Enhancing the resilience, accessibility, and sustainability of infrastructure assets in developing countries along the Belt and Road initiative in support of the 2030 Agenda
Reference
PDF-SDG-2021-03
Implementing Entity/ies
UNDESA, UNCDF, UNOPS
Collaborating Partners
UNDP, UN-HABITAT, ECA, ECLAC, ESCAP, UNEP
Duration
February 2022 – January 2025
Location
Costa Rica, Gambia, Kenya, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nepal, Tanzania
Approved Budget
$ 2,183,936
Description
Infrastructure asset management is an often neglected but critical part of local and national governments budget, as well as a key component of public finance. Ensuring that such infrastructure assets deliver sustainable, crisis resilient and accessible services for all over their entire lifespan is key for sustainable development. Almost all developing countries will be beneficiaries of large-scale infrastructure investment in support of the Belt and Road initiative, with hundreds of billions of US dollars targeted towards upgrading a wide range of infrastructure assets. It is therefore imperative that central and local governments officials in these beneficiary countries are prepared to plan and budget for the financial, human and material resources to manage infrastructure assets sustainably over their lifespan. The key challenge is that in many developing countries governments have fallen short in allocating public resources towards capital-intensive infrastructure projects, including resources, materials and skills needed to sustainably manage existing infrastructure assets. The trend has been exacerbated over the last two years, as COVID-19 not only reversed years of progress on the SDGs, but also exposed critical infrastructure gaps.
Against this background, the project aims to enhance the resilience, accessibility, and sustainability of infrastructure assets in developing countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. It will do so through raising the awareness and building the capacity of central and local government officials on how to design and implement effective Infrastructure Asset Management (IAM) to ensure that infrastructure assets support inclusive, affordable and sustainable essential public services over their entire lifespan. It also aims to build capacity at the level of central and local governments on how to promote an effective IAM enabling environment through improved national policy, regulatory and legislative frameworks.
Against this background, the project aims to enhance the resilience, accessibility, and sustainability of infrastructure assets in developing countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. It will do so through raising the awareness and building the capacity of central and local government officials on how to design and implement effective Infrastructure Asset Management (IAM) to ensure that infrastructure assets support inclusive, affordable and sustainable essential public services over their entire lifespan. It also aims to build capacity at the level of central and local governments on how to promote an effective IAM enabling environment through improved national policy, regulatory and legislative frameworks.