Rural works II in Indonesia : project impact evaluation

Special impact evaluation examines 21 of the 2,735 subprojects (SP's) implemented between Indonesian fiscal years 1979-83 and is based on document review and interviews with project personnel, government officials, villagers, and workers. The degree of success has varied by type of infrastructure. Road SP's have been most successful in providing employment to marginal farmers and landless laborers (who used the additional income to improve their homes and/or farms) as well as longer-lived social and economic improvements - increased agricultural production and income and access to urban areas. The quality of life improved dramatically at all 13 road SP's visited. However, even though communities do maintain to some extent the roads they have built, responsibility and funding for major maintenance that exceeds community resources has not been defined. Irrigation and flood control SP's have likewise boosted agricultural production, farmer income, and socioeconomic conditions, but have faced similar problems regarding system maintenance. Flood control SP's, however, in increasing the market value of land, have led to competition among large farmers, while small farmers have been pushed away. Other SP's have been less successful. A rice terracing SP led to relatively small yield increases, due to a failure to introduce drought-resistant crop varieties. A fish pond canal SP benefited fish pond owners (who, however, are few in number and live away from the pond sites), but reduced farm production due to inundation of agricultural areas by seawater. Finally, an SP to construct a water reservoir for dry season irrigation was not technically sound; the reservoir constructed usually collapses during the rainy season. In projects of this type, construction should be professionally performed.