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Rhetoric versus reality There is a perceived mismatch between the analysis of

rural transport problems in developing countries and the implementation of

solutions. Discuss and present innovative solutions for bridging this gap.

The relationship between changes in the transport sector and the evolving pattern of

economic development is widely discussed by transport economists. The importance

of transport on economic growth and development is being identified. Thus,

development of various forms of transport infrastructure has been undertaken to

stimulate growth in slow growing countries investment especially in rural sector.

Going to the history there are four main transport and logistics revolutions can be

identified. Firstly the period from the 13th

century in which water transport emerged

as a new logistics system connecting cities along the rivers and costal areas. Secondly,

the period from 16th century which is characterized by a dramatic improvement in

sailing sea transport and by the introduction of new banking system which stimulated

trade to the East and West Indies. Thirdly the period from the middle of 19th

century,

marked as industrial revolution, in which invention of the stream engine generated

new transport modes. At last, the period from the 1970s which is marked as increasedinformation and flexibility, just in time systems and material requirements, planning

have evolved within this framework. Although the world trend in transport as such the

development of rural transport sector in developing countries has not taken place yet

at the pace of growth of rural sector in developed countries. Nevertheless the

concentration of transport infrastructure and vehicle congestion in developing

countries is now at the extreme. It is quite evident from the statistics of accidents and

resulting fatalities. Although governments in developing countries have attempted to

enhance the transport infrastructure in rural economies, the potential ability of

transport has not contributed to the growth and development of the rural economies as

expected. The inadequacy of transport facilities in rural areas of developing countries

is the major bottleneck to socio economic development and a national integration.Lack of transport makes it is difficult to introduce other social infrastructure such as

education and medical services and also the dissemination of the modern techniques

and inputs of agriculture production and the link of agriculture to other sectors of the

economy through the market hampered ,so the productivity of agriculture will

necessarily be low. On the other hand economists argue that, though an excessive

amount of scarce resources are devoted to transport development, the fruits of

development has not been realized and distributed equally to all. Here there is a

debate on which optimal provision of transport to facilitate development so that

resources are not wasted by being drawn from other activities where they may be

more productive.

Transport investment is a major component of the capital formation ofdeveloping countries and expenditure on transport is usually the largest single item in

the national budget. Along with national funds, outside agencies such as World Bank

or indirect assistance from individual countries finance various transport projects. It is

obvious that transport infrastructure is a factor input in to the production process

permitting goods and people to be transported between and within the production and

consumption centers, urban to rural / rural to urban: agro economy to money

economy. Moreover transport improvements can shift production capacity by altering

factor costs and reduces the level of inventory tied up in the production process. Since

mobility is increased permitting factors of production especially, labour to be

transferred to places where they may be employed productively, transport increases

the welfare of individuals by extending the range of social facilities to them and alsoprovides superior public goods such as greater social benefits and increased national

defense. However current rural transport problems are not well addressed by the

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implemented solutions so that most of the benefits expected from rural transport

projects have not contributed the countryside development.

Economists argue that appropriate transport planning can have more assistance on

overall economic development. This implies that one should expand transport

provision to balance developments else where in the economy, which is not always

possible. If transport services are inadequate in a particular area, then bottlenecks in

the economy will curtail the growth process but if the service is excessive in a

particular area again there is a waste of resources. It is the outcome of many transport

projects in many developing countries. Many developing countries have failed to

ensure the balanced level of transport provision. Thus they tend to spend scarce

development funds on prestige projects such as international air transport, to

demonstrate visually the capacity to be seen as developed nations. In economics word,

X efficiency is sacrificed for a modern image. Thus funds which could be used to

improve the domestic rural transport are unproductively utilized.

Rural transport in developing countries mainly consists of poor roads along

with foot paths across valleys, if mountainous landscapes or dusty roads if flat terrainlandscapes. By nature these does not provide proper mobility hence the terrains are

confined and constrained to the development.

