Rural roads are built to improve people's mobility and to enhance access to markets, administrative centres, schools and health posts, and are credited with important socio-economic changes. A less studied aspect is the impact of roads on hydrological resources, as roads interact with existing surface and groundwater flows, redistributing water-related hazards and resources across space with significant consequences on people and their livelihoods. In Ethiopia, the government has embarked on a massive road construction programme over the last decade, mainly to serve the needs of an essentially rural population and agrarian economy. In parallel, the government has also been investing significantly in water harvesting and conservation measures and irrigation to serve the needs of a population whose livelihoods depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2014 in the semiarid region of Tigray, Ethiopia, this article explores the opportunities and potential for multifunctional infrastructures. We argue that the two distinctive objectives of improving road connectivity and water availability for irrigation are interlinked and can be served by the same infrastructure, which we call multifunctional roads.
The idea that 'more roads mean more development' is part of conventional wisdom and is firmly entrenched in the development discourse and practice. However, what this stability and pervasiveness should not conceal is that arguments in favour of roads have evolved over time, shaping the expansion of the 'roadscape', that is, the part of the landscape made up by roads. I illustrate this point at three levels: global development theories, road construction in India and in Ladakh. First I demonstrate how arguments for road construction have evolved in the literature and adapted to criticisms, backing the firmly entrenched idea that roads are conducive to development. Second, I show that the expansion of the road network in India is determined by changing national priorities and policies. Finally, I attempt to account for the factors that explain the late and sudden development of the roadscape in Ladakh, namely, the role of the state and geopolitics. Together, the three levels illustrate the adaptive character of roads, as they survive successive shifts in theories and state priorities. JEL Classification: O, O18, O21, O53, R4, R42
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