This discussion document is aimed at encouraging debate about the role infrastructure plays in growth and development in Pacific countries. It identifies opportunities and obstacles to improved infrastructure performance. It examines infrastructure performance in Pacific and comparator countries on indicators for service coverage, quality, cost and economic viability, which allowed establishing whether sector performance is relatively good or relatively poor in each country. Performance was reviewed in the following infrastructure sectors: telecommunications, electricity, water and sanitation, roads, airports and aviation, and ports and shipping.
Although some utilities perform well and infrastructure access is adequate in some (mainly urban) areas, Pacific countries do not perform as well as comparator countries on most key performance indicators. In addition, levels of infrastructure access, quality and efficiency vary between countries of a similar size and income level within the Pacific region itself.
