Promoting Rural Development through Mobility

Rural Transport and Territorial Development

Rural development involves more than just agricultural production: it is also closely linked to the economic utilisation of these products and the provision of basic social and economic services (see also article: Access to Transport). At local village level health and education facilities, supplies of means of production, alternative economic sectors and income-earning opportunities are often non-existent or very basic, making access to these things difficult.
Supra-regional links must therefore be improved or created in order to improve the socio-economic position of the rural population. Infrastructure measures make it easier for rural dwellers to link into regional and supra-regional economic life, and also facilitate access in the reverse direction. The previous local focus must therefore be replaced by greater territorial and even supra-territorial openness. Territorial development (GIZ 2012) therefore involves organising planning and construction processes according to the subsidiarity principle, with corresponding funding. This development can take place along one or more axes (country development axes) or corridors that are based on main transport arteries and use secondary transport routes as links.

Impacts of Infrastructure Measures

The positive impacts of infrastructure measures in the transport sector are therefore particularly large if they are embedded in a strategy of territorial development – that is, in a balanced development plan that involves the entire region. An important aspect of such plans is a functional and administratively well-organised division of labour between spatial centres, sub-centres and sparsely populated areas, and between different organisations and institutions. Despite being closely linked to other packages of measures, the impacts of investment in infrastructure as a component of spatial development and land-use planning are relatively easy to measure. These impacts include the following:

• Raw materials can be delivered both faster and more cheaply to distant markets, and can more readily be processed locally --> regional and supra-regional sale and producation of sensitive and local products. Moreover, markets in neighbouring regions can be accessed and diversified.
  
• Price fluctuations can be exploited more quickly and more promptly.
• It is easier for purchasers to access producers.
  
• It becomes easier to establish economic opportunities social services, such as health and education, and access to these services is therefore improved.
  
• The availability of means of production (tools, machinery, seed, fertiliser) is improved.
  
• Professional advice services, including private ones, can more readily be provided in rural areas.
  
• The need of urban population groups for nearby recreational facilities opens up new development potentials and alternative income-generating opportunities
  
• Transport costs are reduced; as a result, goods become cheaper for producers, traders and end consumers. Journeys become both shorter and faster.
• The risks arising from transport difficulties or failures are reduced. Transport materials are saved and there is less damage to goods.
  
• There is greater scope for inter-municipal links and inter-municipal exchange. Contact between local government workers and the rural population is improved --> participation in political events.
  
• Construction projects commissioned by local authorities (e.g. erosion control measures, construction of markets, stores or grain banks) can be completed faster and at lower cost.
  
• Transport routes stimulate the migration of labour. Rural areas benefit from additional investment and innovation as a result of remittances and the return of migrants.
  

The main beneficiaries are often women who derive little added value from agricultural production in itself or are not involved in it economically, but depend on the processing of agricultural commodities and hence on their export out of the region. Local and national government bodies will also benefit through better forestry controls, more reliable collection of taxes and duties and better supervision.

Corridors that are initially established purely for transport purposes can also have a beneficial knock-on effect on territorial development, since they can be designed to link a number of territorial areas. Trunk roads typically lead from the capital city to a neighbouring country via another large city, passing through several rural communities on the way. By means of rural and inter-village paths, these communities link their territory to the trunk road and hence to larger cities and to neighbouring provinces and countries, as well as to neighbouring communities. The trunk roads are used as corridors, from which access is created at both local/community and national/international levels. For landlocked countries, corridors to free ports in coastal countries are important. The transport activities themselves create new economic opportunities, which open up along these corridors. These potentials also radiate into the hinterland. It is therefore justifiable to state that corridors can become real axes of development.

Stakeholders, Competencies and Responsiblities

Infrastructure measures are the means whereby the issue of territorial development at political and administrative level is put into practice. It is therefore particularly important to promote specially designated and planned corridors that provide a channel for lucrative flows of goods and services or that link areas of economic potential with each other, in order to create the best possible links with the adjacent rural area. This can be achieved by improving links to existing rural route networks, for example, or by promoting use of the corridors. Improving the accessibility of rural areas imposes additional tasks, duties and responsibilities on municipalities and (deconcentrated/decentralised) state services.

Work on rural transport routes is usually commissioned by a municipality or other regional or local body that has a vested interest in improving the economy in its rural areas but also finds itself confronted with new challenges. In the first place, maintaining and repairing the infrastructure will give rise to significant costs. Secondly, adverse effects are also likely, particularly in relation to natural resources.
These issues are the responsibility of the municipalities and decentralised government bodies, which are therefore of prime importance in the list of stakeholders.

• The state is the highest planning authority (planning sovereignty; drawing up and implementing master plans) with ultimate financial authority over the national budget.
• State bodes as representatives of the state authority at decentralised level take on planning, training, instructional and monitoring tasks in connection with technical implementation of infrastructure measures.
• The territorial authorities (e.g. municipalities) or other local and regional bodies have initial jurisdiction for all development measures in rural areas, and as commissioners of the construction work they are responsible for the needs analysis, technical planning, invitations to tender, initiation of the measures and technical, financial and administrative management. Ensuring sustainability – for example through repair and maintenance work – is particularly important here. Local and regional authorities should detail all development measures – especially those involving transport development – in their development plans or in local development strategies and take responsibility for implementing them. These development measures should be coordinated and adapted at both local/municipal and national/trans-national levels.
• Local bodies such as village development committees play an active part in needs analysis, implementation and maintenance.
• Technical and financial partners support implementation by funding and supervising measures in the areas of capacity building, planning, implementation and management of construction measures and by supporting the economic development process.
• The same applies to projects that operate by arrangement with state bodies and local authorities and to organisations such as NGOs, associations, societies and foundations.
• Private companies and private service providers work on a contract basis or are involved through PPPs.
  

