The Asian Development Bank loan of Rs 12 billion to the Sindh government for the implementation of a number of road construction projects in different areas of the province, would be seen as a timely assistance of considerable economic importance.
Undoubtedly a network of roads and highways is one of the foremost pre-requisites for development particularly in an underdeveloped region. It facilitates transportation of agricultural produce to market centres which are usually far away from the villages.
In the absence of good roads to enable transport activity, the farmers are confronted with the problem of obtaining a fair price for their produce. This disadvantage quite often provides a breeding ground for the middleman to exploit the situation and lift crops at prices at unjustly lower prices.
Market access is, therefore, an essential element in any scheme of rural development.
The construction of roads is always followed by investment activity leading to establishment of small and medium industries and the gradual emergence of business centres.
The strategy of road building preceding the launching of plans for economic uplift, including establishment of industrial estates, always figures prominently in national development efforts.
This explains the construction of motorways from Lahore to Islamabad and from Peshawar to Islamabad besides other link roads and highways in Punjab and NWFP. It will not be out of place to mention here that the construction of Gwadar deep sea port was preceded by launching construction of all weather roads from Karachi to Gwadar and other coastal roads.
Obviously, in Balochistan without the construction of roads to make the Gwadar accessible from Karachi and other areas, the port could not be developed and made operational in isolation.
Reverting to road construction projects in Sindh through direct financing from the Asian Development Bank, the provincial budget for 2004-05 did anticipate such assistance. Out of the financial allocations of Rs 18 billion for the provincial annual development plan, Rs 2.2 billion only was earmarked for the construction of roads.
The sector in fact demands a larger allocation in view of the fact that besides extension of the existing road network by building of new roads the existing roads specially in the rural areas are in dire need of re-carpeting.
It may be emphasised here that the provincial authorities would have to ensure steady progress in the construction of the identified roads financed by the Asian Development Bank because the disbursement of funds would be disbursed in phases depending on the implementation of the various segments of the proposed projects.