rural roads - issues and development: overview

at the beginning of the 21st century the un millennium development goals drew the attention of the development community to social development projects, and infrastructure development was only given a new impetus with the world trade organization (wto). rural transport depends on appropriate infrastructure where consists mainly of rural roads, tracks, trails and footpaths. as rural households, spend a large amount of time and effort on transport activities to fulfill their basic needs, they are very often severely hampered by the lack of an adequate rural roads network. world bank study (1997) estimated that 15 % of the agricultural produce is lost between the farm gate and the consumer because of poor roads and inappropriate storage facilities alone, adversely influencing the income of farmers. international fund for agricultural development (1995) observed that construction of rural roads almost inevitably leads to increase in agricultural production and productivity by bringing in new land into cultivation, intensifying existing land use to take advantage of expanded market opportunities. therefore, in this paper points to are some aspects of the character of rural roads for the development of rural economy. namely, in order to avoid the problems associated with rural road development, it is advisable to prepare a rural road plan by building strong database, which consists of village level information and road inventory details. the village and road information system (v&ris) developed under gis environment is very much useful for problem identification, planning, allocation of resources and location of various socio - economic facilities for an integral rural development.