CREATING JOBS IN CONFLIC TAFFEC TED AREAS
Roshan’s facility, at a significantly lower cost than the alternative of hiring an international private security agency. In addition, it provided important benefits for the local community.
FIGURE 7.12
295
Sri Lanka infrastructure accessibility index
Rebuilding infrastructure Armed conflict destroys or inflicts heavy damage to physical infrastructure instrumental to providing basic services and connecting communities and fi rms to markets. Electricity and water supplies, roads, rail networks, bridges, communication systems, and sanitation systems are often destroyed or rendered unusable. Based on the limited evidence from investment climate surveys, lack of access to electricity and transport seem to be a particularly important constraint to job creation in conflict-affected areas. In Afghanistan, for example, more than three decades of war left the country largely in ruins: in 2004, only 16 percent of households in rural Afghanistan had access to electricity, and three-quarters of the population had no access to public transportation in their communities (World Bank 2005). After two decades of violence in Sri Lanka, in 2003 only 64 percent of households in the Northern and Eastern provinces had access to electricity, compared with a national average of 73 percent.18 Road networks were also considerably inferior in conflict-affected provinces (those located in the north and the east of the island) (figure 7.12). Infrastructure limitations make it more expensive to do business and create jobs in confl ict-affected areas. In Afghanistan, for example, 87 percent of firms have to operate with a private generator (chapter 4). In Sri Lanka, the end of the conflict in the Northern Province in 2009 provided an opportunity to assess some of the economic benefits associated with improved infrastructure and access to markets, as the A9 highway that connects the north with the rest of the country was reopened. Improved connectivity allowed for more fluid mobility of people and goods, resulting in the rapid convergence of prices. The average price premium in Jaffna compared with Colombo on
Source: World Bank 2007. Note: The accessibility index is calculated for every point as the sum of the population totals of surrounding cities and towns inversely weighted by the road network travel time to each town.
10 selected items was 48 percent in May–July 2008; one year later, the price premium on the same products had declined to 24 percent (World Bank 2010c). Rebuilding much needed infrastructure in the aftermath of violent conflict faces significant challenges. Financing requirements are great, renewed violence could destroy the rebuilt infrastructure, and the vast scale of needs makes it difficult to prioritize. Private, public, NGO, and international actors have found ways to address some of these challenges. Three complementary approaches are adopted: • Providing infrastructure on a limited basis, possibly in SEZs, which are geographically