CoST, the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative, has recently introduced the Infrastructure Transparency Index (ITI) in Asian countries, as a tool that can be useful in order to make public infrastructure projects transparent and improve the quality of life of citizens.

The ITI was presented to a group of key stakeholders to provide them with detailed information on how this tool serves to enhance accountability in public infrastructure.

The ITI measures the levels of transparency in procuring entities managing infrastructure projects by applying the evaluation  methodology presented in a CoST Manual.

The methodology for calculating a score can be applied  in a national or sub-national context to different procuring entities. The individual scores are then used to generate a ranking that compares the evaluated procuring entities. It is based on the enabling conditions for strengthening transparency in the sector plus the transparency-related practices applied on recently completed infrastructure projects.

One of the main goals of the ITI is to interpret transparency in a broad and practical sense, not only by looking at it through the traditional lens of access to information, but also by considering associated enablers, barriers and capacities. These include citizen participation that leads to the creation of public value through access to information.

Its adoption by governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) could have a significant positive impact. Also, this work will support the outcome of the programmes on improving transparency and integrity policies and practices by government and businesses.

Thanks to Clara Feng for supporting in the translation of these messages.

Indonesian

 

Malay

 

Thai

 

Filipino

 

Vietnamese

The media plays a great role in information dissemination, but often times journalists are put to blame either because their publications are “lacking” or they are “subjective”. CoST believes that the media is player in advancing infrastructure transparency and accountability and without which, our multi-stakeholder arrangement will be incomplete.

In this blog, CoST Uganda Manager and Africa Regional Manager, Olive Kabatwairwe reflects on the how CoST Uganda has built the capacity of journalist, civil society and key associations providing training and mentorship on thematic issues in influencing infrastructure transparency.

CoST Uganda initiated its infrastructure journalism journey way back in August 2017 following the dissemination of the First Assurance Report. The idea was to help the programme identify those journalists who had interest in infrastructure reporting and documentation, information sharing and advocacy.

Broadly, the initiative was aimed at increasing media presence in the infrastructure sector, but also, change the narrative that existed by then regarding the quality of journalistic pieces which were unresearched, subjective and at times associated with complaints with less solutions to the sector. As the interest in infrastructure journalism grows to greater heights, the invite by ACME was handy to engage with selected journalists from the South West, North, East, Central and Eastern regions of Uganda.

We wanted journalists who are not driven by “money” to do infrastructure journalism but are driven by “passion” to see a better infrastructure across the country. We have had massive turn up of the journalists in all our public events, our reports findings are always in the media for at least 30 days.’

Uganda invests about 32.8% of the Government’s total annual expenditure, while public procurement takes approximately 60% of the annual national budget according to the World Bank. Uganda is operating at an infrastructure deficit of about US$1.4 billion a year, with a loss of nearly US$300 million per year lost in inefficient infrastructure spending, under-pricing, and project variations. CoST asserts that, informed citizens and responsive public institutions can help drive reforms that reduce mismanagement, poor infrastructure and inefficiency.

The role of all stakeholders in influencing reforms on how infrastructure projects are planned, prepared, procured, implemented and maintained is critical to the realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with focus on Goal 9; industry, innovation and infrastructure, Goal 6; Clean Water and Sanitation among others.

I recently gave a talk to 15 journalists from across the five regions of Uganda at the Africa Centre for Media Excellence (ACME). The training session with the journalists was an opportunity for us to speak about CoST, the core features and the value of CoST work with journalists. It also allowed us to broaden the discussion to what kind of information the journalists can request for, from whom, and what information is freely available online with the Access to Information Law 2005 and Regulations 2011.

Journalists were also cautioned on writing right with a critical look at the facets of a good story with focus on planning, data sourcing, analysis and presentation phases. I was able to share examples of platforms where journalists can access data to inform their journalistic pieces such as the Government Procurement Portal which had been aligned to the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard (OC4IDS) and the latest published Infrastructure Transparency Index by CoST Uganda.

One journalist at the ACME session said, ‘’I often write articles on infrastructure projects but, my challenge has been lacking of information. I have had challenges getting information, but officials are non-responsive to requests and soon the story is not newsworthy anymore due to delays in receipt of information. I also do not comprehend the procurement process. The training helped me understand where I can quickly access information and how to engage officials to get timely information.”

During the ACME media session, the journalists appreciated that they had been writing without properly investigating projects. In addition, they were not asking the right questions, not approaching the right respondents, were asking for information from the wrong sources and did not understand the right to information law/ let alone, the Access to Information Request Form.

Journalists also did less literature reviews which affected the quality of stories they published. Some of them acknowledged that they often produced journalistic pieces to meet their contractual obligations (number of articles, news submitted to their employers which often times affected their career growth) and had less focus on influencing reforms and actions on issues raised. Others wrote to break the news but with less evidence to influence action. Journalists also appreciated that engaging in the infrastructure sector calls for concerted efforts, dedication and an understanding of the various phases an infrastructure project goes through. And that, they ought to go to investigate with the right information to inform acquisition of the right results.

