No benefit in roads
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A REPORT from the Conservation Society has stated that the building of trunk roads does nothing to help the economy — and the society claims that poorer regions are actually worse off when they are built.
The society claims that the present road programme was developed in or before 1971 and has taken no account of the developing energy crisis. Roads have to be maintained despite the traffic levels says the report.
Expenditure on public transport and other essential services has been more heavily hit than the budget for the roads, claim the conservationists.
Government techniques on assessing road benefits also come in for criticism in the report. They are said to ignore social and environmental costs and to give a false picture of the economic benefits derived from building the roads.