Infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean: Recent Developments and Key Challenges (Directions in Development: Infrastructure)

Many Latin American and Caribbean countries have spent too little on transport systems, water, sanitation, and electricity, which has hampered growth, competitiveness, and poverty reduction. Governments, overestimating the promise of private sector participation, tried to off-load too much responsibility for infrastructure financing and management, especially in the 1990s. The result has been dashed hopes, insufficient improvement in public services, and a widespread backlash against privatization. Nonetheless, progress has been made and important lessons learned.

'Infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean' explores the extraordinary transformations that have shaped infrastructure in the region over the past 15 years. It delves into the need for appropriate and responsible investment in infrastructure; examines the crucial role that governments must play in infrastructure financing, oversight, and provision; and encourages efforts to appropriately engage the private sector. In addition, it emphasizes the need for infrastructure policy to be sensitive to the social and political context. The recommendations made will be of special interest to policy makers, academics, and infrastructure professionals and investors.