INSTITUTION BUILDING FOR TRANSPORTATION DEVELOPMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Most public works projects and programs in transportation in the developing world fail or are severely compromised by the lack of a sufficient institutional base. There is little cohesive information on the problem. This research attempts to consolidate this body of unrelated information to the benefit of those faced with the problem.;Although some transport functions and transport agencies have been institutionalized in many developing countries, a mature state of institutionality compared to western standards has rarely been reached. Institution building for transportation is a unique task because of the time utility of transportation and its dependence on network completion. Governments in these countries play the most important role in IB for transportation because of the high level of uncertainty involved in this sector. Under some circumstances, such as substantial losses of revenues, Third World governments will be forced to make institutional changes in the transport sector. Cultural values represent an important dimension of IB, but human resource development is the most important strategy to build transport institutions. The concept of public authorities and special districts is an excellent means of obtaining private investments for the transport sector and achieving desired autonomy and decentralization.;A classification of developing countries is investigated, both in general terms and with respect to transportation issues. A literature search was conducted to identify types of institutional functions in the transportation sector of developing countries and to investigate major institutional approaches and forms or bodies for both national and transport development. Models of organization structure are considered, and the institution building (IB) model of Milton J. Esman was selected AND an analysis of transport development and of the Saudi Arabian Airline was conducted by utilizing the model's variables. With the help of these analyses, the study explores some important strategies for the Third World transport sector to achieve a higher degree of institutionality.