Isolated Territories and Infrastructure Development

Abstract

Madagascar invests large amounts of money in road infrastructure, parallel to investments in railway infrastructure and rail subsidies. However, there seems to be no economic justification for investing in two land transport infrastructures in parallel. The amount of state funds channeled into these projects is as expected limited, resulting in deficit funding for both rail and road infrastructure. This results in poor infrastructure and an inferior transportation system. The chapter posits that Madagascar should invest singularly in a land transportation infrastructure; as the well-known proverb advises, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

Autonomous vehicles will spur moving budget from railroads to roads

“…In some other countries, there is a smaller demand for transportation and less capital to invest in transportation infrastructure; thus, they can invest in only one kind of infrastructure. As a result, they will often select the roads that can provide a more wide-ranging solution (Wiseman, 2022).…”