Governance for roads for water

budgeting, and community engagement (see chapter 15). none of these changes is insurmountable or complicated; they just need to be implemented.

This chapter describes common challenges in road sector governance, impediments to implementing Green Roads programs, and the directions in which governance should move to be more responsive to the opportunities that Green Roads for Water offers. As noted, using roads as instruments for water management and climate resilience (including more reliable road transport functions) requires different methods of working. This chapter focuses directly on this change, sharing the experiences of different countries where the roads-for-water practice is being introduced. The chapter discusses different methods that may be used to introduce the change.

GOVERNANCE FOR ROADS FOR WATER

several key factors can accelerate uptake of new practices in the road sector, from the integration of beneficial water management in road development and maintenance to the promotion of economic opportunities that road development can bring (see figure 14.1).

The first factor is integrity. Integrity is vital to maintaining high working standards and creating a culture of accountability and transparency. Mismanagement often results in failure to follow critical specifications, which can lead to the rapid deterioration of infrastructure. Large amounts of money are moved around in the road sector, and mismanagement or corruption scandals affect road agencies in many countries. When sector leadership is compromised by scandals, instability can more easily emerge in the management of a road organization, reducing the agency’s effectiveness and capacity to adopt new practices and meet higher standards for quality. The shadow of corruption and tolerance of mismanagement can be as damaging as corruption itself.

A second challenge is that road agencies are generally not well integrated with other sectors. This point is difficult to quantify but has been observed in the roads-for-water programs of various countries. for example, the road sector often operates in isolation, frequently with different legislation covering the road sector and the water sector. Road sector institutions often have very limited awareness of the positive impacts that roads could have on water management and climate resilience. furthermore, legislation that requires road institutions to provide a “safe, resilient, and efficient” (or similarly worded) road network is often interpreted as constraining opportunities to use road sector funds for roads-for-water measures. As an example, road development projects often have consent conditions imposed on borrow pits to restore the area to its condition before the road development, which precludes retaining them for water management. The consent conditions under which road development projects are undertaken typically only apply to the road reserve and do not provide a legal means for the contractor to undertake works outside the road reserve that would lead to better water management—beyond that needed to protect the road. Improving cooperation between and alignment of the water and roads sectors will in many cases require changes to the legislation governing the two sectors’ key institutions as well as changes in attitudes within both sets of organizations. This new collaborative approach was applied when implementing the Bangladesh Roads for Water project as illustrated in photo 14.1.