Rural connectivity in Africa: motorcycle track construction
Rural connectivity in Africa: motorcycle track construction
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DOI：
10.1680/jtran.15.00080
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发表时间：
2016-12-01
影响因子：
0.8
通讯作者：
Peters, Krijn
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jenkins, Jack Thomas;Peters, Krijn
在过去十年中，摩托车运输在受战争影响的西非蓬勃发展。摩托出租车深入偏远农村社区的现象自发蔓延，为最容易被民兵招募的低技能青年创造了直接和间接的就业机会。同样重要的是，它通过降低将农产品运往市场的成本，使摩托车能够访问仅通过人行道与支线公路相连的村庄，大大有助于小农脱贫。然而，国家行为者和国际捐助者仍然不愿意为农村道路的建设/升级拨款，而宁愿坚持更传统、但费用昂贵的四轮车辆可通行的农村道路的建设/修复。本文通过对利比里亚的案例研究--利比里亚仍在从两场内战和埃博拉健康危机中恢复--认为，通过轨道建设/人行道升级为社区提供通道的影响是显着的，特别是因为轨道建设非常适合参与农村社区本身。
Motorcycle transportation has burgeoned in war-affected West Africa over the past decade. The penetration of motorcycle taxis deep into isolated rural communities has spread spontaneously and created direct and indirect employment opportunities for low-skilled youth, a category most susceptible to militia recruitment. Equally important, it has significantly contributed to lifting smallholder farmers out of poverty by reducing the costs of moving produce to markets, with motorcycles able to visit villages connected to feeder roads solely by footpaths. Nevertheless, state actors and international donors remain reluctant to allocate funds to rural track building/upgrading, preferring to stick to more conventional, but expensive, construction/rehabilitation of rural roads accessible to four-wheeled vehicles. Through a case study of Liberia - still recovering from two civil wars and an Ebola health crisis - this paper argues that the impact of bringing community access through track construction/footpath upgrading is significant, particularly because track construction lends itself par excellence to the involvement of the rural communities themselves.