Road maintenance work is often the responsibility of local authorities

Need for Intervention

In many countries the decentralised bodies at regional and local level are recently established, have poorly trained staff and are often not fully operational. Skills and capacities are poorly developed. Frequently no funds at all are available for ensuring sustainability, carrying out maintenance and repairs, commissioning private companies or maintaining political and administrative links with other local authorities.

The responsibilities and duties of these bodies (such as local community authorities) are being significantly increased: this entails major risks, since in rural areas responsibility often lies no longer with the state but with these very bodies and structures at regional and local level. The bodies concerned are often unequal to the workload and the degree of challenge and are unable to carry out their duties in full. Since state services (even deconcentrated ones) are often very bureaucratic and slow to respond, it is important that tasks such as implementation and maintenance are decentralised. If the regional aspect is not taken into account at planning level, it will be hard to implement at municipal and local level.

Purely technical expertise usually exists at national level but at regional level it is likely to be in short supply or difficult to access. Although the situation in this regard varies widely between countries and regional structures take different forms, the principal need for action (in addition to financial support) is for capacity development in the following areas:

• responsibilities – rights – duties
• planning approval procedures – environmental assessments – development plans
• administrative and financial procedures (tendering process)
• compensation
• authority over transport routes
• explanation of the applicable legal framework
  

The following questions should therefore be considered in connection with all measures that affect the territorial aspect:

• What legal rights does the state grant to regional and local bodies?
• Can they conclude contracts independently? Are they allowed their own bank accounts? Can they act in the name of the local population without restriction?
• How can the interaction between the macro, meso and micro levels be organised with regard to mobility?
• What right of input and what influence do state, national and regional authorities and bodies have in relation to municipal and village-level decision-making, and vice versa?

Road safety measures in a rural area of Bangladesh

Starting Points in the Transport Sector

Planning at National and Regional Level (Transport Master Plans)

National transport planning falls within the remit of national development strategies drawn up by governments (National Development Plans, Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS), etc.). These plans define strategic goals, detailing how the transport sector can contribute to the country’s development. The ministry of transport usually draws up a national transport strategy with a policy programme for the transport sector and targets for each transport sub-sector are laid down. Finally, a national transport master plan is drawn up; this puts the requirements of the transport strategy into practice, provides specific recommendations for action and sets priorities. The master plan is a guideline for the systematised long-term development of the transport sector and it defines the role of each mode of transport. It supports regional and sectoral development policy and plans trans-regional transport between the main centres.

Rural communities are particularly dependent on reliable transport routes and transport services to meet their everyday needs for water and firewood and provide access to their fields. Despite this, rural roads and tracks are often poorly planned and funds for building and maintaining the network of rural roads and tracks are often scarce or non-existent. Careful prioritisation is therefore needed, and regional development plans need to be drawn up to operationalise the national strategies at regional level. This is usually the responsibility of regional and local governments. In practice it has proved to be useful to locate responsibility for the rural route network at regional or local level. This enables the needs of the local population to be properly considered and increases the sense of ownership of the roads and tracks.

Regional plans often integrate the transport sector with other areas such as education, health, economic development, energy and water. The first step should be to assess the mobility needs of the rural population and to identify – in the light of geographic, climatic and socio-political conditions – what means of transport and what infrastructure are needed to meet these needs. A rural route network, which from the perspective of the country as a whole and the national economy is always secondary, should usually be viewed in the context of a primary national transport network. In rural areas, decisions about infrastructure development must be based not only on economic considerations; it is important that they also take account of social criteria (such as the poverty rate). Important routes in rural areas are pedestrian access to the nearest school or health clinic, routes that enable smallholders and small-scale farmers to access the nearest market, at least with hand carts, and links that connect villages to the nearest road that is passable year-round for motor vehicles. Access to transport services should always be considered when setting up new health and education facilities. Similarly, water points or firewood plantations need to be located close to the consumer. When providing goods, it is important to ensure that they can be readily transported and are appropriate for the means of transport to be used (e.g. inputs such as fertiliser need to be packed in sizes that enable them to be taken to farms on foot).

One of the aims of integrated regional planning should be to ensure that infrastructure-related investment and running costs are manageable. Routes for non-motorised traffic should therefore be promoted as well as motorised transport routes. Women benefit particularly from improved accessibility at local village level: they have little access to means of transport but at the same time they often bear the main burden of the family’s mobility needs.

A widely used approach has been developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) under the name Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning, IRAP (Donnges 2003). IRAP aims to improve rural transport systems and the distribution of and access to facilities and services. As part of the scheme various instruments have been developed that can be adapted to the specific requirements of each country and region.