Shaetonhodi, John M.2014-02-072014-02-072001http://hdl.handle.net/11070/284Theses submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public AdministrationWorldwide, ministries of transport are being called upon to lead major transport reforms, and at the same time reform themselves to become more modern institutions and assume new and different functions and roles in the more dynamic reformed system. Designed and initiated in the early 20th century and given wide responsibility for financing and operating extensive public road networks, they became large centralized and hierarchical public bureaucracies, with cumbersome and detailed administrative rules and a permanent staff with secure civil service protections. The ministries were fragmented by many vertical programmes, which were often run as virtual fiefdoms, dependent on uncertain international donor fundingAs fiscal restraint was imposed on most governments, ministries of transport suffered severe reductions in budgets, which meant that salaries could not keep up with inflation. Highly qualified engineering and administrative staff often left public service for higher salaries in the private sector. These underfunded, large, bureaucratic, centralized ministries faced a serious of challenges that implied significant organizational changesFirstly the public sector experienced a growing movement to "modernize the state", encouraged by fiscal constraints and technical assistance from donors. This movement was oriented mainly toward staff reduction (cutback management) through voluntary incentive schemes. The second challenge involved the pressure to decentralize operations either through "deconcentration" to regional or district offices of the ministries or through "devolution" of road facilities to elected regional and local authorities. The third and most difficult challenge has come more recently with the wave of enthusiasm for road sector reform that was encouraged by the World Bank's Road Maintenance Initiative. This initiative required ministries of transport to exercise leadership of sector reform and to develop their own institutional capacity to take on new roles to guide the implementation of the reform. The reform usually meant changing the financing mechanisms from direct subsidies to some form of road tariffs, introducing greater participation of private sector and commercial discipline in the provision and conservation of road networksThrough commercialization of swing divisions of road transport management and financing, the process seeks to improve performance of infrastructural support systems, meaning construction, maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstructionThis research paper examines main features of the previous road transport management and financing system in Namibia; major steps launched under the Namibian road sector reform, and issues accompanying sustainability of governance under private - public road management paradigmsThe study is accompanying the current process of change involving the reform of the road transport management and financing system, meaning that the options discussed in the research paper will be open-ended. It is envisaged to assess essential components of the reform in, perhaps, three to four yearsThe research paper is elaborating the variety of roles the transport sector is playing in the community and economyThe conceptual framework that influenced Namibia's road sector reform included: public choice approach; principal-agent theory; new institutionalism and new public managerialism. These concepts were considered in a best practice approach, implying concept engineering. The reform applied private sector management techniques and ex post paradigm, which emphasizes customer orientation, performance measured by results, teamwork, creating efficient value, and competitionA diagnosis of relevant past dysfunctions that shaped policy choices in Namibia's road sector reform is given in chapter three. In chapter four the agenda for reforming the road sector is analyzed by means of contrasting options, which have relevance for the question of institutional development. The key areas addressed by the reform process, targets as well as a special set of institutions created by the reform have been highlighted. Finally, in chapter six concluding reflections are given together with normative concerns about road sector efficiency, and the need to rise to the challenge, presented in the research paper, of creating an attractive, integrated public transport system, which addresses the economic and social needs of the Namibian people86 pengRoad transportTransportThesisF004-199299999999999