People willing to pay for better roads: Study

 At least 65 per cent of people are willing to pay for good roads and do not mind travelling long distances to work, according to a recent study on the socio-economic impact of infrastructure projects.

The study, “A Framework to Measure the Socio-Economic Impact of Development Programmes Using Data Envelopment Analysis, was carried out by Devaraj H, a PhD student at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), under the guidance of Prof T G Sitharam and Prof Parthasarthy Ramachandran from the Civil Engineering department, IISc. This is first-of-its-kind study carried out to analyse the indirect benefits of development programmes using mathematical techniques.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Devaraj H said: “The Public Works Department, under the aegis of the World Bank project titled ‘Improvement of Roads under 5054 - Decongestion of Roads Project’, had undertaken 1,000-km long road construction work in and around Bengaluru City in 2008.” Of this, we picked up 15 roads stretching across 379 km, covering five districts, for the study.”

According to the study, it was found that Ramanagara, Kanakapura, Magadi and Doddaballapur improved in terms of productivity after roads were constructed, while things stood still in Bengaluru North. After a cross section analysis, the team compared the same data with that of Gadag and Mundaragi and found that these two places fared better.

This is because people from these two districts were less dependent on Bengaluru for facilities, unlike the four (Ramanagara, Kanakapura, Magadi and Doddaballapur). Income and accessibility of people living in the four districts have increased and they are drawn to Bengaluru for better quality of life, including medical facilities, said Prof T G Sitharam, IISc.

The study also found that people availed loans to live a better quality of life and lead a good lifestyle.

As part of the study, field surveys were conducted, along with photographic comparison of data. Information was also obtained from the India budget website, the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Karnataka and Public Works department. The team collected data from 2005-06 to 2012-13.

The roads picked for the study are: Doddagangavadi - Jalamanagala, Manchanabele - Sugganahalli Road in Magadi and Ramanagara, Kakaramanahalli - Vajarahalli, Chennamanahalli - Kadanakuppe, Kanakapura - Sangam, NH48 - Motaganahalli, NH48 - Taggikuppe, BHM Road  - Ajjanahalli, BHM Road (No 26), Hesaraghatta Tank Bund Road, Y H Road (No 27) in Bengaluru North and Doddaballapur and Rajanakunte - Madhure Road in Bengaluru North and Doddaballapur.

Some of the parameters examined for study include construction of schools and colleges and number of children studying there, increase in livestock, income generation, bank account details, number of bank account holders, presence of health centres, number of births, deaths and immunisation records of children, increase in silk production, increase in population, vehicles, telephone connections, rise in number of cooperative societies, self help groups and in the area of cultivation and the types of crops cultivated.