Mega Infrastructure Projects Research Articles

A Panoramic Innovation Paradigm for Eco-Sustainability in Infrastructure Megaprojects

A mega transportation project often crosses natural reserves and habitat zones of species. Preservation of endangered species has always been a challenge. This article presents a panoramic innovation paradigm for improving a megaproject's eco-sustainability. The paradigm structures the innovative solutions in four categories of organizational, strategic, technological, and management innovations along the three phases of a project's lifecycle of initialization, construction, and maintenance. The implementation of the solutions in the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge has successfully preserved the endangered Chinese white dolphin ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Sousa chinensis</i> ) by increasing its population by 50% from 1200 in 2009 when the project was started to 1890 in 2016 when the project was completed. The panoramic innovation paradigm can provide useful insight and guidance to similar megaprojects around the world.

Assessing the Underlying Drivers of Change over Two Decades of Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics along the Standard Gauge Railway Corridor, Kenya

Land cover has been modified by anthropogenic activities for thousands of years, although the speed of change has increased in recent decades, particularly driven by socio-economic development. The development of transport infrastructure can accelerate land use land cover change, resulting in impacts on natural resources such as water, biodiversity, and food production. To understand the interaction between land cover and social–ecological drivers, changing land cover patterns and drivers of change must be identified and quantified. This study documents land cover dynamics along the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) corridor in Kenya and evaluates the underlying drivers of this change from 2000 to 2019. The study utilised GIS and remote sensing techniques to assess the land use and land cover changes along the SGR corridor, while correlational and regression analyses were used to evaluate various drivers of the changes. Results showed that built-up areas, bare lands, water bodies, croplands and forests increased by 144.39%, 74.73%, 74.42%, 9.32% and 4.85%, respectively, while wetlands, grasslands and shrub lands reduced by 98.54%, 67.00% and 33.86%, respectively. The underlying drivers responsible for these land use and land cover dynamics are population growth, urbanisation, economic growth and agro-ecological factors. Such land cover changes affect environmental sustainability, and we stress the need to adequately identify and address the cumulative social and environmental impacts of mega-infrastructure projects and their interacting investments. The findings of this study provide an evidence base for the evaluation of the social–ecological impacts of the SGR and the implementation of best practices that will lead to enhanced sustainability in the development corridors in Kenya and beyond.

Governance of social responsibility in international infrastructure megaprojects

Governance of social responsibility in international infrastructure megaprojects

How institutional intermediaries handle institutional complexity in vanguard megaproject settings

Infrastructure megaprojects are temporal, complex undertakings that require close coordination between a variety of stakeholders to keep these projects on track. Very often, coordination bottlenecks emerge, particularly on vanguard projects, as parties are unable to agree on how processes and operations should proceed leading to slippages in duration and budget. In this paper we conceptualize these impasses as arising due to contradictions in institutionalized logics relating to work practices used by various organizations on such projects. Using empirical data from two metro rail megaprojects in India, we show that contradictory logics in carrying out work can lead to 'horizontal' or process-based institutional voids, and 'vertical' or role/hierarchy based institutional voids that must be successfully navigated to ensure project progress. We show how freelance expatriates working as consultants on these projects often functioned as institutional entrepreneurs in such settings, using three specific strategies - re-architecting transaction spaces, reinforcing hierarchy, and mediation, to create more and less stable routines that bridged these voids and created a framework for executing work on the project. This paper contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of institutional entrepreneurship and institutional complexity in vanguard infrastructure megaprojects and offers a preliminary process model of how coordination bottlenecks are resolved in such projects.

