| Lack of Rural Transport Policy and Strategy |
| The
development of national rural transport policy and strategy is a first priority
intervention to improve rural transportation. Key issues that the rural transport policy
and strategy need to address are: 1. Clarification of ownership of rural transport infrastructure.
2. Local capacity building.
3. Financing of maintenance.
4. The provision for Rural Transport Services.
5. Use of least cost methods and appropriate standards.
Policy Guide
Lines: Objectives of increasing Road Network Density from 0.18 Km /Sq. Km of the
area compared to 0.5 Km/ Sq. Km. which has been considered a bare minimum for sustaining
Economic Development of a country. We therefore need to take under mentioned
measures while documenting the Transport Policy with respect to Rural Road
infrastructure. Read More
|
| Unclear
Ownership and Responsibilities |
Inadequate
Financing |
| Coherent
legal framework and management responsibilities for both the local government and
community transport infrastructure are missing. We have to realize the importance of
bringing all roads under regular maintenance. |
Most of the
fund are utilized for capital work in Pakistan. There is a need to establish an adequate
and steady source of financing for road maintenance and consolidate the planning and
budgeting of capital and recurrent work. |
| Inadequate
Standards |
Planning
and Selection Processes have Withered Away |
| Rural roads
are often over-designed, due to political pressure, attempts to overcome institutional and
financial weakness, or the application of standard designs by road type instead of actual
traffic. This results in scarce resources which leave poorer community with unreliable
access. |
District
transport master plan are the tools for the participatory physical planing process. We
need to establish participatory planning processes using this tool. Unfortunately this is
missing in Pakistan. Roads are not constructed or upgraded based on cost-effectiveness
criteria (cost per population served) |
| Replacement
of Force Account Execution. |
Rural
Transport Services |
| Only in
Balochistan 600 million rupees are spent in Force Account name per year. The output of
this is negligible. Therefore, local small scale labor-based contracts should be
encouraged. This will not only serve roads better, it will also help rural population earn
their bread and butter. |
Improving
transport services include stimulating the use of low-cost vehicles (bicycles and animal
carts) by the urban and rural poor, particularly by facilitating access to credit.
Government can promote better transport services by elimination of price fixing and
licensing constraints. |
