Besides scope, time and budget, the core of project management success
is stakeholder acceptance of project deliverables. As such, the risk of
stakeholders rejecting deliverables should be identified and mitigated
in a project's early stages.
For example, stakeholders in
infrastructural development projects, like members of a surrounding
community, make certain choices about project execution, such as
location, quality and schedule. But, this doesn't always happen. If
residents, say, are denied vehicular access to their homes because of an
ongoing road re-construction, it's clear there was no stakeholder
representative during the execution planning of the project.
African
governments often rely on public private partnerships (PPPs) for
utility and infrastructure projects. But most proponents of PPPs settle
for a design-bid-build business arrangement, in which a single vendor
may win concessionary bids to develop, operate and transfer utility
infrastructure schemes. In this instance, a concessionary bid is a
solicitation process for PPP projects.
This kind of business
arrangement increases the risk of eroding the values and interest of
that community. Sponsors and vendors could decide to satisfy themselves
to the detriment of the residents or other project beneficiaries.
One
way to mitigate the risk of communities rejecting infrastructure
projects could be to use project advocacy consultancies, which are
composed of community and government representatives. The committees
ensure that infrastructure projects address the needs of the communities
and are accepted by them.
In Africa, it would be a major stride
in project management if stakeholders approved of the deliverables of
PPP infrastructure projects. Of course, projects would be more widely
accepted if communities were involved during the planning and execution
of deliverables.
In my opinion, highly leveraged infrastructure
projects that are initiated under concessional business arrangements and
executed without the involvement of the would-be users should be
discouraged. In turn, profits made by promoters and vendors from
infrastructure projects could be better justified vis-à-vis community
acceptance of the deliverables.
If communities approve of
infrastructure projects, post-project operations and facilities
management, it would benefit everyone. Promoters would smile at the
projected cash flows, vendors would satisfy both contractual and project
obligations, and ultimately, the project would be successfully
completed.
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