Interactions Between Improved Rural Access Infrastructure and Transport Services Provision
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Interactions between improved rural access infrastructure and transport services provision Report of Nepal Surveys Paul Starkey, Robin Workman and John Hine TRL ReCAP GEN2136A April 2020 Preferred citation: Starkey, P., Workman R. and Hine, J., TRL (2020). Interactions between improved rural access infrastructure and transport services provision: Report of Nepal Surveys. ReCAP GEN2136A. London: ReCAP for DFID. For further information, please contact: Robin Workman, Principal International Consultant, TRL: [email protected] TRL, Crowthorne House, Nine Mile Ride, Wokingham RG40 3GA, UK ReCAP Project Management Unit Cardno Emerging Market (UK) Ltd Clarendon Business Centre Level 5, 42 Upper Berkeley Street Marylebone, London W1H 5PW The views in this document are those of the authors and they do not necessarily reflect the views of the Research for Community Access Partnership (ReCAP) or Cardno Emerging Markets (UK) Ltd for whom the document was prepared Cover photo: Paul Starkey: Bus rounding hairpin bend with stone soling on the Kavre road studied in Nepal Quality assurance and review table Version Author(s) Reviewer(s) Date 1.1 P Starkey, R Workman and J Hine G Morosiuk (TRL) 10 December 2019 A Bradbury (ReCAP PMU) 18 December 2019 1.2 P Starkey, R Workman and J Hine G Morosiuk (TRL) 27 January 2020 A Bradbury (ReCAP PMU) 10 February 2020 Nite Tanzarn and Dang Thi Kim 18 March 2020 (ReCAP Technical Panel) 1.3 P Starkey, R Workman and J Hine A Bradbury (ReCAP PMU) 11 April 2020 ReCAP Database Details: Interactions between improved rural access infrastructure and transport services provision ReCAP GEN2136A UK with subsequent research and Reference No: Location workshops in AfCAP and AsCAP countries Source of Proposal ReCAP PMU Procurement Method Open tender Theme Transport Services Sub-Theme Effective use of access Lead Implementation TRL Ltd N/A Partner Organisation Organisation Total Approved Budget £277,480 Total Used Budget £154,189 Start Date 15th April 2019 End Date 31st May 2020 Report Due Date 24 January 2020 Date Received 28 January 2020 IMPARTS: GEN2136A ii Nepal Survey Report Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................................... vi Acronyms, Units and Currencies ................................................................................................................................ vii Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Background ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 1.1 Project overview .................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Research objective ................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Activities and progress to date .............................................................................................................................. 2 1.4 Research tools and methods ................................................................................................................................. 3 2 Institutional context ........................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Nepal geographic and political context ................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Road authorities and District Roads Support Programme .................................................................................... 9 2.3 Transport services types and their regulation ..................................................................................................... 11 3 Tamaghat–Bhoredovan–Thuloparsel Road ........................................................................................................15 3.1 Road geography, history and condition ............................................................................................................... 15 3.2 Socio-economic and transport context ............................................................................................................... 22 3.3 Survey findings .................................................................................................................................................... 23 4 Majhitar-Bhimasthan Road ...............................................................................................................................33 4.1 Road geography, history and condition ............................................................................................................... 33 4.2 Socio-economic and transport context ............................................................................................................... 39 4.3 Survey findings .................................................................................................................................................... 40 5 Discussion of emerging issues ...........................................................................................................................52 5.1 Road provision and transport services supply ..................................................................................................... 52 5.2 Rural Transport Premium (RTP) ........................................................................................................................... 52 5.3 Transport demand ............................................................................................................................................... 53 5.4 Enterprise development ...................................................................................................................................... 54 5.5 Road condition and maintenance ........................................................................................................................ 54 5.6 Road engineering, labour-based construction and heavy machinery ................................................................. 55 5.7 Transport comfort, convenience and accessibility .............................................................................................. 55 6 Conclusions and recommendations ...................................................................................................................57 7 References ........................................................................................................................................................59 IMPARTS: GEN2136A iii Nepal Survey Report Tables and Figures Table 1 Summary of the roads surveyed in Nepal .............................................................................................................. 4 Table 2 Road survey data collection for the two Nepal roads ............................................................................................ 5 Table 3 Summary of survey data collected for the two Nepal roads.................................................................................. 6 Table 4 Nepal’s vehicle fleet and growth rate .................................................................................................................. 12 Table 5 Opinions on the adequacy of road infrastructure from ten key informants ....................................................... 24 Table 6 Assessments of key road issues by key informants (ranked) ............................................................................... 24 Table 7 Operators’ perceptions of road factors adversely affecting their business ......................................................... 25 Table 8 Users’ perceptions of which vehicles were best for different road conditions ................................................... 25 Table 9 Historic and recent daily traffic counts along Tamaghat-Thuloparsel Road ........................................................ 26 Table 10 Occupations of the 98 users surveyed ............................................................................................................... 27 Table 11 Purposes of user journeys in transport services (disaggregated by gender) ..................................................... 27 Table 12 Mean values of data from user survey on trip distances, journey times, fares and freight tariffs .................... 28 Table 13 User satisfaction with different services ............................................................................................................ 29 Table 14 Operational data, driver status and last trip for three types of transport services vehicle ............................... 30 Table 15 Key statistics on fixed route operations for three types of transport services .................................................. 30 Table 16 Estimated annual vehicle operating costs and revenues ................................................................................... 31 Table 17 The roles of the operators’ associations ............................................................................................................ 31 Table 18 Drivers’ perceptions on the causes of change ..................................................................................................