At the end of the session, the journalists committed to specializing (with more emphasis) on infrastructure transparency and accountability journalism, they committed to writing to influence and not the writing to inform alone. We are thrilled to see a team of committed Ugandans who are interested in investigating how public infrastructure projects are planned, procured, implemented and maintained and are focused at influencing reforms that improve the quality of infrastructure.

Reflecting on the training, one of the journalist said ‘’I work with several media houses and my target is to submit a story to each every day, I rarely focus on the quality because all I need is to raise the required number of articles. But with this training, I am re-thinking my approach and determined to do more research to publish more informative and influential stories’.’

In conclusion engagements with journalists such as the one with ACME’s team of journalists have enabled us to:

1. Promote CoST and its core features of Disclosure, Assurance, Multi-Stakeholder Working and Social Accountability to a wider coverage of journalists thereby building an informed team of writers and reporters on infrastructure transparency.
2. Raise awareness of the need for increased transparency, accountability and citizens participation in public infrastructure delivery processes.
3. Raise awareness of the platforms, materials and tools the media can use to inform their journalistic pieces including those designed and developed by CoST such as the Infrastructure Transparency Index, the OC4IDS/IDS, The Infrastructure Monitoring Tool and the various Government platforms such as the Government Procurement Portal, the Electronic the Government Procurement Portal, the Budget website among others.
4. Increase the number of journalists interested in and reporting on infrastructure projects performance. This has helped us build a team of journalists whom we collaborate with following our mentorship programme.
5. Improvements in the quality of journalistic pieces on infrastructure projects with a shift from writing subjective pieces to being objective seeking to provide a solution to the issues and challenges identified. Journalists are also shifting to writing well researched and evidence based investigative stories.

 

In 2021, we pushed out new technology, guidance, publications and showcased the work of our members in achieving change. Below some of these achievements are summarised in a collection of our top-read news items.

1. City of Bogotá kicks off CoST membership with public commitment to open government

In March the City of Bogotá joined CoST and this feature outlines the public announcement of the programme, hosted by the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá. During the launch the city committed to publishing information on eight major projects including Bogotá’s first metro line, a long-delayed project which will transport up to 72,000 passengers per hour.

2. CoST Annual Report 2020: Delivering impact in ever-changing realities

As Covid-19 took the world by storm in 2020, CoST members across 19 countries were forced to think creatively about how to deliver the initiative. This article summarised our Annual Report 2020, showing the diverse ways programmes adapted and delivered impact – from increased monitoring of Covid-19 healthcare facilities to reconstruction projects built after natural disasters.

3. The results of our flagship tool, the Infrastructure Transparency Index

A year after we launched our Infrastructure Transparency Index in 2020, five CoST countries have implemented the tool and published very different results. Our third top-read page in 2021 summarises the results from those countries. Ukraine and Honduras produced higher national scores in the 60s (out of 100) whilst Uganda and Sekondi-Takoradi produced scores in the 20s. When drilling further down across the ‘four dimensions’ of the index, some countries saw wide differences in their scores, such as Costa Rica who scored 30.40 in the enabling environment for transparency dimension against 67.2 in the data publication dimension.

4. Our continued commitment to gender equality

In September we published guidance on mainstreaming gender equality in infrastructure. Being a top read post during the year gives a sturdy indication of the interest in the guidance not only for CoST members but for other similar initiatives. Accompanying the piece, we spoke with CoST Board Observer, Manuela Di Mauro on her experience and challenges faced as a female entering the profession.

5. Lessons shared from heightening PPP transparency in Honduras

A final piece of note here is our post summarising the lessons learnt from monitoring Public-Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure contracts in Honduras. Our experience in Honduras led to institutional reform and the end of a poor-quality project which would have cost the government US$517 million. The lessons are particularly pertinent as countries build back from the economic crisis and may see PPP projects as an alluring offer. Without transparency and scrutiny they can come with massive risk.

 

In recent months we have seen infrastructure jump to the forefront of the geo-political map following the announcement of the G7’s Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative and the launch of the Blue Dot Network. The initiatives clearly represent a welcome opportunity to raise the standard of integrity and the quality of infrastructure on issues that have historically not been addressed, such as labour standards.

The initiatives build on the G20’s Quality Infrastructure Investment Principles (QII) which underpin a desire to improve the quality of infrastructure investment and reduce the risks for ‘bankable’ privately financed infrastructure projects. Whilst each of the six principles are vital, we were especially excited to see Principle 6 – Strengthening Infrastructure Governance included.

In this blog, we focus on how CoST contributes to this principle before demonstrating how it intends to broaden its contribution towards improving the integrity and quality of infrastructure investments by developing new tools that integrate environmental and social considerations (principles 3 and 5).

