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Regional Seminar Proceedings 1992
SESSION 3: MAINTENANCE
Summary Maintenance is steadily gaining the recognition it deserves for governments and development agencies. Due to financial constraints, organisational problems and inappropriate methods, condition of roads have deteriorated since the 1960's to the extent that it is a threat to the economic development in rural areas. So far labour-based methods for routine maintenance have proven to be most appropriate for rural roads, but their large scale application still requires significant planning, training and management inputs. In Kenya, labour-based methods have been applied for 20 years on the rural roads network and experience is more extensive here than in other countries. The performance and means of improving the established system is presented by Gary Taylor. The difficulties of changing an established system to a more efficient one, are reviewed by David Jennings. Through a presentation of the Roads 2000 project, Andreas Beusch explains how the use of labour-based methods will be expanded to cover maintenance works on all gravel roads in Kenya also including those which have been constructed by equipment-intensive methods.
I. IMPROVING ROUTINE MAINTENANCE BY LENGTHMEN A TECHNICAL OR A MANAGERIAL PROBLEM? Presented by: G,A. Taylor, PEM Engineer, MRP Kenya In this short paper; the development of the lengthmen system of routine maintenance as practiced in Kenya will be briefly described. The main findings of various studies on the system to date will be reviewed. Finally some problems with the system as currently operated will be given to provide a starting point for further discussion. The lengthmen system of routine maintenance has been operating in Kenya on unpaved rural roads since the mid to late 1970's. Despite many questions over its effectiveness and suggestions for change; it operates today in basically the same form as fifteen years ago. One lengthmen (or "length person") is responsible for the maintenance of a section of road of about 1.5 km length. Currently approximately 9;000 km of road are under routine maintenance by slightly over 6;000 lengthmen of whom 88% are men and 12% women. Each lengthmen works for 3 days per week throughout the year. One overseer equipped with a motorcycle supervises about 100 lengthmen. He is expected to visit each road section at least twice a month to monitor work carried out and plan future work. There are an average 3 to 4 overseer per district who report to a maintenance inspector. The maintenance inspector has responsibility for all maintenance operations (both routine and periodic) in the district. In the early 1980's it was felt that a more rational and scientific approach was required. Consequently a series of studies were initiated in order devise procedures for calculating the labour input needed to maintain a the road under different physical conditions. To date three important studies have been completed:
1) Maintenance Study 1. Kenya Rural Roads Maintenance Study by Ove Arup and Partners commenced in early 1985 and the final report was completed in 1987. This study observed and analysed the routine maintenance work actually carried out on 15 typical rural access roads over a period of one year.
2) Maintenance Study 2; phase 1. The Establishment of Routine Maintenance Productivity Standards by Howard Humphrey and partners commenced in September 1988 and the final report was completed in May 1989. This study establishes appropriate task rates for routine maintenance operations from 5 months of detailed site measurements (see table 1).
