Conference Report (PDF)
The World Bank Group hosted its second International Conference on Sustainable Development through Quality Infrastructure Investment (QII) February 2nd and 3rd, 2017, co-hosted by the Government of Japan. Over 150 practitioners from governments, international organizations, private sector and academia participated in the conference.
Infrastructure not only a critical component for the obtainment of economic growth and shared prosperity it also shapes the structure and location of economic activities, and the comparative advantage of countries, regions, and cities. Investment in infrastructure, if done correctly, fosters economic growth in myriad ways, through increases in trade, capital and labor productivity, economies of scale, and mobility. Fully reaping these benefits requires significant planning and coordination across geographic and administrative boundaries.
The first QII Conference, organized in January last year, successfully promulgated the definition and value proposition of the concept of QII which extols: Economic Efficiency; Safety; Environmental & Social Sustainability; Economic & Social Contribution; and Resilience against Natural Disaster.
With the aim of advancing the concept of QII from concept to implementation at scale, the 2nd QII conference program focused on addressing key challenges to the broad adoption of QII specifically looking at financing mechanisms, procurement frameworks, urban resilience, urban development, social inclusion and overcoming inherent inter-jurisdictional challenges with many infrastructure projects.
“The main objective of this conference is to move from concept to details. QII is not about good infrastructure and bad infrastructure, it is a spectrum of possible choices,” stressed Ede Jorge Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director of the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice. “Quality Infrastructure cannot be achieved by looking at a single project. We must look at the network of infrastructures.”
The 2nd QII Conference additionally focused on two new key aspects of developing issues- territorial development and maintenance aspects of QII, where Japan offers tremendous experience. Both aspects are increasingly recognized in developing countries, as critical aspects of sustainable development through QII.
Takeshi Mugishima, Assistant Vice-Minister of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) explained that the country development goes through different stages, and each stage has different requirements. Territorial development policies in Japan were heavily driven by the need to manage growth and balance spatial disparities of prosperity in light of changing socio-economic conditions of each era. It was also stressed that public-private collaboration played a key role in Japan’s successful infrastructure development.
Operation and maintenance has been a key factor of infrastructure development in Japan. Koichi Maekawa, Professor of Graduate School of Engineering at University of Tokyo stressed the importance of sustainability of infrastructure and explained that scaling up QII through front loading at the upper stream of infrastructure projects is a useful approach to address operation and maintenance lifecycle needs and achieve higher quality with lower investment and less reliance on individual skills.
The conference incorporated dialogues among development partners such as Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and ODA agencies in order to foster collaboration on QII initiatives. Panelists shared their efforts and agreed on the necessity of close collaboration between bilateral and multilateral development agencies.
“Japan has experienced in managing the compiled infrastructure which was rapidly built post-war. We encourage not only the quantity demand of infrastructure but also the quality demand of infrastructure around the world.” said Yoshiyuki Takeuchi, Director General of Japan’s Ministry of Finance.
Innovative financial mechanisms and procurement frameworks for QII were highly attended sessions during the conference, particularly by Japanese private sector entities. Risks, challenges and new approaches of financing urban infrastructure projects through public financing, PPP, co-financing were shared, and the importance of assisting client countries in incorporating quality elements into procurement qualification criteria and clear evaluation criteria was discussed. There was overall consensus that QII relies on efficient procurement mechanisms through proper understanding of the market, good governance, and fit for purpose evaluation and qualification criteria to achieve value for money.
Working across interjurisdictional boundaries and social inclusion were also highlighted in this conference. Governmental challenges of coordination were examined, and continuous efforts on capacity building were expected. Participants agreed that QII should benefit all society and be particularly inclusive and benefit the bottom 40% as well as other disenfranchised groups, and the engagement of private sector in future QII discussion is essential.
