Lessons for the Urban Century : Decentralized Infrastructure Finance in the World Bank

In the 1970s, the World Bank introduced an instrument, the Urban Infrastructure Fund (UIF), designed to support local infrastructure investment in smaller cities. The UIF approach relies on domestic institutions to channel financing so that smaller sub-projects suited to the capacity and needs of smaller cities can be implemented. UIFs have a good track record of meeting their development objectives. Paradoxically the Bank has reduced use of this tool, while population growth in the developing world is shifting to smaller cities and decentralization is placing greater fiscal demands on local government. The book offers recommendations for revitalizing the UIF as a financing instrument for today's development priorities.