ABSTRACT
Whatever may be the type of project—an irrigation project or the construction of a primary road, or the setting up of a health center, the aspect that concerns local planners and administrators most is whether the investment to be made in the project will pay off or not. Almost the entire attention of planners eventually becomes focused on this issue: Will the project be profitable? Will the investment in the project be effective? Will it be a worthwhile investment? It is obvious that if a project is unlikely to be profitable in the sense of its outputs (what the project produces) exceeding inputs (what the project consumes), it would be imprudent to invest in it. The argument is simple: a project must add to the “resources” of the economy—if it is unlikely to do so, then it should be discarded.
