Local residents’ attitude towards road and transport infrastructure (a case of China Pakistan economic corridor)

Published date01 January 2018
Pages104-120
Date01 January 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JCEFTS-08-2017-0024
AuthorLiaqat Ali,Jianing Mi,Mussawar Shah,Syed Jamal Shah,Salim Khan,Rizwan Ullah,Kausar Bibi
Subject MatterEconomics,International economics
Local residentsattitude towards
road and transport infrastructure
(a case of China Pakistan
economic corridor)
Liaqat Ali
School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Jianing Mi
Department of Public Administration, School of Management,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Mussawar Shah
Department of Rural Sociology, The University of Agriculture Peshawar,
Peshawar, Pakistan
Syed Jamal Shah,Salim Khan and Rizwan Ullah
School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, and
Kausar Bibi
Department ofPakistan Studies, Hazara University Mansehra,Mansehra, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose Road and transportation has a signicant role in the prosperity, economic growth and
development of a region.The main purpose of this study is to conduct an in-depth analysis of local residents
attitude towards road and transportinfrastructure (ChinaPakistan economic corridor,CPEC) and the wider
economic,social, cultural and environmental impact on local people.
Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using a questionnaire survey from the local
people. Factoranalysis and structural equation modelling approach were used to testthe relation between the
observedand latent variables.
Findings The result discovered that road infrastructure has signicant socio-economic and cultural impacts
that signicantly affect the local people support for CPEC development.Italsorevealedthat more promotion and
awareness regarding benets of the project for dwellers lead to more support of the local residents in the study area.
Practical implications Informationprovided by this study will help policymakersto gain local resident
supportfor the project andmake policies accordingly for the future projects.
Originality/value This study investigatedthe attitude and support of the local people based on the road
infrastructures social,economic, cultural and environmental impact, which has never been examinedin the
existingliterature.
Keywords Support, impact, development, ChinaPakistan economic corridor
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Transport infrastructuresplay a key role in the socio-economic development andprosperity
of a region. Understanding the host community response towards road and public
JCEFTS
11,1
104
Journalof Chinese Economic and
ForeignTrade Studies
Vol.11 No. 1, 2018
pp. 104-120
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1754-4408
DOI 10.1108/JCEFTS-08-2017-0024
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1754-4408.htm
infrastructure development that affect them is necessary in getting local residence support
for project development. Road and transportation impacts have been studied extensivelyby
transport researchers in the recent era (Grootaert and Calvo, 2002;Agbelie, 2013;Fischer,
1999;Stone et al., 2010;Beyazit, 2015;Porter, 2014;Amekudzi et al., 2009;Khandker et al.,
2009;Kasraian et al., 2016;Ikioda,2016;Ali et al., 2017a,2016). Road and transportation has
the ability to strengthenregional development, economic growth and improvementin living
standards of the local people. The existing literature has investigated different impacts,
including social impact (Cramphornand Davies, 2004;Geurs et al.,2008;Windle and Cramb,
1999;Ali et al., 2017b;Grootaert and Calvo, 2002) economic impacts (Ali et al., 2016;
Asomani-Boateng et al.,2015;Moore, 2012;Ali et al., 2017b) and environmental impacts
(Fischer, 1999;Carrier et al.,2016;Strogen et al.,2016;WHO, 2000). These studies explored
that road and transportation effects the local dwellers. These impacts can change the
perception of the local people regarding transport infrastructure project development.
Transport infrastructure provides many opportunities for the host community, as recent
studies by Asomani-Boateng et al. (2015) and Ali et al. (2017a) revealed that road and
transportation has a noteworthy social and economic impact on residents of the area. Road
and transportation improves the livingstandard of the native dwellers and is considered as
a plan for the development and improvement of the region(Ramachandran and Linde, 2011;
Ali et al., 2017a,2017b). Road and transportation is a project that is very benecial for the
locals and is always supported by the local people. However, in case of ChinaPakistan
economic corridor (CPEC), some people are againstthe project, which motivates the authors
for the current study.
Literature has examined the perception and attitude of the local people towards road
and infrastructure development, as attitude and support of the local dwellers
signicantly affect a project (Chen, 2000).Itisnotedthattourismliteraturehas
extensively investigated the host community support for tourism development (McGehee
and Andereck, 2004;Nunkoo and So, 2015;Perdue et al., 1990;Stylidis et al., 2014;Woo
et al., 2015;Ko and Stewart, 2002). To examine the perception of the local people for road
and transport infrastructure development project, the model of Yoon et al. (2001) was
adopted in the current study. The main objective of the current study is to gauge the
perception of the local people regarding CPEC development. This study is an attempt to
nd reasons and facts on empirical basis behind it. Transport researchers and
policymakers have agreed that road and transportation has a signicant socio-economic
impact on local residents. Understanding the attitude of the host community towards
road and transport development projects is necessary, which may affect their reactions
for support of project (Yoon et al., 2001). It is obvious from existing literature that the
social impact of transport (Cramphorn and Davies, 2004;Geurs et al., 2008;Windle and
Cramb, 1999;Ali et al., 2017b;Grootaert and Calvo, 2002), economic impacts (Ali et al.,
2016;Asomani-Boateng et al., 2015;Moore, 2012;Ali et al., 2017b) and environmental
impacts (Fischer, 1999;Carrier et al., 2016;Strogen et al., 2016;WHO, 2000) have been
studied earlier, whereas host community support for road and transport infrastructure
development has never been investigated earlier, and the current study llthisgapinthe
existing literature.
The current study examined the attitudeand perception of the local people regarding the
development of CPEC. We claim that this would be the rst study that investigates the
environmental, cultural, economic and social consequence of road and transportation on
the local residents, and based on these factors, this study measures support for CPEC
development.
Road and
transport
infrastructure
105

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