Practical, hypothetical, and philosophical questions relating to road construction, house building, infrastructure development in Nepal (and elsewhere).
Mud huts versus concrete. Aesthetic appearances of the mud hut may be better, but who can blame someone for wanting to live in a more robust house than a mud hut, however attractive it may look?
Drainage or not. Huge drains only put in AFTER construction.
Damage to drainage and service pipes and bollards still lying at the side of the road. Waste of money and time and labour.
Electric power pylons and scars on the landscape caused by tree felling and earth movement.
Road widening, but road surface destroyed in the meantime.The inability to move telegraph poles when road is widened, so that dangerous islands are still left in the road, effectively meaning the road is only as wide as it was before for most of its length. When the poles are eventually moved, the new road surface is dug up and destroyed again.
River valleys, roads cutting back into the valley sides, house development on flat terraces, ribbon development, and infill.
Realignment, loss of property whereas open farmland is reclaimed!
Roads stopped off, reappropriated for building, means the land deeds were never sure and certain from the start. But while some roads are reappropriated for private use, other private land is appropriated for public use, causing immense hardship, financial loss, stress, and anger.
In putting in the infrastructure afterwards, much good land and property is destroyed.
Houses, walls, and land cut.
Compensation or not. The government gives no compensation whatsoever.
Dams, hydroelectric power. And environmental destruction.
Foreign contractors not paid.
Contractors leave, have such bad experience they don’t want to work there again.
Two attempts every time.
The scandal of the contractors and corruption with links to the government. The cancellation or termination of contracts before their time. The heavy equipment ordered from overseas but only used for one specific contract, the rest of the time sits idle in the yards and becomes derelict. The waste of resources, time, and money, only one JCB used when many are needed at once. Men only work for set hours, not all round the clock. Mitigation measures, while work is going on, are not considered or used.
Dust, noise, disruption, flooding.
Accidents.
Road blasting.
Bridges.
Philosophical questions.
Are there any alternatives?
If so, what are they?
If not, why not?
What is progress?
Is progress inevitable?
Is progress inevitable at the expense of the environment?
What are the resources needed to complete the infrastructure – not just money and materials, but the human elements of the organisation, will, efficiency, etc.?
Why does putting the infrastructure in place destroy so much of the existing structure? Why is this necessary? A large part of this is due to the human elements of not caring, inefficiency, lack of organization, and will.
The philosophical answers are that we live with constant change. Nothing ever stays the same for long, we have to accept that what IS, is change, THAT is the constant factor in life.
Road “improvement”.
Why the need?
Why start at all?
Why dig up ALL the section instead of just the bit that is being worked on?
Why cannot the men work at night?
When I am traveling along a road being made, and am delayed by the works, don’t I think that it would have been better (for me to have travelled) BEFORE the work started, or AFTER it had been completed? That is only a natural thought. Why do I always seem to be affected by this when I travel, i.e. is it only me who has these thoughts?
Why don’t all the men work at the same time?
Supervisor and management.
Logic and logistics.
What would happen if…..?
Why do I always have to experience the consequences, wherever I am and whatever the time?
The construction will always benefit future generations, not necessarily the current generation.
Will the problems be less or more after construction?
I.e., with infrastructure development comes other development not necessarily good for the environment, fast roads, lights, houses, factories, shops but what happens when, in a poor country like Nepal, these developments are abandoned due to economic factors? Result- dereliction, decay, eyesore, and loss of productive land. These questions are not thought about at the time of planning and construction.
We always complain:
Before, during and after construction.
Effects, good and bad.
Economic.
Health and safety.
Aesthetic, what does it look like.
Environmental.
Developmental.
C. Tim Taylor 2018