3) Maintenance Study 2; Phase 2. The development of Routine Maintenance Requirements by Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick commenced in February 1990 and the final report was completed in October 1991. This study sought to identify relationships between routine maintenance requirements; in terms of labour inputs; and local factors such as rainfall; traffic and soil type. Observations were taken on 50 sections of minor/rural access roads over a period of one year during which time the inputs were carefully directed. In addition to the above studies; various investigations have been carried out by the MRP Training School at Kissi and internal discussion papers on routine maintenance have been produced by MRP Staff. The most significant conclusion to emerge from the studies to date is that management factors (planning; supervision; and motivation) have far more influence on the effectiveness of routine maintenance by lengthman that any technical; climatic or other factors. In the most recent (SWK) study it was found that; despite a relatively high level of supervision; the actual individual productivities of lengthmen could readily be up to five times lower than the standard task. This tended to dwarf variations due to physical and environmental characteristics of the road sections. Before running to this point the conclusions drawn so far on technical points will be summarised. It has been established that rainfall is the most important single cause of degradation of unpaved roads. Rainfall quantity influences the amount of siltation and erosion that occurs in ditches and the amount of erosion of carriageway and shoulders. The number of rainy months influences the amount of grass and bush cutting required. An interesting finding has been that certain routine maintenance carried out in very dry weather actually damages the road. Following on from this it has been suggested that; on balance; it is better to suspend routine maintenance work for most of the dry season. Perhaps the most surprising result arrived at so far is that no general quantitative relationship between traffic and overall maintenance inputs has been found. This is despite the fact that roads with relatively high traffic levels (several hundred vehicles per day) as well as low trafficked roads were included in the studies. Similarly no clear relationship between surface material type and overall maintenance inputs has been found. Gravel and earth roads did not require significantly different maintenance input in dry weather. However; in very wet weather earth roads with moderate to high traffic deteriorated so fast that the lengthmen had difficulty in keeping up with the carriageway maintenance. Also; there has been no relationship found between soil (subgrade) type and maintenance inputs. However; soil type did vary with climatic zone and; as mentioned above; climate was found to have a major impact on maintenance requirements. The distribution of activities required showed some variation between two of the main studies carried out (see figure 1). However; both studies found that cleaning side ditches was the major single routine maintenance activity required and carried out. This activity accounted for about 25% of all labour inputs to routine maintenance. Very approximately 45% of routine maintenance input requirements were found to be concerned with drainage works; 40% with carriageway and 15% with other works such as bush clearing and grass cutting. Based on these studies a method of calculating annual labour inputs for a section of road based on its characteristics has been devised. The results are inevitably an approximation but further sophistication is probably not warranted (see tables 2-4). Returning to the managerial issues; there is clearly a problem with the lengthmen system in terms of supervision. The dispersed nature of the work results in very diluted supervision. It was calculated in one investigation that an overseer had; on average; only 9 minutes to spend with each of his lengthmen on each visit. This obviously leaves little for detailed instruction or training of lengthmen (see figure 2). The general supervision problem has been assisted to a certain degree by the instruction of the routine maintenance headmen in charge of up to ten lengthmen each. However; the issue of some grouping together of lengthmen continues to be put forward. But to what extent this can be done without incurring the disadvantages of conventional routine maintenance gangs is still not clear. A further problem is that routine maintenance overseers themselves do not have clear targets to work to; unlike a road construction site. Monitoring of routine maintenance output is also a problem which tends to lead to neglect of this section of work by senior personnel in favour of supervision of more concentrated construction activities. Target setting and monitoring of routine maintenance is definitely required. Target outputs should desirably be expressed in terms of the condition of the maintained road. However; there is no easy and accepted method of measuring the "condition"of an unpaved road. Roughness measurements tend to be unreliable and anyway only measure the carriageway condition. In Kenya a "road defect rating" based on a combination of carriageway and drainage works condition is used (see figure 3). However; in practice it has been found that two different inspectors can arrive at very different defect ratings for the same section of road. A satisfactory solution to this problem has yet to be found. Despite these problems all the studies have found that the lengthmen system of routine maintenance is a relatively successful system for unpaved rural roads in Kenya. However; the potential for improvement is believed to be quite significant. It has been suggested that current overall productivities are only 50% of what is theoretically achievable. The challenge now is how to realise these potential improvements with effective and appropriate low cost measures.
DISCUSSION In Kenya there are currently approximately 9000 km of roads under routine maintenance carried out by slightly more that 6000 lengthmen. Each lengthman is given the responsibility of an average 1.5 km of road. The average cost of this maintenance set-up is US$ 200/km/year where 65% of the costs are labour wages, 12 % supervision and 20 % transportation. From the studies carried out on the Minor Roads Programme Programme (MRP) one can conclude that 45 % of the maintenance input requirements are concerned with drainage works, 40 % with the carriageway and 15 % with other works such as bush clearing and grass cutting.
