Relying solely on government budgets for financing road maintenance nearly always leads to roads being under-funded. As a consequence, road assets are eroded, vehicle operating costs increase and the country builds up a large backlog of rehabilitation work. To overcome this problem, a new generation of Road Funds were developed in the mid-1990s, based on the fee-for-service concept, meaning that road users pay explicitly for roads (mainly through fuel levies), the funds are managed through an independent Road Fund Administration and the arrangements are designed to ensure that funds are not abstracted from other sectors.
Read more in the gTKP Finance & Economics Topic Information Sheet on Road Funds.
Key Documents:
- Case study: Andreski, A., Case Study of Road Funds in Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania, background paper to Module 1, Senior Road Executive Course, University of Birmingham, 2008.
- General: Asian Development Bank, Road Funds and Road Maintenance, An Asian Perspective, ADB, Manila, Philippines, July 2003.
- Guillossou, J-N. and Stankevich, N., Assessment of Road Funds in South Asia Region, Transport Note No TRN-37, World Bank, December 2008.
- General: Heggie, I. and P. Vickers, Commercial Management and Financing of Roads, Technical Paper 209, World Bank Washington DC, 1998, chapters 3, 7 and 8 plus Annexes. This extensive resource has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, French, Hungarian, Russian and Spanish and can be ordered through the World Bank.
- Case study: Zietlow, G., Road Funds in Latin America, background paper to Senior Road Executive Course, University of Birmingham, 2004.
- Hands on guidance: Heggie, I., Setting up a Road Fund in a Commercialised Road Sector, background notes to Senior Road Executive Course, University of Birmingham, 2006.
- Hands on guidance: Heggie, I., Day-to-day Management of an Independent Road Fund Administration, background notes to Senior Road Executive Course, University of Birmingham, 2006.
Key presentations:
- Heggie, I., Managing a modern Road Fund, 15 Years of Lessons Learned, presented during Module 1 Road Finance and Road Fund Management, Senior Road Executive Course, International Road Federation/University of Birmingham, 2009.
- Ugandan Road Fund Task Force Secretariat, Principles of a Road Fund, 2007. This is an extensive presentation about the preparations of setting up a Road Fund in Uganda, addressing institutional aspects, pros and cons, when to implement, lternatives etc.