Governments will need to prioritize some programs over others to maximize available funds in view of tightly limited resources. This will necessitate clear objectives for programs and a clear route to those objectives.
Developing nations must choose projects carefully in order to optimize their investment of time and resources. Projects should have clear value in terms of enhancing transparency, increasing citizen participation in the governance process, cutting bureaucratic red tape, or saving money. Standards and benchmarks must be established to measure the relative success of these projects. For example, in Gujarat, India, the automation of toll checkpoints resulted in a significant increase in revenue normally lost to corrupt border agents, so that the system paid for itself within a year.
Computerized Interstate Checkpoints, Gujarat, India: Generating increased revenue by automating the highway toll and fine collection system.
The Indian state of Gujarat has an extensive road network that carries large volumes of commercial traffic. With nearly 25,000 trucks that enter the province daily, tolls and fines are a significant source of revenue and a tempting target for corruption. The Gujarat government in the past was ineffective at collecting tolls and stopping overloaded trucks (which caused numerous accidents) from entering the province and collecting fines from drivers. Delays and corruption at toll checkpoints were rampant.
In 1998, Gujarat authorities installed an electronic system for collecting tolls. Whereas in the past, toll collectors had wide latitude in assessing tolls and fines, the new system automated the weighing of trucks and the calculation of tolls and fines and ended cash transactions at the checkpoints by instituting a credit card payment system. The system was
a good investment. Within one year, the system had paid for itself, illustrating how strategic investment, properly planned, can lead to long-term benefits.
Case study: http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/gujaratcs.htm
