Impact of improved road accessibility on the use of social infrastructure in Nkoranza District, Ghana

Abstract

In many African countries a large proportion of the rural population lacks access to transport facilities. This is due to lack of adequate funds for investment in the sector and the deterioration of the available infrastructure. The effect is that many rural communities lack access to social infrastructure. This in turn affects the general development of the society. Earlier studies on rural accessibility have mainly been concerned with economic development. There has been a limited focus on the impact of improved accessibility on use of social services. Little has therefore been documented in this area. The objective of this study therefore is to investigate the impact of improved road accessibility on the use of social services such as banks, hospitals, educational, agricultural extension arid mobile health services. A socio-economic survey was conducted to facilitate the investigation. The survey was done in two zones, the accessible arid inaccessible zones. A total of 60 and 30 household heads were interviewed in the accessible and inaccessible zones respectively. The results of the survey were analysed, to isolate the impacts of improved road accessibility on the use of social services. The study revealed that accessibility has influence on the use of social services. Several other factors such as income, educational level, age and attitude were also identified to have influence o the use of social services. It further revealed that there is a non-linear relationship between use of health facilities and distance. On the whole the study revealed that fewer respondents from inaccessible zone used the services - Their frequency of use of these facilities was also lower in comparison to those in the accessible zone with their relatively good road conditions. In the light of these findings a number of recommendations were made among them are: I) Improvements in condition of existing roads; ii) Integrated planning of the transport system with other sectors of the economy; iii) Organising of the communities into cooperative societies to own appropriate and affordable transport vehicles like Mummy trucks and iv) Promotion of a non--vehicular transport system like ox- drawn carts and bicycles. Emphasis must however be put on the fact that transport planning must be integrated with other sectors of the economy. Communities too must be involved in all phases of the planning and implementation. Failure to do this would certainly lead to higher costs of maintenance and thus contribute to the deterioration of the infrastructure.