The Sub-Sahara Africa Transport Program (SSATP) was established, with theobjective of looking for solutions to loss of road asset value in Sub Sahara Africa and other developing countries. The main objective of the program was to improve transport efficiency through major policy reforms. Two major factors were identified as contributing to the loss of road asset value; firstly, lack of market discipline encouraged governments to minimise their own road maintenance expenditures disregarding the impact this had on the total road transport costs (road maintenance costs plus Vehicle Operating Costs), and secondly, maintenance was normally financed under the recurrent budget, and recurrent revenues were nearly always in short supply.The SSATP identified that lack of maintenance was not rooted in technicalmatters but was political and institutional. It also noted that there wasneed for policy change, creating firm awareness at the highest level of government, of the importance of road maintenance. The Road Maintenance Initiative, a key component of the SSATP became the vehicle for change in SSA1. To succeed, four basic building blocks were identified as critical to reforms: create ownership by involving road users in managing road maintenance; secure a sustainable and secure source of financing; clarify responsibility by identifying who is responsibility for what part of the network; and strengthen management of roads by providing effective systems, procedures and accountability. This study outlines the experiences of Kenya, in trying to reform management of roads, and its achievements in completion ofthe four basic building blocks. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.
Abstract