As the major lenders to government for public infrastructure investment, the multilateral lending institutions have had an important influence on the development of transport sectors in many countries. Their traditional role as financers of major infrastructure has more recently been challenged both by the emergence of other, private sector sources of finance, and by the changing aspirations of the developing countries themselves. The recent publication by the world bank of its first comprehensive transport strategy review for over 20 years gives an insight into how it is adapting to the changing world in which it operates. In the context of development, the report gives equal emphasis to the economic and social dimensions of sustainability and the development and ecological issues which are normally associated with the concept are considered.
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