A model for community driven rural road maintenance in smart villages in India (unpublished working paper): Community driven rural road maintenance in Assam

Abstract

Poor road maintenance especially in developing economies is one of the key reasons that remote communities are disjointed from mainstream activities. While governments’ initiatives for upgrading rural roads through capital programs show immediate benefits, lack of appropriate maintenance regimes during the post construction phase often results in roads becoming non-functional over the medium to long term. In India the poor state of some ‘paved’ rural roads often fail to fulfil their basic functionality. Whilst there are numerous reasons for this non-functionality, lack of periodic maintenance is often cited as a common cause across many developing countries; this is often attributed to governmental and funding issues. The purpose of this research is to explore alternative governance options for maintaining rural roads. Based upon a comprehensive review of community based road maintenance programs across the world, a generic conceptual model for maintenance funding and delivery, to empower the local community, was developed. Taking into consideration the current governance structure in the state of Assam, India, the model was then applied to derive a specific solution for the funding and delivery aspects of maintaining rural roads and

empowering local communities through proactive involvement in the decision making process. The model is expected to bring significant insights for maintaining rural roads within a community without indefinitely needing to rely upon public agencies.

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ORCID for David Ashmore: orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-1962

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