Charles Kunaka

Bio: Charles Kunaka is an academic researcher from World Bank. The author has contributed to research in topics: Regional integration & Trade facilitation. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 37 publications receiving 275 citations. Previous affiliations of Charles Kunaka include University of Paris.

Trade and Transport Corridor Management Toolkit

Abstract: A trade and transport corridor is a coordinated bundle of transport and logistics infrastructure and services that facilitates trade and transport flows between major centers of economic activity. Providing a comprehensive guide to tools and techniques for corridor projects is important, as the volume of such projects is likely to increase. Corridors remain very important, especially to landlocked countries and post-conflict countries and regions. This toolkit provides a comprehensive and holistic compilation of approaches and techniques on corridor diagnostics, performance assessment, management, operations improvement, and impact evaluation. The toolkit identifies mechanisms for improving the performance of the corridor through initiatives by the public and private sectors. These initiatives include investments in infrastructure and modification of policies and regulations, especially related to trade facilitation. It also considers the government's capacity to maintain the infrastructure and regulate the flow of goods along the corridor and the private sector's ability to provide a variety of levels and quality of services, as measured in terms of time and cost. It provides tools to answer four main questions: what are the approaches to identifying the main issues and constraints to movement of trade and transport along a corridor?; how well is the corridor performing, and where are the weaknesses?; what are the options for improving the performance of the corridor?; and what are the likely impacts of investments or improvements to the corridor? The toolkit groups the four main questions into three parts, which comprise 13 modules. Part one includes four modules on how to carry out a corridor diagnostic. These modules focus on the infrastructure, regulatory, and institutional framework for a corridor. It also includes a critical module on corridor performance indicators. Part two comprises eight modules on specific corridor components. It explains how performance can be improved through targeted interventions. Part three consists of a single module, on assessing the impact of a corridor.

The impact of regional liberalization and harmonization in road transport services : a focus on Zambia and lessons for landlocked countries

Abstract: Based on a detailed empirical study, this paper argues that regional liberalization of trucking services has had an important effect on transport costs and tariffs for Zambia's economy. Zambia is a peculiar example in Southern Africa as it benefits from relatively low transport costs compared with other landlocked countries in Africa. This is mainly because of competition between Zambian and other regional, mainly South African, operators and because of South African investments in Zambia's trucking industry. As a result, the costs of operators registered in Zambia and South Africa are similar. The study also demonstrates that enhancing trucking interoperability in Southern Africa would significantly impact positively the Zambian trucking industry's competitiveness. The main measures to significantly increase trucking competitiveness in the region would more likely derive from reducing fuel costs in Zambia, improving border-post operations, and relaxing South African truck import rules.

The Connectivity of South Asian Cities in Infrastructure Networks

Abstract: This map summarizes information on the connectivity of 67 important South Asian cities concerning infrastructure networks. The map combines four information layers to reveal a city's overall stature in the region's infrastructure networks, i.e. rail, road, air, and information technology networks. Three dimensions of connectivity are shown: edge thickness reflecting tie strength between pairs of cities; node size reflecting a city's betweenness centrality; and node color reflecting the dominant geographical orientation of a city's connections. A threshold is used for the edges to ensure the map does not appear clogged. The map shows that major connections tend to be within-country linkages between large cities. There are five communities in South Asia's urban infrastructure networks, which largely follow national borders. Delhi, Mumbai, Lahore, Karachi, Chennai, Colombo and Dhaka are shown to be important nodes for the infrastructural integration of South Asia, as these cities mediate flows between relati...

Eurasian Cities: New Realities along the Silk Road

Abstract: Eurasian cities, unique in the global spatial landscape, were part of the world's largest experiment in urban development. The challenges they now face because of their history offer valuable lessons to urban planners and policy makers across the world from places that are still urbanizing to those already urbanized. More than three-quarters of the built environment in Eurasian cities was developed after 1945 in a centralized fashion. Central planners could implement whatever they considered good practice planning solutions, and Eurasia's cities became their drawing boards. The central planners got a lot right easy access to public transportation, district heating networks, almost universal access to water systems, and socially integrated neighborhoods. At the same time, they failed to acknowledge the importance of markets and individual choice in shaping sustainable and congenial places for people to live in. From a spatial point of view, it became clear that many Eurasian cities were developed in places where they should not have been. To populate sparsely inhabited territory, Soviet planners pushed urban development toward the heart of Siberia. Many of the resulting cities had no rural hinterland to rely on for daily food needs and had to depend on subsidized goods and services. Many Eurasian cities face an overdeveloped public service infrastructure that is hard to maintain and upgrade. Facing an economic downturn in the 1990s and lacking experience in decentralized urban management, many local authorities struggled to run these services. Public transport ridership fell in most cities, with more people commuting in private vehicles. Recycling networks disappeared, and soaring consumption overwhelmed solid waste management systems. District heating systems became large energy sieves hard to run and maintain without subsidies. Plaguing water systems are large shares of nonrevenue water, and low tariffs do not ensure the cost recovery needed for upgrades and repairs. This book discusses all five of these issues rethinking, planning, connecting, greening, and financing in more detail. It seeks to analyze the key challenges created by central planning, outline how these challenges were addressed in the transition years, and identify some steps Eurasian cities should take to chart a sustainable development path for themselves. The book also shows how some of the most progressive cities in the region have been tackling these problems and, in doing so, shedding the last vestiges of the socialist economy.

