Improvement of the rural infrastructure development process in Thai sub-district local government | |
| Author | Narong Leungbootnak |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.CM-05-02 |
| Subject(s) | Rural development--Thailand Local government--Thailand |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The ultimate goal of infrastructure development has been to raise the quality of life of mankind and society in general. Infrastructure alone plays a critical role in community development by significantly contributing to the initiation of employment opportunities and enhancing the production and distribution of income. In addition, it also facilitates social development by providing networks of roads and water ways, promoting public health and education, providing water supply and sewage systems, and supporting agriculture extension and natural resources management. The Tambol Administrative Organization (TAO) which is the smallest local government unit at the sub-district level of the decentralization system in Thailand, was recently formed as part of a rural developmental initiative. TAOs carry out their assigned duties and responsibilities of developing the local communities according to the set laws and regulations guiding their operations. In order to enhance the well being of local communities, a substantial budget is required for infrastructure development. However, TAOs have limited resources and are constantly confronted by high demands from the people of their respective communities. According to TAO performance reviews, it was found that the process of infrastructure development is not responsive to the actual needs of people in the grassroots. Moreover, the quality of infrastructural works was found to be poor and engineering standards were not met. it is therefore evident that effective and efficient infrastructural development within the framework of limited resources is actually necessary in order to provide for the needs of the local people. In order to trace the above-mentioned inefficiency and ineffectiveness, loopholes and problematic areas need to be tracked down the process of infrastructural development. Infrastructure development is carried out in five stages: budgeting, project design, project procurement, construction and supervision, and operation and maintenance. Problems arising at these five stages have been addressed in this research. Based on the preliminary survey of existing TAO infrastructural development processes conducted in this research, five key problems were identified: unclear operations procedures; unclear roles, duties, and responsibilities of personnel; inadequate technical knowledge, management skills, and understanding of government regulations; lack of public participation; and the lacm of cooperation from government related agencies. These key problems were then. verified through a questionnaire survey in which out of the 617 sets of distributed questionnaires, 195 sets (representing 32%) were returned. The results from a Chi square test showed that there is a difference in the process of identifying and perceiving problems among the respondents in different geographical areas: central, north, northeast, and south, as well as different personnel ranks: council, executive, and permanent staff. With the problems identified, 33 case studies were conducted in order to investigate the details and thus explore their root causes. These case studies were aimed at finding relationships between these problems and improvement concepts. The improvement concepts proposed in this study are quality management, knowledge competency, good governance and public participation. This research, as a result proposes a model to improve effectiveness and efficiency of infrastructural development of TAOs. The model explicitly shows the infrastructure development process, TAO organizational structure, as well as the roles of TAO personnel at each process. Twenty four (24) focus group discussions were held with major stakeholders of the TAO to test the applicability of this model. In conclusion, it is evident that embedding these improvement concepts into each step of the infrastructure development process is necessary to effectively restructure the existing system. The benefits of implementing these improvement concepts are well-defined operational procedures; clear duties and responsibilities of all major stakeholders; cooperation of government related agencies; adequate knowledge of the checklist; and good governance through public participation to mention a few. |
| Year | 2005 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Civil Engineering |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Construction Engineering and Infrastructure Management (CM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Chotchai Charoenngam; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Ogunlana, Stephen O.;Soparth Pongquan;McNeil, Sue; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Khon Kaen University; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |