Abstract

Egypt, along with other countries in the world, is going through an economic transition from state control to a more market orientated economy. As part of this process, road freight transport is undergoing a process of privatisation and deregulation. There are many possible approaches which can be adopted, depending somewhat on the desired outcome of the process and economic philosophy of the country. Many countries have already gone through the processes of road freight privatisation and deregulation; some much more recently (Hungary) than others (the UK). At this early stage of road freight privatisation in Egypt, it is important and valuable to the policy maker to identify alternatives available for the privatisation process, problems it may be facing, as well as its impact on the road freight industry. Using a qualitative approach, this research attempts to explore the issues relating to privatisation of the road freight industry in Egypt, in terms of; the impact of privatisation, the role of freight management, the best method of privatisation, problems facing privatisation of the road freight industry, and finally treatment of external costs under privatisation. The overall objective of the research is to investigate and analyze the structure of the road freight industry, its cost, and how privatisation of the industry is approached under three different regulatory systems (the UK, Egypt, and Hungary). This should prove of value to countries in a transitional stage towards deregulation and privatisation and, in particular, to Egypt. The literature review is used to develop a conceptual model relating to economies in transition. This is then transformed into an operational model using the Delphi technique. The Delphi survey took place in both Egypt and Hungary, with panels comprising; academics, operators, and governmental officials. The results of the survey show that, unlike Hungary, there is no lack of available capital to achieve privatisation of road freight in Egypt, and that awareness of the road freight external cost is higher in Hungary than in Egypt. But in both countries the resulting increase in unemployment is one of the most important problem to face privatisation of road freight.

Keywords

Regional planning, Egypt, Privatisation, Road haulage

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

1997

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