Rural Road Investment Efficiency – Lessons from Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Uganda

This report by the World Bank aims at a better understanding of how to achieve improved and more effective rural transport. So far, most development partners and governments in sub-Saharan Africa have relied on two overarching assumptions which have led to massive road investments: a) most households in rural areas in Africa are not connected to markets and therefore need a road passable for a truck; and b) roads with a high level of service are crucial to achieving a strong economic impact. The authors demonstrate in the report that these assumptions may be questioned in many cases in SSA, based on data collected in Burkina Fase, Cameroon and Uganda. A one-size-fits-all approach, such as achieving the Rural Access Index, is therefore not desirable from an aid effectiveness perspective. Donor coordination is a must to avoid – for example – the rehabilitation of rural roads not connected to passable secondary roads.