Washington: Effective regulation is the most important pre-requisite for successful privatisation of infrastructure services, a new World Bank study says.

Though privatisation of utilities such as water, power, transportation and telecommunications is no cure for all ills, maintaining these services and expanding them to the poor require private financing, says the study.

The study, titled 'Reforming Infrastructure, Privatisation, Regulation and Competition', finds that credible regulation is essential to ensuring that reforms involving restructuring or privatisation of infrastructure utilities improve their performance and help reduce poverty.

Getting infrastructure reform right is essential to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals on reducing child mortality and empowering women, says Frantois Bourguignon, the World Bank's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, who directs the Bank's development economics department, which produced the study.

The study cites effective regulation as the most critical enabling condition for getting infrastructure reform right.

Regulation that provides a credible commitment to safeguarding the interests of both investors and customers is crucial to attracting the long-term private capital needed to secure an adequate, reliable supply of infrastructure services, the report says.