Analysis of rural transport problems in developing countries in terms of

mobility of factors of production and the produce, mainly agriculture output, explains

the fact that the adequacy of infrastructure provision along with poor management of

the existing transport infrastructure. Big picture shows that even there are sufficient

funds allocated to the development, the maintenance of rural infrastructure has been

inadequate. The main reason behind this is that there is no properly organized

institution to take the responsibility with sheer efforts and dedication. Though there

are institutions as such the political and institutional working environment in those

organizations has been operating as constraints to perform their duties. Hence theremust be centralized intellectual body independent from political pressure to

implement solutions to the rural transport problems.

The case in the agricultural commodity market in Sri Lanka shows how

inefficient is the operation of rural transport network. Agricultural commodities

produced in rural farms are often transported to few collection centers and redistribute

them to other market places. In this process mainly from the beginning of the journey

most of the produce is subjected to damage while transporting them from the farm to

the road. This is mainly done with the help of the man power. Rural road network in

most of the developing countries covers rural town centers not necessarily cater the

areas where real production takes place, thereby making a huge waste of produce at

the end of the distribution chain. Further rural roads are not properly maintained andoften exist with damaged surfaces. Thus transporting produce to the centers further

increases the wastage. Interestingly, the distribution chain adds value, with a premium

covering the loss born by the distributor due to waste, to the produce at each of the

stage making the output high priced when it reaches the market place.

Accessibility has been a constraint when the conditions of rural road are

concerned. Many rural areas have significant levels of poverty, and non-drivers often

experience significant isolation. As a result, strategies that improve affordable

transportation options for non-drivers can provide significant benefits. Rural transport

provision is inadequate in most developing countries. Private transport services

provide most of the transport services apart from the scheduled unreliable public

transport modes which are operated by a transport body. Under such circumstancesthe rural commuter needs to be aware of the scheduled times and trip purpose is

conditional upon the service provision of the mode. In most cases, as the conditions in

rural roads have affected the technical failures in modes, the frequency of service

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operation is well below the required and scheduled travel turns. Thus commuters have

to walk or opt for any other unregulated public transport service by hiring it at a

higher fare. This is most common scene in South Asia specially Sri Lanka, India,

Pakistan, Bangladesh where large number of three - wheelers operate as feeder

services in semi urban and rural areas. Finding an effective solution to a problem in

this nature is quite challenging. Authorities in response may implement a policy or a

programme which ease the accessibility to rural areas, for instance redeveloping the

road spending a million with the objective of facilitating the mobility and attracting

transport providers. However the problem prevails unanswered since the solution does

not work as expected. In the long run the road gets damaged due to no maintenance

and the same solution may be applied. Instead the authorities must concern about the

cost rural commuters pay for their transport desires under the operation of high fare

unregulated modes. Hence those modes must be regulated with fare structure. In

effect the passengers will benefit in the absence of public transport operators.

In recent years many rural communities have lost public services, such as

schools, market stores, medical centers, and banks, causing rural residents to travel

further, and significantly reducing accessibility for non-drivers. Rural servicereductions are often justified on efficiency grounds, but the cost effectiveness analysis

often overlooks increased travel costs. For example, it may seem cost effective to

consolidate several small schools into one larger school when only direct facility costs

are considered, but not when the additional transportation costs to students and their

families are considered. Therefore Rural Transport Demand Management strategies

can therefore include ways of land use management to improve accessibility by

clustering development into settlements, rather than dispersed throughout a rural area.

This approach may increase transportation and housing affordability.

Many rural communities do accommodate non - motorized travel in great

number, due to inadequate facilities and increasing motor vehicle traffic volumes and

speeds. A variety of commuter and cycling improvements can be implemented inrural communities. The incentives for such development are crucial. This improves

transportation options, and allows villagers and visitors to enjoy healthy physical

exercise.