Management Although the lengthmen system of routine maintenance is a relatively successful system, it is believed that the potential for improvement is significant. However, the conclusion from the studies is that improving planning, supervision and motivation is far more important to the effectiveness of the programme than technical or other factors. To improve the supervision of routine maintenance, headmen were introduced to facilitate communication between the overseers
Presented by: D.W. Jennings Bsc. C. Eng. MICE. FIHT. Project Manager KTS. Labour - based Roads, Training Project, Ministry of Public Works, Kissi, Kenya.
Background. The Rural Access and Minor Road Programme (MRP) of the Ministry of Public Works of Kenya have been constructing and maintaining Access and Feeder Roads in twenty six Districts of the republic of Kenya. This programme have been very successful. The success is due to many contributing factors, not least of which is a comprehensive training programme for staff. The detailed training received by all MRP supervisory staff through courses conducted by the school since 1978, means that the MRP has a very high quality of staff. The staff at all supervisory levels have a sound knowledge of technical, organisational and operational matters. The MRP system of construction and maintenance is based upon standardised method which are instilled in each individual through training and exercising. This is very successful and the programme works well in this way. The programme has build up a tradition in the way that the jobs are done. This tradition is known and used throughout the country for labour-based road maintenance. This is good. It is the bases of the success of MRP and its political acceptance in the country. It works. This programmed tradition, which has been deliberately built up in the system, is also the reason why change is difficult to effect.
The Case Study With the change from Rural Access Raod to Minor Roads (unclassified to classified), it was realised that a number of changes would be needed to the system. One of the latest of the major changes was change in the routine maintenance system. Whilst the original routine maintenance system worked reasonably well, it was felt that many improvements could be made. A consultant with experience of the system was engaged to propose changes to the routine maintenance system. First Draft of the New (Interism) Maintenance System (IMS) document was produced in April 1988. This document describes in detail all aspects of the required maintenance of earth and gravel roads by labour-based methods where labour availability is high. The document was copied for comment to all MRP engineers (approximately 30 persons). The comments on yhe document and it's contents were discussed in the MRP Engineers Meeting of October 1988. The engineers having no comments on the document, the management of MRP determined to approve the document and instructed the Engineers to begin implementing road maintenance work according to the new (IMS ) system. This can be called round one. The result of round one can be summerised qiute briefly.
NO ACTION WAS TAKEN!
ZERO PERCENT IMPLEMENTATION WAS ACHIEVED. The Training Departement of the Ministry and espetially the Kisii Training School had prior knowledge of the contents of the IMS manual. KTS has prepared, with the help of the external consultants, training courses to fit the IMS. The courses were conducted intensively throughout 1988 and the first half of 1989. Courses were conducted on a regional basis and followed up immediately by instructors visits to districts. During the followed up the instructors helped the overseers to set up demonstrations sites and begin to train the lengthmen. Cources were conducted separately for instructors and overseers from aech of the four regions of the MRP. By the middle of 1989 all the districts of MRP had inspected and overseers who had been trained in the new (IMS) methods. This was round two. The results of round two can also be summerised briefly.
NOTHING HAD CHANGED IN THE FIELD!
