3.

0 Infrastructure of rural transport

Infrastructure is a collective term that refers to all the elements in place (publicly or
privately or owned goods) to facilitate transportation, communication, and business
exchanges. In other ways, infrastructure also refers to the basic facilities, services, and
installations needed for the functioning of a community or society, such as transportation and
communications systems, water and power lines, and institutions. Transport infrastructure
refers to the framework that supports our transport system. It is a central to economic and
social development with its function to mobilise people and goods. The development of high
quality transport infrastructure and delivery of efficient transportation services are
fundamental enablers to improve the standard of living. This includes roads, railways, ports
and airports. More developed transport infrastructure increases connectivity and mobility,
lowers transaction costs, raises non-farm earnings and helps reduce distributional inequalities
between urban and rural areas.
Creightney (1993) defines accessibility as the ability or ease of reaching various
destinations or places offering opportunities for a desired activity. The elements of
accessibility therefore include the infrastructure and how to use it. With respect to rural
accessibility the infrastructure will be feeder roads, tracks and paths, and the vehicles
(motorised or non-motorised) will provide the mobility. If increased access to roads is
provided but there is no provision for vehicle services and hence mobility, then there has been
no improvement in accessibility according to Creightneys definition.
Many observers have found a good relationship between access to roads and
economic development. For example, Airey(1993) collected data during the village level
travel and transport surveys carried out under The World Banks Rural Travel and Transport
Programme (RTTP). He found that the average annual household income of the most
accessible villages was always well above the survey area average. In Ahmed and Hossains
(1990) study of rural infrastructure development in Bangladesh they found that infrastructural
endowment was associated with a rise in household incomes of 33 per cent, increases in
agricultural income of 24 per cent, livestock and fisheries by 78 per cent, and a doubling of
wages, while incomes from business and industry increased by only 17 per cent.
Rural transport is composed of activities that occur at central and local government,
community and household level. At the infrastructure level, mobility can be achieve
conducted via roads and waterways. In most cases road networks in rural areas are in bad

condition, in some cases can only be used seasonally can be poorly maintained. Mobility in
rural areas is pursued via occurs on motorised vehicles, small motor cycles, animal traction
driven carts vehicles, human traction, like bicycles and rowing, and on foot. Rural transport
infrastructure is the rural road, track, and path network. It also includes the intra- and nearvillage transport network, as well as the infrastructure that provides access to higher levels of
the road network.
Walking is the basic type of transportation in rural areas. Therefore, rural roadway is
the common infrastructure and transport used by villagers. Rural roads connect homes to
local communities. Nationwide, these roads may be paved with concrete or asphalt, simply
constructed from a dirt base, or have an all-weather surface such as gravel, rock, or sand.
Transport activities on rural transport infrastructure are performed to a large extent on foot,
sometimes by intermediate means of transport such as bicycles and animal drawn carts, and
sometimes by using the services of motorized transport. In developing rural areas, lorries and
buses services such as school bus, stage bus and bus stop also provided. Stage bus is a
passenger bus which provides a regular return scheduled services, with predetermined fare
structure based on a distance or a zone. Normally this type of service has frequent stops to
take and alight passengers. Rural roads are often a lifeline for rural communities. A good way
to judge the quality of rural roads in a country or state is looking at the results of federally
mandated bridge inspections. Roads are important, but bridge are essential. Contributions of
rural roads and bridge to socio-economic include accelerated delivery of farm inputs and
evacuation of produce, reduction in the cost of transportation in terms of human energy and
facilitating more efficient distribution of goods and service from different locations.
Railway are pervasive in rural municipalities and create different challenges than in
urban areas. The railway lines consist dedicated of two parallel steel rails which are laid upon
sleepers (or cross ties) that are embedded in ballast to form the railroad track. Rail is the most
efficient mode of transport in term of number ringgit per output. Train can carried large
quantity of freight and passengers at a reasonable speed. It also enable low average cost
operations and Capable of handling almost any type of cargo. The transportation of hazardous
materials by rail is increasing. This has resulted in a renewed focus on the oversight and
safety of the rail industry. Rural areas depend on rail freight to transport heavy and bulky
commodities such as lumber, wheat, coal, and heavy equipment. For heavy, large volume
bulk commodities the cost of shipment is much less by rail. In addition, transport by rail can
reduces the damage to local rural roads that would take place if these commodities were

hauled by truck. Although the railway is efficient in carry passengers and freight, but this
kind of services not very afford by some poorer rural villagers due to high fare.
Besides, water transport also be a transport infrastructure that using in rural areas.
Waterways are natural ways because the motive power (current and wind) are provided by
nature. The major rivers of India, China and Southeast Asia are being used as an alternative to
road transport to achieve greater fuel conservation, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases,
and lower road and vehicle maintenance costs. Waterways is the cheapest transport
infrastructure that can afford by some poorer villagers. More waterways in rural areas is
based on tramp ships which are operate wherever the market dictates and do not have fixed
schedule. While, water transport in rural areas cannot carry too larger capacity due to size of
vessels and ports located in rural areas. There do not have ports in rural areas due to its
geography. For example, in Sarawak, the road network is still underdeveloped and unlike
Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia, there is no rail network passing through rural areas and
connecting the main towns. While the building roads is a slow and costly process and
meantime, the states rivers can serve efficiently as superhighways from coastal ports into the
interior.
In order to complement poverty reduction strategies, rural transport interventions
must be an integral part of rural development interventions and focus on the mobility and
access needs of rural communities. Developing efficient and affordable transportation
networks is imperative in supporting the transformation into an advanced economy and
inclusive nation. Improving mobility is a vital element in allowing access to services to poor
rural villagers especially farmers. Farmers not only need to access markets, but can reach
markets. Further, market access is only one element of the mobility issue, being able to reach
a blacksmith or an input supplier is also important.

REFFERENCE
1. Doerflinger, Fredeic. (1975) Inland Waterways A New Environment Dimension.
Environmental Consevation, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1975, pp 89-98.
2. Airey, T (1990). The Thuchi-Nkubu Road Study: Analysis of Travel between 1983 and
1989. TRRL working paper OU/274, Transport Research Laboratory, Crowthorne.
3. Creightney, C D (1993). Transport and Economic Performance: A Survey of Developing
Countries. World Bank Technical Paper No. 232, Washington D.C.
4.http://www.academia.edu/198095/RURAL_INFRASTRUCTURE_AND_ECONOMIC_DE
VELOPMENT
5. http://www.iitk.ac.in/3inetwork/html/cgibin/mysearchfiles/chapter7.html
6. Howe, J.

1999. Rural Transport Projects: Concept Development, Justification and

Appraisal. Lecture Series at the World Bank, September 20-24, 1999.