An alternative approach to the Maintainance of neighborhood road infrustructure

Title: AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO THE PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE IN KAMPALA CITY.  
Authors: Ian Senkatuka, Barnabas Nawangwe, Orjan Svane
Keywords: Road Maintenance, Construction, Sustainable Development
Issue Date:
Abstract: This study looks at urban physical infrastructure service delivery in developing countries that are urbanizing rapidly. It highlights the fact that physical infrastructure providers in many developing countries, are failing to effectively deliver their services, leading to poor quality, inadequate and non-existent infrastructure in many areas. This has subsequently affected the built and the natural environment, affecting people’s health, safety, comfort and convenience.It will focus on roads in neighbourhood areas of Uganda’s capital city Kampala, most of which have been neglected, and have problems that need to be looked into. It will look at the service delivery process that involves the planning, provision and maintenance of the road infrastructure. The study looks at the road in a wider perspective i.e. from a functional (use), social, and commercial perspective. Roads have various functions and activities that occur along it. They are used as a transportation conduit for pedestrians, vehicles and for other infrastructure, and are an axis along which people live and work e.g. trade. There is an interface between people using it, and those living and working along it. Looking at it in this way may hopefully contribute to finding a more sustainable way of improving the situation for all its users. Banerjee et al (1984) argues that a good residential environment enhances satisfaction and an individuals sence of well being.

Kampala City Council (KCC), which is supposed to provide and maintain the road infrastructure, is failing to deliver the services effectively. This has led to a situation where many neighbourhood areas have inadequate or non-existent road infrastructure. In the housing sector, self-help initiatives have been used in many developing countries to ensure that people, particularly the poor, get access to good housing. These initiatives that involve the participation of the community have been used in the provision and maintenance of some other forms of infrastructure or service delivery, like garbage collection, etc. Given KCC’s failure to deliver services effectively, it is necessary to investigate if similar initiatives may be used to successfully provide sustainable road infrastructure to Kampala’s neighbourhood areas. There are a few cases where other stakeholders like the community and the private sector, tired of KCC’s persistent inability to provide the road infrastructure, have tried to provide and maintain their own road infrastructure. The attempts that have tried to provide the infrastructure have had many problems, since there are no clear guidelines, and have only provided short-term solutions. Since KCC is failing to provide road infrastructure to neighbourhood areas, and others have decided to intervene to improve their road infrastructure, they need to be supported to ensure that their problems and constraints can be overcome. The synergy between them and KCC, may be able to lead to improved road infrastructure for all users. The process of providing and maintaining road infrastructure in neighbourhood areas needs to be studied to see how it can be improved for all users. For this to be done in a sustainable manner, the interests of all road users and of the people living and working along or close to the road, need to be taken into consideration.

This study intends to develop knowledge that will hopefully contribute to improving the provision and management of road infrastructure, within Kampala City’s neighbourhood areas, for all stakeholders. It will not look at the design of the road, but at the process in its totality to ensure that the findings and recommendations made are based on a good understanding of the process. It will look at what is being done, what threats and opportunities exist, etc, to see how the service delivery may be improved and how the process of change may be affected.

It is hoped that the results of the study will contribute to the achievement of effective road infrastructure service delivery in Kampala City’s neighbourhood areas, hopefully contributing to sustainable development.

Presented at:

Attachments

Attachment Name Attachment Type
Barnabas Nawangwe: Maintainance of neighborhood road infrustructure DOC PDF PS