ZERO PERSENT IMPLEMENTATION HAD TAKEN PLACE This gradually became obvious during 1989. By the time of the Joint Donors Meeting in November 1989, the MRP management was highly concerned. Not only had the robust efforts of the training school ostensibly failed to make any difference, but the managements direct instructions to the District Engineers had been ignored. The issue was seriously discussed during the Donors Meeting together with the donors and the relevant departments of the Ministry of Public Works. It was realised that the inertia of the traditional system was far greater than had been anticipated. More efforts were needed. More resources had to be allocated to the problem. A more radical approach was required. Round three began early in 1990. Outside help was engaged in the form of a donor funded consultancy for implementation of the IMS. The terms of reference for the consultants were formulated in such a way as to make it clear that the task was to change the field practise in all districts, and not just make demonstration or train individuals. The consultant worked closely with the Kissi Training School and together they designed a new round of training for all districts. These courses were now conducted in the field regions. The courses were conducted with the participation of operational units. That is all members of the unit, engineer, inspector and overseer were trained together. Modern training techniques, including problem solving approach and group work with strong visualisation were used. The operational units were given the group task of foumulating their own implementation plans for their units, then putting these plans into practise. The consultants together with the Kissi Training School conducted these courses in each region during 1990. Having forced the formulation of realistic implementation plans from each unit, the consultant made a programme of monitoring visits to every district. The monitoring programme of the consultant and his report were made known to the District Engineers. The MRP management also followed up the results of these monitoring reports and discussed any problems with the engineer concerned. This process took until mid 1991. From the consultants final report we can see the results of round three. Country wide the average implementation is approximately 50 %. Some districts now have 80 % implementation. The operating units have taken on the task of completing the implementation for themselves and resistance is no longer a problem. Finally, after more than three years since the document was produced, we are coming close to having implemented the change. It has taken a considereable amount of money, and a great deal of time. It could have been done quicker, and cheaper.
Conclusion 1. The effort required to implement change to an operating system should not be underestimated. 2. The resistance to change from the staff should be taken into account in all training sessions which involve changes to a working system. 3. All three aspects must be considered when training adult professionals. They are Knowledge, Skills, and ATTITUDE. When change is involved the most important of these three may well be attitude. 4. Modern training techniques for the Training of Adult Professionals (ATP) and the Problem Solving Approach (PSA) are very successful. 5. Training has a limited effect. Training alone is not enough to effect large changes to a system. The whole operations team must be involved. This means close supervision from management and strong monitoring of the implementation progress, with feedback to the place of work. 6. Operational units can be trained successfully using the TAP methods. Groups can be formed of operating units.
DISCUSSION. Training Strategy The question was raised whether it would have been more successful changing the maintenance management system by starting with a smaller pilot project focusing on a few pilot districts instead of immediately implementing training country wide. It was admitted that this would have been a safer approach and that such an approach would also have enabled the trainees to plan the maintenance requirements of thier respective district in thier own enviroment. The training management initially expect that the district engineers would understand the Interim Maintenance Manual, which they did, and apply it which they did not. It was considered that this was due principally to two factors, first some engineers lacked the skill to implement the system and second, most importantly, very few engineers had the right attitude to put it into practice. The training management wrongly did not involve district engineers in decision making. The subsequent refresher course served to formulate thier own realistic plans and overcome these problems. In general, it is easier to introduce a new system than to change an existing approach. With an opperational system already in place, the maintenance management was more reluctant to changes. Status of the Maintenance Management System The final version of the Maintenance Manual will be available in June 1992. The training so far has been based on the Interim Maintenance Manual of 1988. The final report on the Maintenance Study 2 recommends a number of additional modifications. The findings of this study will be incorporated in the final manual. The training programme will be modified accordingly. Major Changes The main reason for modifying the maintenance system was to improve the effectiveness of the lengthmen through improved management. It has been suggested that the current productivities are only 55% of what is theoretically achieved. The main change in the new maintenance manual is the allocation of the specific tasks to the headmen and lengthmen by the overseer. Previously the overseer's task was to a great extent limited to checking the attendance of the lenghmen. In the new system the required work is quantified and priorised before clearly specified tasks are set for a two week period. To enable this clear and formalised instructions have been developed. Maintenance Contractors Expect for regravelling works no maintenanace contracting is envisaged. Due to the low number of contractors in the rural areas it would be difficult to introduce a system of competitive bidding at the stage. Before this can be regarded as a viable alternative a fully developed system must be established. In central province of Kenya small scale contractoes are engaged on gravelling works through a SIDA financed pilot project. At the moment it is felt that there is no need to turn to contructing because force account by lengthmen works well in Kenya and that therefore there is no reason for an immediate change. Other Labour-based Programmes If the proposed maintenance management system proves successful and the effectiveness of the labour-based maintenance system is increased, this experience should be shared with other labour-based programmes in the region. The Kenyan maintenance manuals are not international manuals, but could be used as a start when developing or improving a mainenance management system. The manual would not have to be adjusted to country specific condition. Future Research It was emphasised that maintenance experiments on technical aspects will have little or low effect on the peformance of the maintenace system. Efforts should be concetrated on managerial and motivation aspects. As an example, it was felt that further research is needed to improve the monitoring of maintenance works. There are still questions of maintenance standards to be resolved. One example is the relationship between the periodicity of regravelling works and routine maintenance. When regravelling is done more frequently, to what extent will the routine maintenance requirements be reduced? Some roadswith very little traffic are not gravelled at all. What are the concequences in terms of routine maintenance? To what extent will these roads require an increased routine maintenance input?
III. APPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT FOR MAINTENACE
A PROGRAMME FOR LABOUR AND TRACTOR BASED MAINTENANCE OF THE CLASSIFIED ROAD NETWORK MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS, GOVERNMENT OF KENYA Presented by A. Beusch of Intech Associates Prepared by: Intech Associates (extract from project paper, by R. C. Petts and A. Beusch) We kindly wish to acknowledge the use of all background information for this paper from the Ministry of Public Works of the government of Kenya.
1. INTRODUCTION Since 1974 the Kenya government has constructed 8000 km of Rural Access Roads to all weather gravel standard using labour-based methods. A further 4500 km of classifief D and E roads are also being improved using similar techniques. These roads are being maintained by labour-based method using the lengthmen system of routine maintenance with periodic regravelling support using tractorbased units. A significant portion of the 62,000 km classified road network is therefore now being maintained by labour-based methods. Intech Associates were appointed in August 1990 to review the current system of mainenance on the remainder of the Kenya classifiedroad network under funding assistance arrangements by the Swiss Directorate of Development Coorporation and Humanitarian Aid (SDC). The current heavy equipment based maintenance operation are severly hampered by a wide range of factors. A comprehensive analysis was caried out using a logical framework approach. Proposals were developed for improving road maintenance peformance with particular emphasis on the appropriate use of labour and tractor based technology and increased use of the private sector. The consultant's findings were presented at aplanning workshop in November 1990 where analysis and proposals were refined and adorsed. The proposals are tested and developed in an 18 month Pilot Phase. The pilot project will also develop systems and training requirements for wide implementtion on the new technologies. The work completed to date forms the initial part of the Ministry of Public Works phase programme with the stated objective of : MAINTENANCE OF THE CLASSIFIED ROAD NETWORK TO AN ECONOMIC LEVEL OF SERVICE ABILITY USING LOCAL RESOURCES AND LABOUR-BASED METHODS WHEREVER THESE ARE COST-EFFECTIVE.