QII Principle 6: Strengthening infrastructure governance

For over a decade CoST has emphasised that the world’s infrastructure finance gap (estimated at approximately US$ 3.3 trillion per year to 2030) can be reduced by tackling waste and corruption in the sector. The IMF estimates that each time an infrastructure project is built an average of 30% is lost to inefficiencies. Even reducing this waste to 20 or 25% would produce savings in the billions would fund vital roads, energy plants, ICT networks and schools.

CoST has seen first-hand how improving transparency, participation and accountability provides a framework to safeguard infrastructure integrity. CoST data publication standards, Infratech solutions such as open data platforms and its training of government officials have been critical to see data published on over 60,000 infrastructure investments across CoST member countries. Evidence from Thailand indicates that such transparency and public scrutiny itself can have a deterrent effect, reducing bid prices for construction contracts, leading to estimated savings of close to US$ 500 million.

A CoST analysis of data from 300 individual investments across ten CoST member countries showed that poor project preparation has a significant impact on project delays and cost increases. Furthermore, it is often considered a key barrier to attracting private finance due to the risks and uncertainties associated with preparation aspects such as feasibility studies, financing models and design and site surveys.

This was illustrated by a recent CoST learning paper that highlighted the weaknesses in Coalianza – a unit established to oversee the delivery of 25 public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in Honduras. CoST Honduras raised awareness on these weaknesses such as poor management and distorted incentives for carrying out project appraisals, leading to the close of Coalianza in 2019 and the establishment of a new efficient body in its place. CoST Honduras’s work promoting transparency on these projects, including through the use of its PPP data platform SISOCS APP, also helped to improve environmental and social outcomes for seaports and changes to the financing of an economically unviable road project. Going forward, our plans to integrate the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard (OC4IDS) into SISOCS APP open source will allow investors to use the unique project reference number to track progress as it goes through each stage of the infrastructure project life-cycle, helping to reduce the risks and potential uncertainties.

We also have ambitious plans for our Infrastructure Transparency Index to further its ability to strengthen infrastructure governance. To date the results from initial CoST countries implementing the index have highlighted the strengths and weaknesses in their enabling environments for transparency in their contexts. The first step will be to present compelling visualisations of the results online so users can deep dive into the data, compare the performance of procuring entities, infrastructure sub-sectors and countries. Beyond that the skies are the limit – now rolled out across several diverse contexts – the index can be rapidly scaled up and applied beyond CoST members to enhance its global application measuring infrastructure governance.

Critical to achieving change is to engage a broad range of stakeholders – communities, local businesses, the media and others – who can discuss and identify solutions to the issues found in the data disclosed on projects. CoST engagement has included training journalists in Ethiopia, holding public radio debates in Malawi, facilitating community meetings in Thailand, empowering young people to monitor water and sanitation projects in Guatemala and convening government and the private sector to improve business integrity in Uganda.

These measures have resulted in numerous positive impacts including integrating road safety, waste management and flood alleviation measures into investments in Uganda, repairing poor quality roads and bridges in Ukraine and redesigning and allocating additional funding to ensure a new cancer hospital was built to international standards in Malawi.

Multi-Stakeholder Groups (MSGs) where government, the private sector and civil society collaborate in this reform have been critical to the introduction of these improvements, encouraging decision-makers to act on the evidence, respond to citizens’ concerns and drive institutional reforms that help to Raise Economic Efficiency in View of Life-Cycle Cost (Principle 2).

QII Principles 3 and 5: Integrating environmental and social considerations

In recent years CoST members have been pushing the envelope, taking innovate approaches to integrate environmental and social considerations (Principle 3 and Principle 5) into their approach. For example, CoST Honduras developed an award-winning prototype known as InfraS that analyses data from infrastructure investments to identify risks from environmental, social, economic and institutional perspectives.

CoST is committed to further integrating these considerations into its approach so that they are made transparent and accountable throughout the entire investment cycle. To do this we will work with our partners at the Open Contracting Partnership to develop the OC4IDS by adding new data points to capture social and environmental data.

We will also upgrade InfraS, allowing for the integration and analysis of different data sets to better understand the role of environmental and land use in disaster prevention as well as the impact on vulnerable and disadvantaged areas. Importantly, we will update the open-source code of the tool to allow its reuse by interested CoST members and partners.

We believe that by building on our work across principles 3 and 5 and maintaining our position as a leading initiative improving principle 6 we can help to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and pressing global issues such as shrinking civic space, gender inequality and climate change. Through this approach we can play a key role in contributing to overarching Principle 1 – maximising the positive impact of infrastructure to achieve sustainable growth and development. However we do require investment to do this. We therefore welcome discussion with those who share our values so that in partnership we can improve the quality of infrastructure investment worldwide.

Keep an eye out for our next blog which will look at the B3W initiative and Blue Dot Network more closely and assess their potential impact.