Basic infrastructure is critical to reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Over 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 a day. One point six billion people lack access to electricity and 1.1 billion lack access to clean water. Infrastructure development is one of the greatest needs of the developing world. The recognition of the types of infrastructure projects that are successful at eliminating poverty is critical to determining the projects that the IFIs should fund.
Bank Information Center
Mararaba, Cameroon. October 2005
Infrastructure is by far the largest sector financed by the IFIs. Infrastructure lending in 2005 amounted to US$20.2 billion representing about 45% of overall IFI assistance. The ADB in particular invests heavily in infrastructure at close to 60% of overall lending. The World Bank still accounts for 43% of overall IFI infrastructure commitments with the ADB and IDB at about 20% each.
Infrastructure services refer to more than just bricks-and-mortar investments. Infrastructure services can also be provided through policy and institutional reforms such as creating an enabling environment to transfer irrigation management from the state to village-level water user organizations or instituting demand-side management regulations for energy consumption.
BIC works with local communities in order to promote more sustainable and democratized approaches to infrastructure development. BIC’s greatest infrastructure work is currently focused on the Initiative for Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA). IIRSA proposes a series of large-scale, high-risk and debt-heavy mega-projects that would result in extensive alterations to landscapes and livelihoods in the region. In response to IIRSA, BIC has created a project called Building Informed Civic Engagement for Conservation in the Andes-Amazon (BICECA). This project aims to support CSOs that want to analyze and influence economic integration projects and policies in the Andes-Amazon in order to help protect the biological and cultural diversity of the region.