2. BACKGROUND
2.1. The Road Maintenance Problem 2.1.1 The current Situation KENYA'S ROAD NETWORK Kenya's 61,688 km of classified roads (7,689 km bitumen surfaced) are concetrated mainly in the more agriculturally productive areas. A recent visual survey of the surfaced roads indicated that 32% are in good condition, 39% are in fair condition requiring some form of resurfacing or strengthening, and 28% are in critical condition. The ltter exhibit extensive amount of failure, so that repairs amounting perhaps to complete reconstaction are necessary. Rehabilitation of the paved network is estimated to cost Kenya Pound 650 million, at present prices, and extra vehicle operating cost on these deteriorated roads amount to about Kenya Pound 230 millionper year. The amount of gravelling carried out on the 25,266 km of gravel roads (113 km in 1989) recently suggests that many have now reverted to earth road standards. However, traffic level on the majority of gravel roads are very low, and generally gravelling could not be justified, especially in view of shortage of materials. The unsatisfactory network condition has been brought about by insufficient road maintenance over na extended period of time. Basic routine maintenance of the whole network is inadequate due to a range of funding, equipment and manpower constaints. 2.1.2 Maintenance Needs In order to maitain classified roads to reasonable standards, the annual expenditure should be about Kenya Pound 66.25 million (Mid 1990 prices), made up of Kenya Pound 26.25 million for routine mainyenance (recurrent) and Kenya Pound 40 million for periodic maintenance. This level of expenditure is estimated as sufficient to keep in good condition those where traffic warrants full maintenance, but others where there is little traffic would receive only minimal maintenance. Full maintenance of roads is estimated to cost about Kenya Pounds 140 million per year, and could probally not be economically justified. However, the estimates assume (1) that roads have been rehabilitated where necessary to a miantainable condition, and (11) that maintenance is efficiently carried out. FY90/91 Budget allocations for roads, including new construction and improvements, are about Kenya Pounds 66.3 million from all sources. Hence to achieve reasonable levels of maintenance, the entire present roads budget, both recurrent and development, would be necessary. Planned expenditures in the recurrent budget, Haeds 384 and 385, for routine and periodic maintenance in FY1990/91 amount to only Kenya Pounds 8.3 million to cover field operating costs; personal emoluments and equipment being paid from other votes. This figureis about one third of theamount necessary to pay for field operating costs for correct levels of routine maintenance alone. 2.1.3 Maintenance Resources The existing vehicle and equipment fleet is generally aged and availability rates are assed to be low (< 20% for heavy plant ). The existing maintenance system relies on transport to take the labour force to the work site each day. Low transport availability severly restricts the amount of work that the labour can achieve. Problems of inappropriate staffing, inadequate training, and lack of funds for operating expenses further constrain road maintennce peformance. Subordinate staff make up 60% of the 15,000 permanent workforce of the Roads Department, the majority of which are assigned to road maintenance activities. The underdeveloped management systems and poor motivation result in very low work output from this workforce (see Annex 1a).
2.2 Labour-based Experience in Kenya The Rural Access Road Programme, and latterly the Minor Roads Programme, has demostrated that the labour-based approach to improvement and maintenance of roads is a viable and cheaper alternative to the existing equipment-based system used on classified roads. The lengthmen maintenance system reduces foreign exchange requirements and creates significant useful rural employment. During the 1989/90 financial year, 8842 km of roads were under routine maintenance, creating employment for 6310 part time lengthmen (see Annex 1b) In addition, 435 km of roads were regravelled under periodic maintenance during the same period with the employment of 4190 casuals. Hence over the current five year plan period of the programme, it would have created employment approximately to: 31,550 man years of lengthment and The average cost of maintaining a kilometre of road by lengthmen is about Kenya Pound 200 per year excluding the supervision equipment: motor cycles and Land Rovers for the supervisory staff. For periodic maintenance, mainly regravelling, the cost is approximately Kenya Pound 6,750 per kilometre. The only equipment items used are 50 hp (37 kW) agricultural tractors towing gravel haulage trailors.
2.3 Government Policy Framework With an estimated two million extra workerscoming into the labour market during the current 1989/93 Development Plan, there is an urgent need to create extra employment opportunities, especially in rural areas. The plan promotes labour-based technologies in road construction and maintenance, and stresses the need to maintain the existing road network rather than constructing new roads. Government has always been, and remains, the largest employer of labour in Kenya. The current Development Plan recognises that there is serious overstaffing in the government, so that about two thirds of the recurrent budget is spent on wages, leaving insufficient funds to carry out work programme. The plan envisages a slower growth of public sector employment, and more efficient use of labour employment. The cost-efficient use of labour is seen as a means of conserve foreign exchange where conditions are suitable. Within the roads subsector, government has agreed that priority shall be given to routine maintenance, followed by resealing, regravelling, rehabilitation and strengthening of roads. Upgrading from gravel or earth to bitumen standards is given a lower priority. These policy decisions of government, taken with the principles of the 1989-93 Development Plan, are soundly conceived to conserve existing resources as much as possible, to minimise the use of scarce foreign exchange, and to make the minimum use of readily available manpower consistant with satisfactory resultsand lowest costs.
