Revising the Roads Investment Strategy in Rural Areas: An Application for Uganda

81 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Gaël Raballand

Gaël Raballand

World Bank

Patricia Macchi

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Carly Petracco

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) - Office of the Chief Economist

Dino Merotto

World Bank

Date Written: September 1, 2009

Abstract

Based on extensive data collection in Uganda, this paper demonstrates that the rural access index, as defined today, should not be a government objective because the benefit of such investment is minimal, whereas achieving rural accessibility at less than 2 kilometers would require massive investments that are not sustainable. Taking into account the fact that plot size is limited on average to less than 1 hectare, a farmer's transport requirement is usually minimal and does not necessarily involve massive investments in infrastructure. This is because most farmers cannot fully load atruck or pay for this service and, even if productivity were to increase significantly, the production threshold would not be reached by most individual farmers. Therefore, in terms of public policy, maintenance of the existing rural roads rather than opening new roads should be given priority; the district feeder road allocation maintenance formula should be revised to take into account economic potential and, finally, policy makers should devote their attention to innovative marketing models from other countries where smallholder loads are consolidated through private-based consolidators.

Keywords: Transport Economics Policy & Planning, Rural Roads & Transport, Roads & Highways, Rural Transport, Markets and Market Access

Suggested Citation

Raballand, Gael and Macchi, Patricia and Petracco, Carly and Merotto, Dino, Revising the Roads Investment Strategy in Rural Areas: An Application for Uganda (September 1, 2009). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 5036, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1471134

Gael Raballand (Contact Author)

World Bank ( email )

1818 H street N.W.
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Patricia Macchi

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

Carly Petracco

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) - Office of the Chief Economist

One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
United Kingdom

Dino Merotto

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States