Dynamic Network Analysis of the Risks of Mega Infrastructure Projects from a Sustainable Development Perspective

Mega infrastructure projects (MIPs) are exposed to numerous interdependent risks of various natures which pose difficulties in risk management. Thus far, the research on the risk interactions of MIPs has been focused on developing static risk networks within a single category of risks, at certain stages of the project. It is essential to understand the risk interactions at various stages of MIPs to identify the key risks and key risk relationships that jeopardise their success. This is especially relevant nowadays, as MIPs are expected to be delivered sustainably. Therefore, to analyse the dynamic risk interaction of MIPs, initially, through literature analysis and expert interviews, combined with the four dimensions of sustainable development and the four stages of MIPs, 98 risk factors of MIPs were identified. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews were conducted to determine risk relationships and weights. Risk networks were developed for each stage of MIPs, and improved social network analysis was applied to these risk networks. Finally, the key risks and key risk relationships in each stage of MIPs were identified by analysing the changes of multi-level network indicators. This aided in determining risk control strategies. The results demonstrate that the key risks and key risk relationships are different for each stage of MIPs. Furthermore, the risks of different dimensions of sustainable development have different relationships at different stages. This research is the first to identify the risk relationships involved in MIPs by taking into consideration the whole project life cycle and its sustainable development. This research provides theoretical support for the risk management of MIPs, and strategic suggestions for controlling the risks at each stage of the project.

Performance Measurement of Operation and Maintenance for Infrastructure Mega-Project Based on Entropy Method and D-S Evidence Theory

An increasing number of infrastructure mega-projects (IMPs) have been built worldwide over the past decades, that comprehensively assess the performance of operation and maintenance (O&M) are rare. This paper attempts to identify indicators to assess the O&M performance, literature review, document analysis, and Delphi method are used to determine 23 indicators, and an evaluation model combining entropy weight and improved D-S evidence theory was proposed. The indicator system and evaluation model can be validated by taking the Chengdu-Chongqing high-speed railway as an example. The results revealed the comprehensive O&M performance of project is good, the evaluation grades of social relations, economic benefits and operational capability are all good, while the environmental benefits is fair. It is importance to reduce the negative impact on the surrounding environment, improve the utilization rate and enhance the sustainable development of the IMP. Furthermore, the improvement strategies of O&M performance were formulated.

Effects of informal institutions on stakeholder and public participation in public infrastructure megaprojects: a case study of Shanghai

Public participation in public infrastructure megaprojects (PIMs) is ineffective, and research on the issues of informal institutions’ influence on stakeholders is limited. The present study answered how informal institutions influence the practices of public participation while conflicts occur among stakeholders. Two PIMs in China were used as case studies to investigate the effects of informal institutions. The paper suggests that the adversarial relationships among stakeholders can be reconciled by recognizing that informal institutions encompass the social responsibility of PIMs (SR-PIMs) and culture. Results also showed that effective public participation entails the fulfillment of SR-PIMs by responsible behaviors of stakeholders and the positive effect of cultural tension, enabling participatory awareness of stakeholders. This study improves understanding of how to mobilize stakeholders in practice with responsible behaviors to reach a consensus.

Measuring Project Governance of Mega Infrastructure in China: A Scale Development Study

This study builds a measurement framework of project governance for mega-infrastructure considering the institutional situation of mega-infrastructure projects in China, including contractual governance, relational governance, and governmental governance. The factors of governmental governance are identified by the method of grounded theory with six cases of megaprojects, and the measures of project governance for mega-infrastructure are refined by expert interviews. The 235 questionnaires are collected, and exploratory factor analysis is used to identify six factors of the governance mechanism for mega-infrastructure projects. The scales are developed, and reliability and validity tests are conducted. Results indicate that (1) the governmental governance mechanism includes government decision, government supervision, and government coordination. (2) The three-dimensional framework of project governance is established as “contractual–relational–governmental” in the field of mega-infrastructure. (3) The measurement scales of project governance are developed and validated for mega-infrastructure, including government regulation, government coordination, risk sharing, revenue distribution, relationship maintenance, and cultural development. This research contributes to (a) the state of the knowledge by gaining a holistic and comprehensive understanding of project governance in mega-infrastructure in China, and (b) the state of the practice by providing a tool for measuring project governance in mega-infrastructure.