Logistics in Lagging Regions: Overcoming Local Barriers to Global Connectivity

Abstract: This report is based on two case studies carried out in Brazil and India on the impact of various strategies to reduce the cost of trade for small-scale producers. Small scale producers especially those located in lagging regions in developing countries lack easy access to efficient logistics services. They are faced with long distances from both domestic and international markets. Unless the enterprises are able to consolidate traffic volumes they can be excluded from international supply chains. However, the process of consolidation is not without cost nor does it occur on its own accord. It is typically handled by outside parties in the form of intermediaries. The study was designed around the horizontal relationships between the small scale producers and their vertical connections to higher tier parties involved in the same supply chain. It analyzes the cooperative approach to linking producers, the role of itinerant traders, and a newer and innovative approach to the same problem through virtual integration of farmers using modern information communication technologies. These approaches were explored by studying two separate supply chains, sisal in Brazil and soybean in India, enabling the assessment of logistics patterns from the farm gate to onboard vessel at the export gateway. The assessment of logistics performance at the sub-national level is still evolving. The more widely used density-type indicators emphasize the infrastructure dimension of logistics but do not handle effectively the relationships and service quality attributes identified by the study. A model built around spatial and social networks is proposed to represent the horizontal and vertical attributes of logistics in lagging regions.

Regional Trading Blocs in the world economic system, reseñado por Antonio Ortiz-Mena L.N.

Abstract: This book explores whether the world economy is breaking up into regional trading and currency blocs centred on the European Community, Japan and the United States. Frankel uses trade, investment and financial data to assess this issue. He concludes with an analysis of how trends in regional economic integration can be used as building blocks for a stronger multilateral system.

Leveraging Urbanization in South Asia: Managing Spatial Transformation for Prosperity and Livability

Abstract: This report describes the progress of urbanization and structural transformation in South Asia, the market and policy failures that have shaped the region’s towns and cities, and the decisive actions needed to better leverage urbanization for South Asian prosperity and livability. Part one (chapters one–two) sets the context by analyzing key urbanization developments and related trends of structural transformation and economic growth. Part two (chapters three-six) discusses and diagnoses the main policy problems, identifies areas for policy reform, and provides examples of best practices from both within and outside the region to help inform the decisions of policy makers and practitioners. Chapter one focuses on recent urbanization related outcomes and trends at the regional level. It provides a broad comparison of the region’s current state with other world regions and with historical trends in developed countries. Chapter two then provides a spatially detailed analysis of trends and outcomes within the region and at the subnational level. The chapters of part two identify four fundamental areas for policy action: governance and finance; connectivity and planning; land and housing; and resilience to natural disaster and the effects of climate change. The four areas are interlinked. Governance and finance (chapter three) are fundamental to the supply of urban infrastructure and basic services and thus also undergird the three other policy areas. Indeed, improvements in the way South Asia’s cities are governed and financed may be a precondition for achieving meaningful progress in these other areas and therefore in prosperity and livability. Of course, the ways in which cities are planned and connected (chapter four) also influence the supply of affordable housing (chapter five). Likewise, urban planning policies, and their enforcement, help determine a city’s resilience to natural disaster and the effects of climate change (chapter six).

Measuring Polycentric Urban Development in China: An Intercity Transportation Network Perspective

Abstract: Liu X., Derudder B. and Wu K. Measuring polycentric urban development in China: an intercity transportation network perspective, Regional Studies. This paper measures polycentric development in 22 urban regions in China by analysing intercity transportation networks. A typology of Chinese urban regions is identified based on individual regions’ functionally and morphologically polycentricity. Three major sets of processes underlying the typology are discerned: the (mis)match between (governmentally) designated and economically integrated urban regions; unequal interregional economic development; and the impact of city-regional plans and policies. Urban regions along the east coast reach high levels of morphological and functional polycentricity. Many planned urban regions are morphologically polycentric, lacking functional integration. Most urban regions in western China lack any form of polycentricity.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

Abstract: In the period between the First and Second World Wars there was a marked deterioration in international economic relations. In the 1920s an attempt was made to go back to ‘normal’ conditions. This meant the gold standard, as far as international monetary co-operation is concerned. An attempt was also made to organise world trade on a liberal basis.