A perspective on road sector restructuring in developing and transitional countries

A model derived within the World Bank sought to characterise how road administrations had evolved over time from large public works organisations to lean network administrators, working at arms-length from government and making extensive use of contracts. The paper shows how two other pieces of work in this area help to explain why the evolution tends to happen in the manner identified. The first study concluded that a hierarchy of factors had to be addressed if organisational reform is to be successful: external factors need to be addressed to ensure that the context for restructuring is appropriate before attempting managerial and then technical changes within an organisation. The second study identified that, to achieve organisational effectiveness and efficiency, there is a need to increase the 'specificity' of the organisation and to subject it to competition. These.factors explain the evolutionary model, with the initial stages of evolution tending to increase the specificity of the organisation, with the later stages subjecting more activities to competition. The evolutionary model was developed by observing how the restructuring process had progressed in countries such as New Zealand and the United Kingdom. However, the experience of restructuring in Romania is also summarised, confirming that the model also applies to countries making the transition to a market economy. The impact of administrative decentralisation on road sector performance is considered, and the types of decentralisation are identified offering the most promise in terms of sector restructuring. The combination of the results from these pieces of work provide a simple framework for understanding transition and restructuring in the road sector that can be used as the basis for developing restructuring plans. The approach is entirely consistent with the principles of the New Public Management, and there appears to be no reason why it should not be applied in other sectors wishing to restructure. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.