Philippines : rural roads I and II

Rural Roads I and II projects in the Philippines are herein assessed. Of 69 completed or nearly completed road construction projects, 8 were selected to be analyzed as a representative cross-section. Overall, road construction proceeded well, but maintenance was inadequate. Socioeconomic impacts ranged from nil to dramatic, but the institutional impact was disappointing as provincial planning and engineering offices failed to reach desirable levels of professional competence or to achieve staff continuity. The provinces did not conduct high-quality feasibility studies or keep up to date on evaluation schedules. Road selection was based primarily on political rather than equity considerations. Nevertheless, project-constructed roads allowed more people to market their produce directly and significantly improved rural access to doctors, clinics, and hospitals in adjoining areas. Other infrastructure (e.g., power systems) was expanded in some areas, but generally not as a result of the project. Social benefits were modest and educational and recreational benefits very minor. However, the great majority of residents interviewed said they had benefited from project activities. Lessons learned are: site selection criteria need to be more precise if benefits are to be focused on the rural poor; institution-building might have been more cost-effective if focused on regional rather than provincial offices, although this might have compromised decentralization goals; design was strongly biased in favor of capital-intensive methods and community involvement was limited; feasibility studies had little effect in determining construction priorities; design standards were too high for prevailing conditions; impacts would have been greater had construction/improvement of provincial roads and barangay township roads been linked and had there been better coordination with other rural development programs; the construction of penetration (as opposed to feeder) roads and of bridges has had the greatest impacts; and the Fixed Amount Reimbursement scheme was, on balance, a positive aspect and merits consideration in other A.I.D. projects.