Improvement of road maintenance practices in developing countries: Case study from Nepal

Developing countries have lost billions of dollars during the last decade due to the deterioration of their roads. The macroeconomic losses caused by the lack of adequate road maintenance could be avoided by improving maintenance practices. This paper describes a method to analyze and improve present road maintenance practices in developing countries, referring to a recently conducted study in Nepal. Road maintenance is understood to be not just a technical problem, but rather a complex system with various elements. Therefore, road maintenance problems have to be tackled with different approaches on different levels. Proceeding from the existing system deficiencies, or “problem areas,” and on the basis of a hierarchy of instrumental objectives, the development of measures and projects suited to improve road maintenance practices is described. The application of a standardized evaluation scheme can support governments and development organizations in choosing promising measures in this field.