Maintenance in Irrigation: Multiple Actors, Multiple Contexts, Multiple Strategies

Abstract

The irrigation sector is facing a serious maintenance crisis.Hydraulic infrastructure in many irrigation schemes, especially in South Asia,much of it constructed in the 1960's and 1970's, is deteriorating rapidly. The usual reaction to the neglect of maintenance has been a pattern of ``build-neglect-rebuild'' which, in the wake of widespread budgetary constraints, cannot be an option for the future.

The paper starts with the observation of a ``maintenance paradox'': while there is general agreement amongst irrigation experts, that deferred maintenance is one of the most important determinants of performance deficits in irrigation,there is a relative lack of attention to the maintenance problem by government officials, irrigation agency staff, farmers and international development agencies. Going beyond the common explanation of ``lack of funds'' and the related singular focuson maintenance financing, the paper perceives the low interest in maintenance as a multi-facetted incentive problem effecting most of the actors involved in maintenance provision. When maintenance is defined as a component of infrastructure service provision,the doors open to new insights on motivation and coordination problems in maintenance provision. Drawing on key concepts of the MAINTAIN project, the authors use such insights to put forward essential institutional requirements and basic strategiesthat may lead the way to incentive creation for maintenance and thus help overcomethe maintenance paradox in the irrigation sector.