South Sudan.Rural Roads Project

Project development objective: to enhance all season road connectivity to agricultural services for rural communities in high agricultural potential areas. The PDO will be achieved by: (a) improving access to high agricultural potential areas; (b) improving access to social and administrative services and economic opportunities for rural communities; and (c) enhancing the capacity of participating states, and relevant national government institutions to manage rural transport infrastructure.

Expected outcomes of the project, as a result of the road improvements and institutional capacity building, include: (a) improved mobility of the rural population by providing all-season access; (b) improved condition of the roads network in the project areas as a result of rehabilitation and maintenance of the project roads; (c) reduction in travel time; (d) having more agricultural production centers connected ; and (e) Project Beneficiaries (of which the percentage of female) having better access to market, social and economic services. The delivery of these outcomes is in principle achieving the core development objective of enhancing connectivity to agricultural, economic and social services for the target population and facilitating agricultural development

World Bank.Document Date:2011/10/12.Document Type:  Project Information Document.Report Number:AB6832.Volume No:  1 of 1

South Sudan - Rural Roads Project

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Nicaragua.Rural Roads Infrastructure Improvement Project

The development objectives of the Rural Roads Infrastructure Improvement Project for Nicaragua are to (a) improve the access of the rural population living in the project areas to markets and social and administrative services through: (i) the carrying out of improvements in the recipient's road infrastructure; and (ii) the strengthening of Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure's (MTI's) institutional capacity for asset and disaster risk management; and (b) support the generation of short-term employment opportunities for the rural population living in the project areas.

There are three components to the project. The first component is rural road improvements and maintenance. This component comprises carrying out of improvement works (such as cobblestone surfacing or any other viable surface replacement option acceptable to the Association) in selected rural roads, all within the existing right of way; and carrying out of periodic maintenance works (such as asphalt resurfacing) in selected road sections within the national trunk road network, all within the existing right of way.

The second component is institutional development. This component comprises three sub-components: strengthening of MTI's institutional capacity; strengthening of Road Maintenance Fund (Fondo de Mantenimiento Vial) (FOMAV's) institutional capacity; and specific studies and designs. The third component is project management. This component comprises provision of support for project implementation, supervision and strengthening of MTI, through, inter alia: (i) the financing of consultant services; and (ii) the carrying out of evaluation studies to monitor the project's implementation.

World Bank.Document Date:2011/11/10.Document Type:Project Appraisal Document.Report Number:61418.Volume No:1 of 1

Nicaragua - Rural Roads Infrastructure Improvement Projecth

Estimating the long-term impacts of rural roads:a dynamic panel approach

Infrastructure investments are typically long-term. As a result, observed benefits to households and communities may vary considerably over time as short-term outcomes generate or are subsumed by longer-term impacts.

This paper uses a new round of household survey as part of a local government engineering department's rural road improvement project financed by the World Bank in Bangladesh to compare the short-term and long-term effects of rural roads over eight years. A dynamic panel model, estimated by generalized method of moments, is applied to estimate the varying returns to public road investment accounting for time-varying unobserved characteristics.

The results show that the substantial effects of roads on such outcomes as per capita expenditure, schooling, and prices as observed in the short run attenuate over time. But the declining returns are not common for all outcomes of interest or all households. Employment in the rural non-farm sector, for example, has risen more rapidly over time, indicating increasing returns to investment.

The very poor have failed to sustain the short-term benefits of roads, and yet

the gains accrued to the middle-income groups are strengthened over time because of changing sectors of employment, away from agriculture toward non-farm activity. The results also show that initial state dependence -- or initial community and household characteristics as well as road quality -- matters in estimating the trajectory of road impacts.

Author:Khandker, Shahidur R. ; Koolwal, Gayatri B.Document Date: 2011/10/01.Document Type: Policy Research Working Paper. Report Number: WPS5867.Volume No:1 of 1

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