STUDENTS' CORNER - 220

Transportation

All countries--- developed, developing and underdeveloped--- have realized the supreme importance of transportation in the logistics. The very categorization of countries as developed etc depends upon the economic strength and development of the country and all governments never fail to focus on the development of the logistics of the country.

  Logistics ultimately deals with all commercial activities a country engages itself in and commercial activities gain importance depending upon the level of revenue generation they entail. Logistics in other words is linked with the revenues of the country; that is, the quantum of the goods moved within and without the country leading to profit-generation, both for the individuals, corporate on the one hand and the governments of the state and the central on the other hand.  And movement of the goods by land, air and seas is transportation.

 Simply, transportation is the primary element in logistics and logistics is primary source of revenue for the private and the public concerns.

 Infrastructure development becomes thus an inevitable commitment for a country; and, massive investment must be made for infra development.  Here comes the problem.  Finding adequate allotment in the budget alone for this task is rather difficult; in fact, very nearly impossible because the Budget must address whole lot of contextually determined and conventional issues a country is facing. In other words, too many demands with too little money; too many hands to plunge into too thin a pocket. Of course, the government can mint money to its requirement; but it has its own problems perhaps of more serious nature.

Let us briefly look into the complex nature of the goal of infra development.  First of all, the very idea of development must be looked into in order to see the pros and cons of the way one can choose to develop.

Suppose there is a road full of pot-holes and it is a two-lane structure. Normal response will be to attend to the pot-holes and develop the two-lane road into a four-lane one.  No one can deny this is development indeed; pot-holes are set right and a two-lane road becomes upgraded into a four-lane structure.

Now, let us see how an expert reacts to it.  He too is talking about the development of the road infrastructure.

‘Pick any pothole-laden, congested two-lane road in an urban area. Suppose public funds are used to widen the road to four lanes and to repave it. Benefits will immediately flow from this investment in the form of lower travel time and less vehicle damage, but before long, the road will again fill to capacity and deteriorates. This cycle can be broken only if infrastructure is priced and invested in more efficiently. If the pothole-laden road is kept to two lanes when it is repaved but vehicles are required to pay efficient tolls based on congestion and pavement wear, then the road's capacity is far less likely to be exceeded during peak periods and its pavement will remain in good condition. Making efficient use of current transportation capacity will reduce the need for massive public investment in airports and roads and will prevent the recurrence of infrastructure problems.’

Now, can you say he is wrong; of course not unless you are so full of yourself that you don’t want to be challenged.

Here come the popular statements: short-term view and long-term view.

We will see some more of this complex situation in our next session.