Application of multi-criteria analysis in rural roads provision in developing countries

Abstract

This study is based on an approach to resolve conflicts in decision making processes.  It is necessary to recognize explicitly that most decision making processes involve multiple participants and are often characterized by multiple and conflicting evaluation criteria.  In such situation, to be able to arrive at a decision, methods that contribute toward consensus building among the decision makers are required. The objective of this study is to devise a conflict resolution oriented decision making framework that can be used in decision making in the public arena.  In this study a decision making framework was applied to a process of selecting a ward (out of eleven wards) to be provided with a rural road in Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Three groups of stakeholders were identified (the citizens, politicians and technocrats) and four criteria were used to evaluate the wards.  The result from the analysis of variance shows that there is a significant difference among the wards in terms of the four criteria used.  The study devised a decision support system (DSS), using concordance/discordance analysis within a multi-criteria analysis framework, to show how compromise can be reached on the issue of which ward should be selected for road provision.  The application of the DSS shows that ward ten will be selected.  It is shown in this study how areas can be evaluated for infrastructure provision and the application of a conflict resolution oriented decision process to select a particular area.

Keywords: Rural Roads, Decision Making Process, Multicriteria Analysis