One of the burning issue rural commuter faces today is the unavailability of

proper transit services when they returns from the work place using main modes

available from the city centre. In such cases the commuter may spend a larger

proportion of income than the income spent on the main service used. Rural

communities can benefit from improved public transit service, including interregional

bus and rail service, and local demand-response shuttle Services. Incentives for

people who have the option of driving to use rural transit services when possible will

increase demand, leading to further service improvements.Rural transport problems persist since solutions are applied inappropriately by

local authorities. Decentralization of control of all transport services to the provincial

authority, in Sri Lanka case it is provincial council, and the existence of a

decentralized budget for political personals i.e. member of parliaments to handle

improvements now has become a major weakness in transport policies in developing

countries. To make the most of the development impact of this policy it would be

necessary to reform the existing operation and bring them under a national body

governing rural transport following effective integration with other national

development policies. Local authorities who are responsible for the rural transport

issues seems lenient and implementation of solution gets delayed partly due to

institutional drawbacks and partly due to rigorous procedures involved in the processof getting the service of stakeholders. In Sri Lanka this is seen in the case of

maintenance of rural roads under the provincial council. Maintenance contract is

given to bidders by the provincial council and Bidder wining the contract will be the

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authority of implementing the work. The work undertaken by the bidder is not screen

properly since the institutional set up facilitates the regulatory capture. Thus

maintenance is not done up to the standard thereby leading to depreciate the

infrastructure at a shorter period of time. However the rural communities again

become the victims of weak infrastructure provision. There is no argument that other

developing countries with the same institutional set up may have the same output as in

the Sri Lankan case.

The solution to this kind of a problem lies there it self. Maintenance of

transport infrastructure provides an economic rationale in the life span of that

infrastructure. Continued maintenance at the end of the life time of infrastructure

allows the asset to serve further years without any interruption to the transport

services operate on it. However the critical case in this is the identifying the

infrastructure exists at the end of the life time.For instance, if the demand to use a

particular rural road, which is operating closer to the end of the life time, rises, this

will lead to increase private cost suffered by transport operators and the existing users.

Therefore some operators may cease the operation making the rural commuters

immobile or unavailability of modes deviate commuters to use alternatives such aswalking, cycling ( which have high travel time) or high fare Para - transits which

incurred high cost for them. However in the long run it is needed to incur high capital

cost of additional road maintenance so as to reduce these problems. But the cost of

capital is far lesser than what it would have been if proper on time maintenance is

done.

Rural sector suffers from inadequacy of roads. In fact construction of more

and more roads in rural habitats may cause negative externalities. Hence there is a

debate over the appropriateness of transport infrastructure for rural sector.

Constructing roads on even terrain may be effective and ease the mobility but it may

not be the appropriate provision for hilly terrains. Land slides, soil erosion, loss of

vegetation, farm lands and loss of scenery are the complaints against the transportdevelopment project. Taking in to account such challenges, it is high time for the

authorities to look at sustainable efficient transport modes especially for high altitude

terrains. It is quite interesting that some of the Asian countries, Nepal, Bhutan use

Arial ropes for transporting the produce to town centers. The government of other

countries can seek for assistance from relevant bodies to implement advanced Arial

rope systems which are environmentally healthy and economically feasible, in hilly

areas not only for transporting goods but also people. This can only be a practical

solution if the implementation is properly organized with the participation of a

community set up. An efficient rope system will provide farmers a better chance of

sending their produce to the market with less wastage and at a cheaper cost. Therefore

the producer will be able to obtain considerable return on the sale which in turn raisesthe levels of incomes.

In conclusion, developing a national road network plan in line with extensive

researches to fill the gaps in the rural transport problems is required. National

transport policy biased towards urbanization will not heel the existing rural transport

issues and bottlenecks. Specific strategies to the development of rural access roads,

urban feeder roads under rural and regional development agendas and rehabilitation of

provincial feeder road network must highly be considered in national transport

policies of developing countries if rural transport is to bring about benefits to rural

communities.

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Full Name : Yapa Mudiyanselage Mahinda Senerath Bandara

Address : Department of Transport and Logistics Management

University of Moratuwa, Katubedda

Sri Lanka

E mail : mahindab@uom.lk

Mobile : (+94 71 351 36 91 )

mailto:mahindab@uom.lkmailto:mahindab@uom.lk