World Bank appoints Bond to lead global infrastructure portal

Bond University has been successful in its bid to lead a global infrastructure portal for the World Bank.

In June this year, Bond was shortlisted along with Stanford University in the United States and Queen’s University in Canada to submit tenders for the right to develop and lead the online portal, which will focus heavily on public private partnerships (PPPs).

Head of the Bond University Mirvac School of Sustainable Development, Professor George Earl, said the fact that the World Bank had chosen Bond as the lead institution for the project confirmed the University’s place as a world leader in infrastructure education.

“The success of similar programs we have run in the past for the Commonwealth Secretariat and Asian Development Bank, together with our high level of engagement with the World Bank over the past couple of years, meant that they understood our strengths and were aware of the quality of work we were doing,” Professor Earl said.

Professor Earl, together with Professor of Infrastructure Michael Regan, will now oversee the development of an online portal of infrastructure management for the World Bank, to be delivered by the end of the year.

“The portal will be aimed at senior government officials from around the world – treasury departments, under-secretaries, policy makers – who have a role in making infrastructure policy decisions and securing money from the World Bank,” said Professor Earl.

“From the World Bank’s perspective, they want projects that they have funded to be managed by people who have the necessary experience and knowledge in the areas of PPPs and infrastructure,” Professor Earl said.

As the lead institution, Bond University will also work with representatives from Stanford and Queen’s Universities to develop the content for the portal, which will be independently reviewed by a panel of experts in infrastructure in Europe at the end of the year, prior to its implementation in January 2011.

Professor Earl said he expects a long association with the World Bank, with plans to extend the relationship in the future.