foremost issues is the provision of sufficient funding. Given the scarce resources available in the current economic climate, there is pressing need for road sector agencies to adopt approaches that provide most effective and efficient means to deliver results.

Recognising the strategic importance of high-level discussions on this issue, the Bank has organised a workshop which aims to improve the delivery of road user services by educating relevant policy makers in improved and more corporatized institutional arrangements. The forum will expose the participants to modern concepts for institutional structures and management, and assist them with suitable analysis techniques to identify appropriate resources and implementation mechanisms to transform their organisations.

The forum will build on previous CDB initiatives that focused on changing the approach to managing road infrastructure in the BMCs. These include Regional Road Maintenance Workshops held at its Headquarters in December 2008, and in St. Lucia in 2009. CDB is currently utilising the outcomes of those workshops to inform its project designs and capacity-building measures for road sector projects in its BMCs.