Determination of the Critical Success Criteria for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Projects in Turkey

Although the PPP concept is preferred for delivering mega-infrastructure projects in developed and developing countries in recent years, the success of these projects has been criticized. Especially, in Turkey, there are intensive criticisms about these project’s success concerning economic and environmental aspects. Determining the success criteria and their importance levels are key to remedy these issues since project teams can identify the clear set of the objectives of these projects, and all processes in PPP projects can be performed for achieving these objectives. There are studies about the success criteria of PPP projects in the literature. However, none of these studies focuses on Turkey. Given the fact that success criteria vary concerning the country’s cultural, economic, and traditional background, success criteria specific to Turkish PPP projects must be determined. Additionally, success criteria also vary among the different stakeholders, and unawareness of these differences puts the project success at risk. Thus, differences in perspectives of the public and private sectors were also investigated in this study. Firstly, 15 success criteria were extracted from the literature. Then, a questionnaire survey was organized to collect expert’s opinion about the importance of these criteria. 33 experts participated in this questionnaire survey. The data collected through the questionnaire survey was analyzed by using factor analysis and 4 factors were determined at the end of this analysis. Finally, the Mann-Whitney U test was performed to investigate the differences in perspectives of the public and private sectors. The factor analysis shows that the most important factors are project delivery and the project’s contribution to the public’s prosperity. Besides, the findings indicated that stakeholders have considerable disagreements on three criteria, namely quality of the project with meeting output specifications, reliable and quality public service, and reduced public sector administrative costs.

WHAT MOTIVATES STAKEHOLDERS TO ENGAGE IN COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION IN THE INFRASTRUCTURE MEGAPROJECTS?

Collaborative innovation has become an innovation paradigm to improve innovation performance and firms’ economic output. However, there is relatively little research investigating stakeholders’ drivers for engaging in collaborative innovation and the relative importance of drivers in infrastructure megaprojects. This research aims to address this gap by identifying the drivers for collaborative innovation and their relative importance in the context of infrastructure megaprojects. We adopt the literature review and questionnaire survey methods to identify drivers, the Relative Importance Index to rank them, and exploratory factor analysis to group them. The results show that 18 drivers are grouped into 6 dimensions. Their rankings are as follows: responding to project and clients’ requirements, improving efficiency, gaining rewards, learning, responding to competition, responding to environmental changes. The research contributes to stakeholders’ drivers to engage in collaborative innovation and the relative importance of drivers in the context of infrastructure megaprojects. Identifying and prioritizing stakeholders’ drivers can provide practitioners with suggestions on managing the collaborative innovation process in infrastructure megaprojects.

A harbour in the country, a city in the sea: Infrastructural conduits, territorial inversions and the slippages of sovereignty in Sino-Sri Lankan development narratives

This paper adopts infrastructure as a lens through which new understandings of the inter-relationships between territory and sovereignty can be advanced. It argues that inverting the terrestrial assumption of territory can lead to “slippages” of sovereignty in which territorial sovereignty is indirectly claimed through the assertion of governance rights. For the purposes of this paper, I explore these inversions through the reclaiming of land from the ocean, and the removal of land by the ocean. Drawing on ethnographic research exploring the effects of China-backed infrastructure mega-projects in Sri Lanka, these territorial inversions are explored, respectively, through the Port City Colombo project – in which territory is claimed from the ocean through the creation of an island infrastructure – and the Hambantota International Port project – in which territory is removed by the ocean through the creation of a man-made port. Both projects reveal the ways in which infrastructure investments are implicated in the region-building ambitions of the Belt and Road Initiative, and thus provide conduits through which Chinese sovereignty can be asserted. As conduits, they foreground the realisation, but also the reimagination, of what “islandness” can mean in/to post-war Sri Lanka.

