Progresses and Challenges of
Infrastructure Spending in Timor-Leste
The 2013 Timor-Leste Update - ANU
By: Antonio Vitor
ADB Consultant & MPW Adviser
Outline:
1. Background
2. The Targets in Strategic Development Plan
3. Some Progresses
4. The Challenges
Background
•
The status of infrastructure : inadequate and inefficient
•
Source of Financing : Self + co-financing
•
Implementation issues
•
Low execution
•
High budget diversion
Timor-Leste’s Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030
• SDP Goal: achieving a middle income country by 2030.
• Infrastructure Tasks : building & maintaining core and productive infrastructures to
support growth, increase productivity, create jobs, and national private sector development
• Targets for:
• Roads: - rural roads are fully rehabilitated by 2015
- district roads fully rehabilitated by 2020
- national roads fully upgrade by 2020
- comprehensive maintenance program
- national ring road highway (2 + 2 lanes) by 2030 (to start with Suai-Beaco)
• Water: - by 2030, all citizens will have access to clean water and
improved sanitation
• Power/ Electricity: by 2015 everyone in Timor-Leste will have
access ( 24/7); and by 2020 reduce fuel dependency by half.
• Ports: Tibar - by 2020 - new, fully operational and efficient major
port Suai – by 2015, fully operational and efficient
• Airports: Dili: extension of the runway and a new terminal building
Progresses:
National roads:
• upgraded Liquica-Maubara (Dec 2013) –
14 km
• by 2017 will upgrade about 600 km out of
1,426 kilometers (40%)
• Key links (Dili to Motain; Tibar-Gleno, DiliBaucau, Baucau-Viqueque, BaucauLoapalos (Com), Dili-Ainaro, and ManatutoNatarbora
Rural roads: 240 kilometres out of 3,025
km of rural roads rehabilitated & maintained
(70% of the population living in rural areas)
Pilot National Roads Upgrading (Liquica-Maubara)
Progresses (continued)
Electricity :
• 2 new power plants with 250 mgws capacity in place
• 9 Sub-stations,
• connection of 506 km of transmission lines out of 603 km
• June 2013, ---106.072 hhs access to electricity,
• 97,072 hhs connected to the grid -- 9,000 hhs renovable energy.
Tibar Port (PPP) at procurement stage
Challenges
• Reform the current system, practices and institutional arrangement?
• lacks capacities (human resources & institutions) to deliver SDP targets
• under-developed national private sector (construction, design, supervision)
• still low performance in public investment management and public finance
management
• relative small market for private investment low participation – lack competitionhigh cost)
Challenges (continued):
• under-developed financial markets, high-cost in doing business, weak macro-economy
environment, poor governance (led to low return on capital)
• political economy influences investment logics
• institutional arrangement in delivering infrastructure (overlapping responsibilities ,
coordination issues)
• Ineffective investments prioritization
• political interference and of multiple, changing and competing stakeholders.
• clear separation of political and technical responsibilities
MPW 5-year Action Plan
 “100% of Dili households with safe 24-hr supply by 2017
 ~4000 new connections / year?
Dili households with pipe connections
50,000
45,000
40,000
Housholds
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Year
Target
Current
Trend?
4000 / yr
2017
Figure 2: Dili Water Supply System zoning showing estimated supply continuity level of service
(source: ADB TA-7981 in consultation with DNSA)