Team-based maintenance of rural roads - conceptual guide

This guide introduces the concept of team-based maintenance of rural roads, which encompasses general cleaning and clearing of the different road elements together with minor repairs, as well as some rudimentary road improvements by maintenance teams formed by people living along the roads. It aims to introduce a practical means of implementing cost-effective maintenance of rural roads in Nepal, aimed at preventing serious damage to the roads by ensuring the proper working of the different road elements, by executing minor repairs to avoid more serious problems from occurring, and by creating basic road protection measures to further safeguard the road. The objective during the development has been to come up with a system that enables the rural roads in good to fair condition to be sustained and even improved at a minimal cost to the DDC’s in terms of money and human resources, whilst at the same time creating employment and incomes for the rural poor. This is not an all-encompassing maintenance strategy, and will have to be complemented by corrective maintenance measures on a periodical basis.