The price of improvement

The roadworks outside our house are still going on - with no small disruption to life. Sadly, there is no consideration made for the effect this has on businesses and often they are forced out of business as a result of being inaccessible for several months, with no compensation. Neither will they have been give any advance notice of this work.

For us, it is merely an inconvenience, with lots of noise and no easy way in and out of the house (although we have learnt to ride our moto over piles of debris and down small gaps).

The real question is if this work will actually make improvements to people's lives, or if (and now I recognise my cynicism), they are just looking for ways to spend aid money - this is being funded by JICA, Japanese aid. The complex web of development aid.

Given the devastation caused by flooding in the city (and across the whole country) recently, I hope it is the former.