Transportation Planning

The nature of planning

• A plan is a proposal for undertaking future activities. Planning can be a detailed process relating to activities to be undertaken in the relatively near term, and this is sometimes known as ‘tactical planning’. More normally, within the road management context, the term ‘programming’ is used for this . By contrast, ‘strategic planning’ involves an analysis of the road system as a whole, typically requiring the preparation of long-term estimates of expenditures for road development and conservation under various budgetary and economic scenarios. Planning is often undertaken by a planning or economics unit.

BASIC GOAL

• Transport planning aims at improving access to inaccessible areas in order to reduce transportation costs and time.

OBJECTIVES

• One of the driving forces behind the plan must be to facilitate tourism, agricultural or industrial development.

• The methodology behind the master plan preparation should be systematic enough to take logical and transparent decisions.

• The resulting plan must efficiently allocate and utilise scarce resources available for transportation infrastructure; decisions taken should be strategic.

• At the same time, techniques used need to be simple enough to enable the plan preparation by local technical staff who are generally inexperienced in regional planning.

• The plan must be prepared within a politically acceptable time frame (say in less than a year)

ROLES OF THE KEY ACTORS

• Legislative:• Executive:• Judicial:• Implementing:

District-level Decision-making and Implementation of Decisions in a

Democratic Environment with Balance of Powers

Legislative Body

• Take political decisions• Organise and approve funds• District Assembly (District Council)• DDC Chairperson/Vice Chairperson• VDC Chairperson/Vice Chairperson• LDO (MoLD)• Ilaka Members• Infrastructure Committee• District Road Coordination Committee (DRCC)

Executive Body

• Implement political decisions• Administer implementation• Civil Servants of District Development Committee• LDO (MoLD)• Planning Officer (MoLD)• District Engineer (MoLD)• District offices of GoN line agencies (DFO, DOA,

DSCO etc.)• Divisional Engineer (DoR)

JUDICIAL BODY

• Coordination and conflict resolution• Settlement of legal disputes• CDO• District Judge

Implementing Agencies • Implement works• Provide services and goods

• DRTU• Private sector agencies • L-NGO• CBOs Non-profit• User Group organisations• Consultants • Contractors Commercial profit • Suppliers enterprises•

Donor Support Agencies

• Provide financial resources and technical assistance• National and local grant donors• National and local loan agencies (Banks)• Multi- / bilateral grant donors• Multi- / bilateral loan agencies (Banks)

Major Steps

DISTRICT LEVEL NEED ASSESSMENT AND BASIC DECISION-MAKING ON PREPARATION OF A DISTRICT

TRANSPORT MASTER PLAN (DTMP)

• Formation of informal initiative groups• Carrying out of debate and communication on need

within the DDC• Assessment of necessary inputs and steps required

for the preparation of DTMP resulting into a basic agreement among partners in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

• Setting out of each partner's contribution as well as a decision-making process

INSTITUTION AND CAPACITY BUILDING AT DISTRICT LEVEL

• Formation of a Legislative Committee, called a District Roads Sub-committee or a District Road Coordination Committee (DRCC) out of the District Infrastructure Development Committee (DIDC) that is existing within the DDC as per DDC Act

• Formation of an Executive Committee comprising of representatives of all relevant GoN's line agencies and civil servants of DDC

• Provision of official mandates to take decisions during the preparation of DTMP

• Ratification of MoU by all active partners and DDC• Formation of District Road Technical Unit (DRTU) comprising of DDC's

technical staff• Arrangement of competent staff within the DDC to undertake the

planning process or hiring of a consultant/consulting firm to assist DDC with regard to preparation of DTMP

COLLECTION OF RELEVANT SECONDARY TRANSPORT INFORMATION

• Collection of available documents, maps and statistical data (by DRTU or Consultant) from central level agencies, such as NPC, CBS, MoLD or any other relevant agencies

• Collection of available data and information by contacting regional level agencies, neighbouring DDCs, GoN line agencies in the district and other relevant agencies (NGOs, CBOs, etc.)

• Compilation of collected information into a state-of-the-art accessibility document with a district transport information base map

COLLECTION OF REQUESTS FOR FUTURE ROAD AND TRAIL NETWORK AND DISCUSSION

• Division of the district into 4 to 6 geographical transport regions consisting of Constituencies or Ilakas in order to discuss the future road network

• Organisation of "Transport Planning Workshop" in each of the regions involving all major stakeholders such as Members of Parliament (MP), Ilaka and VDC representatives, representatives of major political parties, representatives of NGOs, CBOs, religious organisations and private sector groups etc.

• Discussion on the existing road and trail network, and future plans for new roads and trails keeping in view the available financial resources

• Preparation of an inventory of existing road and trail network and compilation of a request list of new roads and trails

FIELD VERIFICATION OF CRITICAL ALIGNMENTS

• Verification of all important but critical alignments by field visits through the technical staff together with local representatives

• Identification and verification of alternative options

POLITICAL DECISION MAKING ON SELECTION CRITERIA TO BE APPLIED FOR THE ROAD AND TRAIL

NETWORK

• Organisation of a district level workshop for the Legislative Committee to decide and approve the criteria and weights for road classification and network prioritisation

SYSTEMATIC ROAD EVALUATION AND PREPARATION OF THE DISTRICT

TRANSPORT NETWORK • Mapping of the district road and trail network by using existing and

planned national level transport network (i.e., strategic road network consisting of highways and feeder roads, airports, trail bridges etc.) in such a manner that clearly defines the present and future ownership and responsibility for maintenance as well as short-, medium- and long-term road network needs of the district

• Further refining of the prepared network considering important transport nodal points, market and service centres, agricultural pockets, and possible future agro-industrial as well as other industrial areas

• Preparation of draft DTMP and distribution to MoLD and other relevant agencies for comments and suggestions with a request to reply within 30 days

PRESENTATION OF THE DRAFT DTMP AND DISCUSSION

• Organisation of a meeting with Legislative and Executive Committee members

• Presentation of the draft DTMP comprising of road classification and prioritisation with short-, mid-, and long-term perspectives at the meeting

• Discussion on the draft DTMP• Political decision-making on the draft DTMP with necessary

amendments• Revision of the draft and updating by incorporating all decisions

made during the meeting• Finalisation of the DTMP report with all necessary maps

PRESENTATION OF THE FINAL DTMP AND APPROVAL

• Presentation of the final DTMP at District Council (Assembly)

• Approval of the DTMP by District Council• Translation of the DTMP report in Nepali• Printing and distribution of the report to all

major stakeholders involved at local, regional and national level

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DTMP (DURING THE FIRST 5 YEARS)

• Implementation of the approved DTMP by DRTU, headed by District Road Engineer

• Monitoring of the works by LDO as coordinator of Executive Committee

• Organisation of regular meetings for the members of the Legislative Committee for information and discussion on the progress of the work (such meetings can be organised immediately after monsoon, during working season, at the end of the Fiscal Year, etc.)

•

Revision and Updating of the DTMP

• Evaluation of the progress of implementation of the DTMP after 5 years by the DRCC

• Reporting of the progress to the District Council to make necessary decisions (e.g. for budget allocations, etc.)

• Amendments in the DTMP, if necessary•

Thank You!