Session Titles
Program（PDF）
Day 1: February 2, 2017, Thursday
| Session 1 Opening Session 13:30-14:00 (30 minutes) |
Welcome Remarks Key Objective Setting and Building from 1st Conference Lessons learned following the 1st QII Conference and key objective setting for the Yoshiki Takeuchi, Director-General, International Bureau, Ministry of Finance Ede Jorge Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director, World Bank Group |
| Session 2 Panel Discussion 14:00-15:00 (60 minutes) |
Special Session 1: Territorial Development as a New Dimension for Identifying opportunities and challenges for strategic infrastructure investment Ede Jorge Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director, World Bank Group Takeshi Mugishima, Assistant Vice-Minister, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Hiroshi Kato, Senior Vice President, Japan International Cooperation Agency |
| Session 3 Panel Discussion 15:00-15:45 (45 minutes) |
Special Session 2: Operation and Maintenance as Key Aspects for QII Evidence-based discussion on the importance of operation and maintenance in Professor Koichi Maekawa, Lead Researcher, Infrastructure Asset Takehiko Mori, Counsellor for Global Strategies, Minister’s Secretariat, |
| Coffee Break 15:45-16:00 (15 minutes) | |
| Session 4 Panel Discussion 16:00-17:30 (90 minutes) |
Quality Infrastructure Initiatives for Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Highlighting the challenges/ barriers and opportunities for the implementations Sumila Gulyani, Global Lead, Urban Strategy and Analytics, World Bank Group Paul Kriss, Global Lead, City Infrastructure and Services, World Bank Group Barjor Mehta, Global Lead, City Management, World Bank Group Carlos Alberto Álvarez Barrera, Deputy Director, Medellin International |
| Closing Session 17:30-17:40 (5 minutes) |
Closing Session Daniel Levine, Senior Operations Officer, World Bank Group |
| Reception 17:40-19:00 (80 minutes) |
Cocktail Hour |
Day 2: February 3, 2017, Thursday
| Session 5 Opening Session 9:00-9:15 (15 minutes) |
Recapping Day 1 Discussions Ede Jorge Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director, World Bank Group |
| Session 6 Panel Discussion 9:15-10:15 (60 minutes) |
QII Initiatives of Development Partners Leveraging the power of partnerships to scale QII globally (WB, JICA, ADB, AfDB). Naoki Yamashita, Deputy Director, Multilateral Development Banks Division, Hideya Kobayashi, Senior Director, Operations Strategy Department, Japan Tomoyuki Kimura, Deputy Director General, Strategy, Policy and Review Abayomi Babalola, Division Manager (PICU1), Transport and ICT Department; |
| Session 7 Panel Discussion 10:15-11:15 (60 minutes) |
Innovative Financing Mechanisms for QII Addressing the challenges of financing to urban infrastructure development Jason Lu, Acting Head, Global Infrastructure Facility Ryutaro Nishizaki, Director, Infrastructure and Environment Finance Group, Hitoshi Miyake, Joint General Manager, Structured Finance Department, |
| Coffee Break 11:15-11:30 (15 minutes) | |
| Session 8 Panel Discussion 11:30-12:30 (60 minutes) |
Procurement Frameworks enabling QII Approaches Ensuring that the value of QII is properly accounted for and consider for large Christopher Mark Browne, Chief Procurement Officer, World Bank Group Manmohan Parkash, Advisor, Operations Services and Financial Management |
| Lunch Break 12:30-13:30 (60 minutes) | |
| Session 9 Panel Discussion 13:30-14:30 (60 minutes) |
QII for Disaster Resilience Addressing challenges and identifying opportunities for scaling up resilient Jolanta Kryspin-Watson, Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Cledan Mandri-Perrot, Head, Infrastructure Finance and PPP, World Bank Yumiko Noda, Partner, Head of Infrastructure and PPP, President - Cities |
| Coffee Beak 14:30-14:45 (15 minutes) | |
| Session 10 Panel Discussion 14:45-16:15 (90 minutes) |
Working Across Political and Interjurisdictional Boundaries to Overcoming inter-jurisdiction policy, governance, management and other Mats Andersson, Consultant, World Bank Group Kazuko Ishigaki, Director for International Negotiation Management, Henry Maina Kamau, Director, Metropolitan Development, Ministry of |
| Session 11 Panel Discussion 16:15-17:15 (60 minutes) |
Winning Constituent Buy-in, Ensuring Inclusion through QII Ensuring QII benefits of all society, addressing inclusion and last mile Catherine C. O’Farrell, Lead Infrastructure Specialist, World Bank Group Takahisa Fujita and Hyonsun Kang, Design Consultant, Mirairo Inc. |
| Session 12 Closing Session 17:15-17:30 (15 minutes) |
Closing Session Kazuko Ishigaki, Director for International Negotiation Management, |