2.4 Phase 1 Study and Phase 11 Planning Workshop A major project workshop was held in Nairobi from 26th through 28th November 1990 to analyse problems with the country's maintenance of classified roads and to develop appropriate solution for the next decade. The workshop was attended to presentative staff of the Ministry of Public Works representativeof the ILO, the World Bank and several national aid organisations. A major information input a group consultants (Intech Associates) had conducted related investigations, surveys and interviews and produced a four volume report on their investigations (Phase I). Intech organised and facilitated the workshop in order to present their findings and conclusions to technical, managerial and political specialists, who could discuss, correct and refine them. The report submitted by the consultants included a tentative problem analysis ("PROBLEM TREE") relating to inadequate road maintenance on classified roads in Kenya, together with analyses of a number of options that might be adopted to improve performance in the future. These were considered by the workshop and, after revisions and refinement of the problem tree, all but one of the options were adopted. The options were ranked as either essential or very desirable in order to improve road maintenance. The only proposal rejected was for the formation of a parastatal body to undertake road maintenance. It was not adopted as participants felt that the alternative of developing private sector contract capabilities would be better and subject to less risk. The workshop participants went on to consider necessary follow-up actions. As some recommended options involve uncertainties, it was agreed that a pilot project should be set up. The following section summarises the outputs and recommendations of the Phase II workshop.
3. PHASE ii WORKSHOP OUTPUTS
3.1 Problem Analysis Analysis of the present and expected future situation of road maintenance were conducted on the basis of field visits, document analysis and interviews with road maintenance staff on al levels. The findings revealed a vast array of problems, which make maintenance of the network difficult and eneffective at present. The essence of the analysis was compiled and arranged as a problem tree, highlighting the relationship between causes and effects. The problem tree was used as a powerful diagnostic tool to find and prioritise areas for remedial actions. The problem analysis focused on "Insufficient Road Maintenance" as the core problem and analysed in detail the causes. Three main areas of concern were identified: FUNDING EQUIPMENT and the EXECUTION OF THE WORK The provisional problem tree was presented at the workshop and after detailed discussion in working groups the assessment was refined and finalised.
PROBLEM ANALYSIS
3.2 Outline Strategy Within the policy guidelines discussed in Section 2.3 a strategy was developed for "attacking the funding deficit" in the context of the unpaved classified road network. The strategy was agreed at the Government of Kenya and donors annual review meeting for the Minor Roads Programme held between 19 and 22 November 1990. The Phase II workshop fuuther developed this strategy in the context of the maintenance of the entire classified road network. After analysis of current problems the Phase II workshop addressed the scope within which maintenance of the network could be improved on a long term and sustained basis. It became clear that at the end of a complicated ond careful decision making process, a stable maintenance system with complete network coverage is desirable. This will require high-level and far reaching decisions which need to be taken in the context of the formulation of overall road maintenance policies. Kenya is already involved in the "Road Maintenance Initiative (RMI)", which emerged from a joint methodological approach of a number of multilateral and bilateral agencies. To integrate labour and tractor bbased methods into such an approach will require well supported evidence on the advantages, feasibility and cost-effectiveness. The workshop participants felt that they could offer at present (mainly based on MRP experience) certain very convincing recommendations for decision makers. However, more information, better justification and more detailed solutions will be needed to support the political decision making process. It was understood, that the various efforts should continuously generate services to policy makers and planners, which are information, justification, "marketing", donor involvement, and the creation of commitment at all levels of the institutions involved. Such services have been planned and the project will have to guarantee these services . The impact on political decision making can not be controlled, but here are strong indications of political change towards labour and tractor based technology and optimum use of Kenyan resources. |
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