inconvenience or lost time, or negative effects on health or on available time for
other directly productive activities. Precision goods require smoothness of
processing to escape damage and might not survive transport over poor condition
roads or railway tracks.
Water networks have different water quality requirements for households, industrial users, fire departments, or road cleaners. The different competing users each
have a different reliability requirement. If suppliers have a clear user’s perspective,
they can adapt their services to those varying requirements for reliability. It might,
however, be argued that providing a completely reliable service to all users is better.
9.5 Building Quality and Reliability in Infrastructure
9.5.1 Introducing Quality into Infrastructure
Reliability is important for three reasons:
(1) Given that reliability is essential to the user or client, operators (engineers and
accountants) are induced to a more demand-client-oriented perspective on traditional issues of operational performance for increasing productivity.
(2) Although having access to infrastructure services should be (or has been) a
priority, reliability is an increasingly important ingredient of infrastructure
quality, for reasons discussed earlier.
(3) An important ingredient for positive and fruitful poverty reduction strategies will
be reliable infrastructure services, because unreliable services affect the poor
much more negatively.
The concept of reliability has become important – due to the reasons given
earlier – to concentrate on the infrastructure service quality, rather than only on
the quantity or accessibility of services. Furthermore, for several economic activities,
it is necessary to examine very specific levels of quality. It is no longer possible to
imagine infrastructure services as providing one, uniform level of quality, as is often
the case in discussions about the role of infrastructure. The notion of ‘service’ needs
to be decomposed to enable exploring the quality levels needed by different types of
activities. After all, the key objective is to provide the quality of services in the most
effective way. In this context, reliability is just one approach that promises to be
operationally useful.
9.5.2 Implications of the Concept
The concept of reliability has two direct operational dimensions:
9.5 Building Quality and Reliability in Infrastructure
265
other directly productive activities. Precision goods require smoothness of
processing to escape damage and might not survive transport over poor condition
roads or railway tracks.
Water networks have different water quality requirements for households, industrial users, fire departments, or road cleaners. The different competing users each
have a different reliability requirement. If suppliers have a clear user’s perspective,
they can adapt their services to those varying requirements for reliability. It might,
however, be argued that providing a completely reliable service to all users is better.
9.5 Building Quality and Reliability in Infrastructure
9.5.1 Introducing Quality into Infrastructure
Reliability is important for three reasons:
(1) Given that reliability is essential to the user or client, operators (engineers and
accountants) are induced to a more demand-client-oriented perspective on traditional issues of operational performance for increasing productivity.
(2) Although having access to infrastructure services should be (or has been) a
priority, reliability is an increasingly important ingredient of infrastructure
quality, for reasons discussed earlier.
(3) An important ingredient for positive and fruitful poverty reduction strategies will
be reliable infrastructure services, because unreliable services affect the poor
much more negatively.
The concept of reliability has become important – due to the reasons given
earlier – to concentrate on the infrastructure service quality, rather than only on
the quantity or accessibility of services. Furthermore, for several economic activities,
it is necessary to examine very specific levels of quality. It is no longer possible to
imagine infrastructure services as providing one, uniform level of quality, as is often
the case in discussions about the role of infrastructure. The notion of ‘service’ needs
to be decomposed to enable exploring the quality levels needed by different types of
activities. After all, the key objective is to provide the quality of services in the most
effective way. In this context, reliability is just one approach that promises to be
operationally useful.
9.5.2 Implications of the Concept
The concept of reliability has two direct operational dimensions:
9.5 Building Quality and Reliability in Infrastructure
265