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8 - Roads and Regional Development

Cooperation with specific groups

A road planning team must communicate with groups that are affected by the road, and have either the power to block progress of road development or have a legitimate interests that should be given a place in the political debate about the road. This will smoothen the process later on.

This may be termed the interactive planning of roads. The more groups are respected and involved, and explained why in certain respects their ideas can be used in the road planning process, and in other respects they cannot, the more they are likely to cooperate in the formal decision-making process as well.

Such groups may be:

Formal authorities

Spatial or infrastructure planning authorities who have a formal role in the decision-making process.

Interest groups like NGOs and economic stakeholders

Those representing specific affected interests, like NGOs and their representatives in the government (e.g. nature protection). Also those whose economic interests are positively affected. These may be industries, cities, neighbouring countries, that have a stake in a new road. Useful links:

Achieving Consensus in Public Decision Making: Applying Interest-Based Problem Solving to the Challenges of Intergovernmental Collaboration; scientific paper by Greg Andranovich

Toolkit citizen participation; a Dutch kit

Participatory Methods Toolkit: A practitioner’s manual; a UK kit

The Quality of Stakeholder-Based Decisions; paper by Thomas C. Beierle

Compendium of Relevant Practices Stakeholder Participation; by the UNEP

Enhancing regional cooperation in infrastructure development; by UNESCAP

Participatory methods; paper by Linda Mayoux

Financers

Financers that have to be convinced that the road they finance is acceptable from multiple points of view and is supported, and also that they will get reasonable returns; especially problematic is the dilemma between involving private investors that share in returns directly from road use in the strategic planning process, and keeping options really open in the formal planning process (public- private participation). Useful links:

Tookit Highway Development on the World Bank's site; The "Toolkit for Public-Private Partnership in Highways" highlights policy options for private participation in the highways sector (ranging from feeder roads to motorways).

Consultants

Consultants may do studies, but that cannot be responsible for political choices during the process of plan development and assessment.

Word Bank Toolkit on hiring consultants; "Infrastructure reforms are complex and governments will seldom have all necessary skills and expertise to implement them. External advisors can make a positive contribution to the process as they bring international experience, an insight into the requirements of the private sector, and added guarantee of transparency and legitimacy to external parties, including customers, donors and operators."