What does it take to kill a megaproject? The reverse escalation of commitment

Polarized political debates can lead to infrastructure megaprojects in advanced stages of construction being left unfinished. Although this scenario is uncommon, there are relevant examples that negatively impact the economy and society. Despite their relevance, unfinished megaprojects are scarcely discussed in project studies. However, political events such as a referendum or government transitions jeopardize the continuation of the megaproject, leading to its termination. This paper focuses on unfinished infrastructure megaprojects and employs the escalation of commitment as a theoretical perspective. It addresses the following research question: How political polarization fosters escalation of commitment leading to unfinished infrastructure megaprojects? The paper employs a longitudinal case study, the USD 13 billion Mexico City New International Airport, recently terminated during the construction phase due to a political decision. The paper describes the interplay between the development of infrastructure megaprojects and political polarization. It shows how political narratives can portray a misleading escalation of commitment to justify project termination, even when it is not rational.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights Advisory Opinion OC-23/17 on the Relationship between Human Rights and the Environment

On 15 November 2017, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued an advisory opinion OC-23/17 on the relationship between human rights and the environment. The opinion responded to a request made by Colombia pursuant to Article 64(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights regarding extraterritorial jurisdiction of state parties to the Convention resulting from mega-infrastructure projects in the Greater Caribbean region.&#x0D; The purpose of this article is to discuss the general issues dealt with by the Court, concentrating on the significance of this Advisory Opinion for international law. The opinion contains two main interesting aspects. First, in the light of the opinion, states are responsible for the environmental damage they cause, regardless of whether it occurs within their borders or beyond them. Second, the Advisory Opinion recognizes that the right to a healthy environment is an autonomous, fundamental human right that shall be protected.

The lure of the visual: Multimodality, simplification, and performance measurement visualizations in a megaproject

This study explores the risks and consequences of the reliance on visualizations in performance measurement for the sake of the simplicity and actionability of performance information. Despite the mounting interest in the visual aspects of accounting, little is known about what can happen when visuals are so embedded in organizations that they become a key semiotic resource for communicating performance measurement information. Theoretically, we draw from multimodality research to unpack how different semiotic modes (i.e., visuals, text, and numbers) interact in organizational meaning-making. To explore these issues, we conducted a study of the visual practices of one of the largest infrastructure megaprojects in the UK. The paper makes two contributions. Our first contribution consists of qualifying what we call the lure of the visual: A seemingly paradoxical process whereby the increasing ubiquity and reliance on visuals in an organization induces the trivialization of performance measurement visualizations and limits the communicative opportunities they offer to users. In so doing, we offer a substantive qualification of the risks and consequences of visual approaches to performance measurement. Our second contribution to the accounting literature is the theorization of how multiple semiotic modes can interact in performance measurement. We theorize three multimodal relationships between visuals, numbers, and text that shed new light on how performance measurement artifacts generate meaning in organizations.

Firm and project innovation outcome measures in infrastructure megaprojects: An interpretive structural modelling approach

Infrastructure megaprojects are characterised by huge investment, vast complexity in technical and organisational terms, and extensive innovation. Innovation outcomes have been extensively investigated at the owner/operator and project-based firm/supplier levels (both combined shortly named ‘firm-level’), with the project-level being far less studied and the simultaneously study of firm and project innovation being a knowledge gap. Considering the case of infrastructure megaprojects in China, this paper identifies infrastructure megaprojects' innovation outcome measures at both the firm-level and project-level simultaneously and investigates their relationships. This paper employs a mixed-method approach leveraging interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and the matrix of cross-impact multiplications analysis. The model derives 22 innovation outcome measures, divided into five hierarchy levels, describing owner-level, supplier-level, and project-level innovation in infrastructure megaprojects. Five measures have the greatest driving power: 1) Creation or improvement in construction technology, 2) Creation or improvement in the construction process, 3) Creation of new construction standards, 4) Creation or improvement of contract form, and 5) Creation or improvement in financial arrangements. The results can help researchers and practitioners better understand how to evaluate and manage innovations at both the firm-level and project-level in infrastructure megaprojects.

