A Study on Impacts of Road Infrastructures on Regional Economy of Developing Nation: A Case Study of Nepal

Abstract

Road Infrastructure is a backbone of national economy. It causes socioeconomic development of the nation. A proper planning is required for road infrastructure development. Proper planning requires the inventory of roads, population and other socioeconomic parameters. As the economic growth of any nation is related to the transport infrastructure, transport infrastructure is also called the "infrastructure of infrastructure". Most of the agricultural products in developing nationsare manufactured in rural areas and they need to be transported to the urban areas for consumption. The huge resource of water power, mines, agricultural products are produced in rural areas, which need to be transported to urban areas for power production, manufacturing of products, consumptions etc.Establishment of better connectivity between rural and urban area requires road infrastructures. The study on impact of road infrastructure on regional economy of developing nation is the main objective of this research. Nepal has been taken for case study. The GDP per capita of any nation is dependent on the infrastructures available in the nation. More the roadinfrastructures more will be the economical transactions and more will be the GDP. This research utilizes the principles of multiple regression and correlation to study the relationship of road density with GDP per capita and establishes best fit regression equations. Regression analysis is carried out using MS- Excel and XL-stat software. The independent variables taken here are road density per 100 sq. km and road density per 1000 population. The research also try to analyze the impact of pavement type on GDP per capita, so the variables are extended for bituminous, gravel and earthen type roads as well. It is found from the analysis that the GDP per capita largely depends upon road density of bituminous and graveled road than that of earthen roads.