Pre-planning Coordination for Co-located Infrastructure Projects in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Infrastructure projects are essential for the prosperity of all societies. In many cases, infrastructure assets of different types, both above ground and underground, share the same corridor such as the right of way for roads. Typically, these infrastructure assets are owned and managed by different public and private entities. Failure, delay, or increase in the cost of these projects is clearly reflected with negative impact on society and the economy. Sources of these project deficiencies include poor planning, poor coordination, and weak communication between the concerned entities regarding their ongoing and future plans for their infrastructure assets in a specific corridor. The problem of poor coordination leads to the stumbling of many projects leading to project suspension, cancellation, restudy, and/or redesign. This paper focuses on the pre-planning coordination among the owners of co-located infrastructure assets in Saudi Arabia. Two aspects of the problem are the lack of coordination regarding future projects between parties that has the same interest in a given location and the lack of coordination between those parties regarding existing assets. The objectives of this paper include assessing the current practice in pre-coordination for co-located infrastructure assets and providing recommendations that contribute to improving the coordination among infrastructure owners in their planning process for their infrastructure assets. These objectives are achieved using surveys of owners and contractors of infrastructure projects to validate the identified effects of the poor communication during pre-planning stages and to identify the factors contributing to this problem. In addition, the study involves reviewing case studies in Saudi Arabia, case studies of global success stories, and interviewing experts to identify which lessens are considered fit to Saudi Arabia. The outcome of this research is to provide recommendations/solutions that may contribute to solving the mentioned problems. The importance and the effectiveness of these solutions are discussed to assist decision makers in selecting the best approach to tackle the current issue and maintain the sustainability in the current practices.