Complexity, leadership, and megaproject performance: A configuration analysis

Purpose: Rapid worldwide growth in megaprojects has attracted academic interest. In practice, complexity is one of the main causes for the failure of megaprojects. This study proposes a system of project manager leadership to overcome problems of complexity in achieving success with a megaproject.Design/methodology/approach: This study uses configuration analysis, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), to investigate the combination of complexity and leadership competencies that promote megaproject success. This study analyzes three megaproject manager leadership competencies—technical, emotional–social and adaptive—with three megaproject complexities—structural, social and emergent—to determine the combinations and levels required to ensure a megaproject’s short- and long-term success. Seven Indonesian infrastructure megaprojects were involved in this explorative study.Findings: This study has identified four combinations between complexity and leadership competencies and three necessary conditions that can lead to a successful megaproject. This study also reports that insufficient project manager leadership competence in the technical, emotional-social, and adaptive aspects can lead to lower megaproject performance.Research limitations/implications: By using fsQCA, this study is sufficient to understand the combination of complexity and leadership competencies in the megaproject performance. However, configuration comparative analysis using small samples is unable to explain results that are more rigorous when compared with the statistical approach. Having higher cases and additional analytical approaches that can lead to a more robust quantitative analysis method is strongly needed to address these limitations.Practical implications: For practitioners, this study proposes effective leadership competency combinations for managing various complexities of the megaproject.Originality/value: This study provides an insight into the competencies of megaproject management leadership. This study contributes to the literature by providing fresh perspectives on megaproject management, especially in terms of complexity and leadership. This is an important research area for the development of megaproject management theory as it fills theoretical gaps in megaproject management in terms of the leadership aspect.

Identifying the Key Risk Factors of Mega Infrastructure Projects from an Extended Sustainable Development Perspective

Mega infrastructure projects (MIPs) have become increasingly important to the realization of sustainable development in China. Sustainable development is a process of dynamic balance, and coordinating the triple bottom line (the environmental, social, and economic dimensions) will enable more sustainable development of MIPs. However, previous studies have lacked consideration of coordination when applying sustainable development principles to the systematic identification of risks to MIPs. The goals of this study were to clarify the definition and dimensions of the sustainable development of MIPs and to identify the key risks of MIPs. A literature review was performed to extend the definition of sustainable development of MIPs by combining the triple bottom line with a fourth coordination dimension. A conceptual model of MIP risk identification was then proposed from an extended sustainable development perspective, 22 sustainability elements and 75 risk factors were identified, and the key risk factors were determined based on the interview responses and fuzzy set theory. The results show that economic risks have a high probability, social risks have a high loss, environmental risks have an intermediate probability and loss, and coordination risks have the greatest impact. In addition, the three most important key risk factors were found to be construction and installation cost overruns, land acquisition and resettling cost overruns, and information sharing with the public. Identifying key risk factors can provide information to help stakeholders understand the risk factors associated with MIPs and formulate reasonable risk response strategies.

Production planning, monitoring and review: comparison between the practices in an urban rail transit megaproject with the Last Planner System

