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Road deterioration has been shown (World Bank, 1988) to be a major (currently, perhaps, the most acute) problem of the transport sector in developing countries. SubSahara's situation in this respect is about the same as that of the rest of the developing world. ")n average one quarter of its paved road system is in poor condition and needs major rehabilitation. But the situation in some countries (Ghana, Guinea, Zaire) is even worse: almost two thirds of the system are up for rehabilitation (or abandonment). More important, almost 30 percent of the system (Nigeria excluded) is in only fair condition. This part of the system will soon reach the critical stage where resurfacing is required as periodic maintenance to prevent the system from deteriorating to the point of disrepair and expensive reconstruction.

Excluding Nigeria, routine and periodic nmaintenance call for the diversion of about half a percent of domestic resources to prevent the situation from deteriorating. Clearing up the backlog, according to the Bank's estimates, would require close to 5 percent of the GDP. Even if clearing this backlog is spread over 5-10 years, 16 countries (out of the 28 investigated) will -have wv .arshal over 1.25 percent of their resources to get their system - back on track. Eleven of the 28 countries will face severe financing problems even if they increase their road budgets by 50 percent and restrict new construction to one fifth of the new budget, they will not be able to solve their road maintenance problem within the next 10 years. The best way to marshal the additional resources is therefore a problem of utmost urgency in the Sub-Saharan countries. The economic situation facing many of them, however, is not propit,ous for this effort. Twenty-three of the countries experienced a decline in real income per capita between 1980 and 1985: in 11, real income d'_clined in absolute terms. It is thus more important than ever to economize in the consumption of .nfrastructure without interfering with the structural change and the growth of the economies. The power of the price mechanism can be harnessed to this purpose, through an appropriately structured system of road user charges.

The recovery of maintenance and capital costs of the inter-urban road system is only one problem that road user charges are supposed to solve. Urban congestion is another. In 1960 only one tenth of the population of SSA lived in urban centers; by 1982 this share doubled. The average growth rate of the urban population in the 1960s was 5.5 percent, and it accelerated to 6.1 percent in the 1970s. Whereas in 1960 only 4 percent of the urban population lived in cities of half a million or more, this share grew to 40 percent in 1980. The number of large cities grew from 3 to 28.

The Bank policy study on urban transport (World Bank, 1986, Table A-1) sheds additional light on the urban congestion problem in the SSA. Motorization, though still low, is increasing rapidly. The share of traffic using private cars in Nairobi is about the same as in inost Westem capitals. The speed at which traffic moves in Lagos is only half that of London or Frankfurt. The recent slowdown in income growth has tended to slow down this process, but the rapid expansion of urban population (it is expected to quadruple in the next two decades) cannot but worsen the problems of urban mobility and congestion in SubSaharan Africa over the next decade. Road user charges can serve as a major policy tool in addressing this problem.