Conclusions

Between 1997-98 and 2002-03, rural poverty incidence in Lao PDR declined by 9.5 per cent of the rural population. This occurred even though some of the macroeconomic conditions in Laos mitigated, to some extent, against the interests of rural people. The analysis of the relationship between poverty incidence and road development provided in this paper suggests that about 13 per cent of this decline in rural poverty can be attributed to improved road access alone. Other factors included a massive public investment in irrigation facilities.

Between 1997-98 and 2002-03 the improvement in road access took the form of providing wet weather access to areas which already had dry season access. The analysis provided in this paper suggests that this strategy had a high pay-off in terms of reduced poverty incidence and further investments in this form of road provision are highly desirable.

Nevertheless, there is now a high return to providing dry weather access to the most isolated households of Lao PDR – those who have no road access at all. They constitute 31.6 per cent of all rural households in Lao PDR and are being left behind by the development of the market economy. By providing them with dry season road access, rural poverty incidence could be reduced permanently from the present 33 per cent to 29.7 per cent. A further reduction to 26 per cent could be obtained by providing all rural households with all-weather road access.

Rural road provision is not easy and it is not cheap. Its benefits, measured in terms of poverty reduction or any other dimension of economic welfare, must of course be compared with its costs. Nevertheless, the results of this study confirm that in a country like Laos, where roads are primitive, improving road access is an effective way of reducing rural poverty.

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Comment(s)

There are [3] comment(s) for this entry. Post a comment.

1. Ahmad Raza Khan
   (posted 28 November 2008 / 02:15:56 PM)
   
   It is very impressive and one can learn from the report and implement these findings in our own country. I am from Pakistan where the major portion of population lives in rural areas. The road network in Pakistan is not impressive especially in rural areas the situation is even more worse.
   by building road infrastructure and improving the alread existing , we can change the lives of people.
   
2. Arounyadeth
   (posted 22 October 2008 / 08:38:37 PM)
   
   Road is very important for development in Laos as many studies suggested. However, the project from ADB or other donors mostly concentrate on East-West road network. So far, North-South road network has been mostly untapped, except some maintenance project for route 13. However, the study on direct link road from North-South should be studied, because North-South regions hold comparative advantages, which they could trade to each other, e.g. livestock and paddy. I really hope that there will be more studying on this matter.
3. Karel Martens
   (posted 29 June 2007 / 05:44:52 PM)
   
   It is important to note that roads will only alleviate poverty if it goes together with a transport service that is accessible for the poor. The expectation that roads alleviate poverty is based on the assumption that some form of para-transit will be available to travel with or without goods.
   In current circumstances, such services will most likely be provided by the market. However, as affluence increases, so will car ownership, and the same roads build to alleviate poverty, may become instruments to increase the gaps between those with and those without cars.
   it is therefore important to stress what is alleviating poverty: not the roads as such but the transport service it provides to the poor. By focusing on the transport service rather than roads the proper link between poverty alleviation and accessibility is made.