Kenya : rural roads

This study by an AID/W team details the project"s impact to date. Most RAR"s were found to be well-constructed and serviceable, but direct economic benefit - apart from the generation of local employment due to the labor-intensive nature of the RAR program (the project"s graveling, bridging, and culverting program, by contrast, employs capital-intensive techniques) - was not in evidence. Pedestrian traffic dominates due to a lack of vehicles and the high costs of vehicle use, while the fixed prices of staples and major commodities prevent buyers/sellers from recuperating transport costs and thus serve as a disincentive to private sector development in isolated areas. A variety of public service and official-use vehicles are urgently needed to serve such areas. More positively, the RAR program seems capable of being institutionalized in view of the commitment of both officials and people to labor-intensive methods and a road selection process that begins at the local level. Maintenance activities, especially those of a labor-intensive nature, were found to be successful, but a lack of indigenous engineers threatens long-term maintenance. Roads built under the Vihiga-Special Rural Development Program already require almost total rehabilitation; an agreement to perform such work during the present project was concluded as a result of this evaluation. Lessons learned are the benefits of the RAR program"s labor-intensive and participatory approach and the need to: promote more effective road use by coordinating other integrated development activities at both the national and local levels; undertake cost and supervisory planning to ensure post-project road maintenance; and resolve the policy causes of the project"s current lack of direct socioeconomic impact (an appendix argues for an integrated time-phased strategy). Lessons of general import for A.I.D."s Kenya program are also noted. Appendices also include a review of other evaluations of rural roads in Kenya.