package of policies, viewed overall. For the individual instruments will not necessarily reinforce each other, nor will they add up to a consistent approach to economic
issues. In fact, it may be desirable to adopt some apparently inferior solutions to
some particular problems in the interest of coherence and co-ordination among
economic policies. A problem-by-problem approach may also lead to a proliferation
of many policy instruments which, taken together, are beyond the capability of the
public service to handle.
5.6.2 The Long Term Plan
People build their houses according to their house plan. The Plan, once made, is a
guide, if not a commitment, and thus the house plan limits choices. Similarly,
development plans tend to limit choices in a range of possibilities outside the plans.
This may not be a serious limitation, but needs to be highlighted. On the other hand,
during the plan preparation, the possible alternative choices and the constraints should
be well examined among, and by different stakeholders, society being one of them.
This is why, in many countries, large or important projects (an airport, a metro project
which will have implications over decades or centuries) are presented to and discussed
with the community liable to be affected. Notre Dame Les Landes airport site, in
France, (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-airport/france-abandons-plan-fornew-airport-squatters-ordered-out-idUSKBN1F61LQ) is a good example.
It has been seen (Chap. 1 and Table 5.1) that infrastructure involves many sectors
(water, electricity, roads, etc.). Thus, it is difficult to plan infrastructure in any one
sector, without giving due attention to other sectors (see Chap. 6). It is advisable to
identify the various sectors of the economy (multisectoral planning, in effect) and
analyse the interdependencies among them, so as to produce something coherent and
compatible outputs. In order to keep the number of sectors and the analysis manageable, it is preferable to define broad categories, as for example machinery as a
whole rather than by type of machinery.
When a comprehensive development plan is well-prepared, the multisectoral plan
provides the necessary link between macro planning (the most aggregative form of
planning) and project planning (the most disaggregative and detailed form of
planning). If this multisectoral plan is not prepared, it is difficult or practically
impossible to compare and assess objectively the relative merits and benefits of
different sectoral development projects. It is not very helpful, either to relate the
development projects directly to the macro plan while by-passing the intermediate
stage of multisectoral planning.
It is necessary to know the Plan’s objectives before multisectoral planning can
start and try achieving them. These objectives – estimates of the demand for final
commodities (how much water, electricity, number of roads, etc) – may be obtained
from projecting historical trends, using income elasticity figures, or other prediction
methods. Next, all sectoral outputs required to support these final demands are
estimated, making sure that they are consistent with one another. Sectoral
5.6 Action Plan for Safeguarding Infrastructure Availability
149
issues. In fact, it may be desirable to adopt some apparently inferior solutions to
some particular problems in the interest of coherence and co-ordination among
economic policies. A problem-by-problem approach may also lead to a proliferation
of many policy instruments which, taken together, are beyond the capability of the
public service to handle.
5.6.2 The Long Term Plan
People build their houses according to their house plan. The Plan, once made, is a
guide, if not a commitment, and thus the house plan limits choices. Similarly,
development plans tend to limit choices in a range of possibilities outside the plans.
This may not be a serious limitation, but needs to be highlighted. On the other hand,
during the plan preparation, the possible alternative choices and the constraints should
be well examined among, and by different stakeholders, society being one of them.
This is why, in many countries, large or important projects (an airport, a metro project
which will have implications over decades or centuries) are presented to and discussed
with the community liable to be affected. Notre Dame Les Landes airport site, in
France, (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-airport/france-abandons-plan-fornew-airport-squatters-ordered-out-idUSKBN1F61LQ) is a good example.
It has been seen (Chap. 1 and Table 5.1) that infrastructure involves many sectors
(water, electricity, roads, etc.). Thus, it is difficult to plan infrastructure in any one
sector, without giving due attention to other sectors (see Chap. 6). It is advisable to
identify the various sectors of the economy (multisectoral planning, in effect) and
analyse the interdependencies among them, so as to produce something coherent and
compatible outputs. In order to keep the number of sectors and the analysis manageable, it is preferable to define broad categories, as for example machinery as a
whole rather than by type of machinery.
When a comprehensive development plan is well-prepared, the multisectoral plan
provides the necessary link between macro planning (the most aggregative form of
planning) and project planning (the most disaggregative and detailed form of
planning). If this multisectoral plan is not prepared, it is difficult or practically
impossible to compare and assess objectively the relative merits and benefits of
different sectoral development projects. It is not very helpful, either to relate the
development projects directly to the macro plan while by-passing the intermediate
stage of multisectoral planning.
It is necessary to know the Plan’s objectives before multisectoral planning can
start and try achieving them. These objectives – estimates of the demand for final
commodities (how much water, electricity, number of roads, etc) – may be obtained
from projecting historical trends, using income elasticity figures, or other prediction
methods. Next, all sectoral outputs required to support these final demands are
estimated, making sure that they are consistent with one another. Sectoral
5.6 Action Plan for Safeguarding Infrastructure Availability
149