Economic opportunitie - Investment in the transport sector has created economic opportunities for the poor directly through employment in infrastructure construction and maintenance, and the provision of rural transport services. Works and Transport Minister Erkki Nghimtina said this during the 13th African Renaissance Conference under the theme 'Connecting Africa' in Durban South Africa on Thursday. Nghimtina said investment in transport may also create economic opportunities indirectly through improving the conditions and opportunities for marketing goods and services.

"The investment in rural roads brings about substantial benefits for the poor and very poor of our people," he said.

The Minister noted that benefits from such investments are channelled through access to State services in areas such as health, education, agricultural extension and provision of information.

Nghimtina further said that improved rural roads create better access to services, adding that such improvements reduce the perception of isolation and remoteness among the poor and very poor.

"In many parts of our countries, where underemployment is a major problem in particular our rural areas, governments suffer from a lack of financial capital, therefore, it may be more cost effective to use labour-intensive construction methods," said the minister.

He said labour-intensive construction is one aspect of rural road development that benefits the poor directly through employment opportunities.

Nghimtina said although employment on road construction could be considered as temporary, the short-term injection of cash can often provide the necessary start-up capital for the poor to diversity their livelihoods.

He added that labour-based road maintenance also offers an opportunity for the poor to earn money on a regular basis.

According to Nghimtina, rural transport is double faced first as a transport chain with one end in the agricultural fields and the other on the local market, and secondly, it is also the transport chain from the main highway network to the local market.

"It is important to note that both these rural transport chains play a vital role in regional integration, since goods are able to find both ends of the chain through the rural network," he said.

Nampa

The Namibian/08/08/2011