Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Infrastructure as a Foundation for Job Creation
(vii) 
Build the institutions capacities for planning, accounting, and 
research. 
Invest in training staff, with the help of external experts. Establish 
a database of information and a system of analyzing data to support 
evidence–based decision-making. Partner with schools to hire competent 
professionals in transport- and energy-related government agencies.
In addition to the foregoing recommendations that apply to all infrastructure, 
the transport, logistics, and energy sectors in Uzbekistan need some specific 
changes in order to become drivers of economic development. The following 
are recommendations to improve the performance of transport and logistics.
(i) 
Improve the operations of transport institutions by strengthening 
project preparation and implementation and streamlining 
procurement. 
This is necessary to improve reviews of cost estimates 
to avoid cost escalation during project implementation, to make the 
procurement system more transparent, and to improve project completion 
rates by establishing a system for monitoring the progress of projects and 
establishing incentives for efficient implementation.
(ii) 
Review design standards of roads and railroads and ensure that they 
are aligned with international standards. 
Avoid lanes narrower than
3.0 meters, which, according to safety norms, do not allow speeds over 50 
km per hour and cannot serve trucks.
(iii) 
Address the problem of an aging truck fleet. 
Consider enhancing 
systems for long-term soft bank lending to purchase modern trucks, 
reducing customs fees for truck models that are not produced domestically, 
enhancing the current legal framework and creating incentives for 
renewing truck fleets, and establishing stringent standards for efficient 
fuel consumption and making exhaust gas emissions limits more stringent 
(CER 2013a).
(iv)