The relation of transport planning to rural development: The implication of road construction in Nepal

Attempts to develop a theory and methodology which facilitates the analysis of the effects of major investments such as roads upon inequality. The main thesis is that the building of 3 main roads in the area has had very little effect on the crucial prerequisites for any significant development of the region. A brief summary of Nepal's political economy is followed by an analysis of the peripheralization of the W-central area, and of the relationship between road provision and changing productive relationships. Concludes that new roads do not affect the major determinants of the local economy, nor do they begin to resolve the main problems of the predominantly agrarian economy.