General proceedings - Association mondiale de la Route

most of the techniques focus on determining direct benefits that are easier to quantify and
that there is an increasing trend to determine the larger impact of rural road investments on
socio-economic development and ultimately economic growth. Qualitative methods can be
used for impact determination.
Highlights of the Presentation:
• In the Southern Africa Development Community [SADC] region road transport carries
over 80% of the region’s goods and services
• It is estimated that about 1.8 million km of roads in Sub-Saharan Africa, of which only
284,000km (approximately 16 %) are paved.
• External investment in economic infrastructure 1 from 1990-1996 for Sub-Saharan Africa
was US$26.7 billion, compared to US$41.4 billion for Latin America and the Caribbean
and US$ 101.9 billion for Asia.
• Parallel work indicated that a significant improvement in socio-economic living
conditions was estimated with rural roads investment. The estimated benefits included the
following: Improved accessibility to social infrastructure (schools and health centres),
increased opportunities to access education and health facilities and improved social
interaction and mobility, which are important for social and economic development;
improved access to markets by reducing transport costs; improvement of the
marketability of perishable goods through timely and cheaper transport that will provide a
direct incentive for more market-oriented agriculture, with more profitable cash crops, an
increase in rural income as well as additional employment opportunities.
• Impacts of an investment on rural roads can be measured either directly (e.g. saving on
VOCs, travel time), indirectly (e.g. jobs created) or induced (e.g. increased agricultural
production).
• Appraisal techniques such as Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) and Cost-Effective Analysis
(CEA) are applied to support project appraisal of road investments through software tools
such as HDM-4 and the RED model.
Session 4: Road Investment Planning and its Management
Title: IRF experience on road financing and investment worldwide
Author & Presenter: Mr. Anthony Pearce (pictured), Director General International
Road Federation
The presenter highlighted the international experience
on PPPs, key steps for successful PPPs, both at a
national level and at project level. He emphasized that it
is important not to give the private sector the tough
projects and keep the good ones for the public sector.
He stressed also that easy projects and gradual private
sector involvement will build success. In addition, he
noted above all that it is crucial to have a firm public
sector political commitment, with a focused, dedicated
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