PurposeMegaprojects are typically very expensive public-centred projects that leave little space for any mismanagement or deficient planning, which could affect the project adversely. The Last Planner™ System (LPS) is a lean construction planning and control tool that functions to reduce waste and increase performance. Given the benefits, the application of the LPS in megaprojects is still scarce, especially in Malaysia. Hence, this study aims to compare the current production planning, monitoring and review practices in a megaproject with the LPS in order to explore the possibilities of adapting the LPS to the current practices.Design/methodology/approachThis longitudinal case-based study has first explored the current practices implemented in an infrastructure megaproject, which is an urban rapid transit (URT) project, which was then compared to the standard LPS practices. The case study has adopted several research methods such as observation, interview and document review.FindingsFindings from the study highlight that the current production planning, monitoring and review practices in the URT project mostly differs from the standard LPS practices with only slight similarities found in the major planning phases. The comparative study, which based on five reference points through master, phase, look-ahead, weekly work plan and measure, and learning has resulted in several key elements, representative of the different planning phases, such as collaborative programming, reverse planning, reliability, dependability and continuous learning.Practical implicationsThis study provides an alternative perspective to rail planners, as well as other types of project planners in considering the use of the LPS to enhance the quality of planning, monitoring and review in projects. The framework that highlights the core values and key elements for the related planning phases enables project teams with no lean background to partially adapt their current practices to the LPS with minimal disruption.Originality/valueThis study first contributes to the body of knowledge, where limited study was found comparing and contrasting current production planning practices against the LPS, particularly in rail-based megaproject. The results from the comparison are the key elements representing each of the planning phases that was rooted back to the core values (teamwork, involvement and collaboration, communication and transparency, and continuous improvement) necessary to enhance the current practices.

Understanding design change propagation in complex engineering systems using a digital twin and design structure matrix

PurposeAs the engineering design process becomes increasingly complex, multidisciplinary teams need to work together, integrating diverse expertise across a range of disciplinary models. Where changes arise, these design teams often find it difficult to handle these design changes due to the complexity and interdependencies inherent in engineering systems. This paper aims to develop an innovative approach to clarifying system interdependencies and predicting the design change propagation at the asset level in complex engineering systems based on the digital-twin-driven design structure matrix (DSM).Design/methodology/approachThe paper first defines the digital-twin-driven DSM in terms of elements and interdependencies, where the authors have defined three types of interdependency, namely, geospatial, physical and logical, at the asset level. The digital twin model was then used to generate the large-scale DSMs of complex engineering systems. The cluster analysis was further conducted based on the improved Idicula–Gutierrez–Thebeau algorithm (IGTA-Plus) to decompose such DSMs into modules for the convenience and efficiency of predicting design change propagation. Finally, a design change propagation prediction method based on the digital-twin-driven DSM has been developed by integrating the change prediction method (CPM), a load-capacity model and fuzzy linguistics. A section of an infrastructure mega-project in London was selected as a case study to illustrate and validate the developed approach.FindingsThe digital-twin-driven DSM has been formally defined by the spatial algebra and Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) schema. Based on the definitions, an innovative approach has been further developed to (1) automatically generate a digital-twin-driven DSM through the use of IFC files, (2) to decompose these large-scale DSMs into modules through the use of IGTA-Plus and (3) predict the design change propagation by integrating a digital-twin-driven DSM, CPM, a load-capacity model and fuzzy linguistics. From the case study, the results showed that the developed approach can help designers to predict and manage design changes quantitatively and conveniently.Originality/valueThis research contributes to a new perspective of the DSM and digital twin for design change management and can be beneficial to assist designers in making reasonable decisions when changing the designs of complex engineering systems.

Project Managers’ Perspectives on the Complexity of Construction Megaproject in Indonesia: A Multicase Study

Complexity has become an inseparable characteristic of construction megaprojects. Moreover, it has been identified as the cause of failure of megaprojects by practitioners. Researchers continue to explore complexity in megaprojects and are attempting to address it. This article aims to define complexity, examine its aspects, and look at the management approach in Indonesia's construction megaprojects from the project manager's perspective. The article is conducted based on the available literature and case studies in three Indonesian infrastructure megaprojects: the Trans-Island Highway, Indonesian Light Rail Transit, and Indonesian International Airport. This article notes that as practitioners, project managers are still focused on megaproject complexity from a negative perspective, perceiving it as an obstacle despite the fact that complexities can present positive opportunities. Complexity can be categorized into three aspects, namely, structural, social, and emergent. In this context, this report examines complexity management by studying various unique cases of Indonesian megaprojects. This article provides insight and knowledge to researchers with regard to aspects of management and megaproject complexity, especially in developing countries. For practitioners, this article provides management approaches that can be considered in the management of megaprojects.