Equitable allocation of resources for roads and systematic prioritisation of road projects in developing countries is important in order to enhance equality of transport opportunities and to achieve sustainable developments. This has been recognised as a research problem as it has challenged stakeholders. Existing decision systems are complex, data intensive and equity is not considered appropriately whilst data is often obsolete or unreliable. Therefore, the crux of this research is to investigate and develop new approaches with specific emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
This thesis offers a distinctive contribution to knowledge by proposing new equity-centred algorithms, Goal Programming (GP) models, formulae and frameworks/tools for SSA road sector which are based on expert opinion and literature evidence.
Following establishment of Road Funds and Road Authorities in SSA and subsequent increase in resource allocations, a clear understanding of equity in road funds allocation and road scheme prioritisation is important as road transport is by far the most predominant form of transport in Africa. The premise of this thesis supported by expert opinion is that there has been a historical bias towards funding of capital investment road projects at the expense of maintenance of existing roads; and road funds distribution and road scheme prioritisation is often non-systematic.
The research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods; and a two stage web-based survey. Salient road sector equity aspects analysed include funds allocation between: capital investment projects versus maintenance (macro); road network classes under maintenance (meso); and the various lower local government jurisdictions and prioritisation of competing road schemes (micro). The developed decision tools are then applied to critique road sector allocations and systems from the case study countries of Uganda, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia.
The study finds that inequity and political interference are commonplace in the SSA road sector and allocation formulae are important instruments to achieve Rawlsian equity thus ensuring equality of transport opportunities and sustainability. Furthermore, the study concludes that road maintenance funding ought to be increased following country specific needs assessments. Road funds allocation and road scheme selection should be multi-criteria based prioritising economic efficiency for national roads and social equity/multi-dimensional poverty for rural roads.
Finally, it is recommended that the Rawlsian equity assessment tool, formulae, GP models and algorithms developed in this study which are based on expert identified factors and weightings (rankings); are used to mitigate the inequity in allocations and the haphazard road scheme prioritisation in SSA and other developing regions.
