Major Infrastructure Projects Research Articles

THE ROLE OF TRANSPORT CORRIDORS IN STRENGTHENING IRANIAN REGIONAL COOPERATION IN CENTRAL ASIA

The role of transport corridors in strengthening regional cooperation in Centra l Asia is critical, especially in the context of Iran's evolving foreign policy. Amidst the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation and the expansion of major infrastructure projects like the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Iran's strategic initiatives in Central Asia have gained prominence. This article aims to explore how transport corridors can enhance Iran's regional influence and cooperation with Central Asian countries. The main question addressed is: how do these transport corridors contribute to regiona l stability and economic integration? The hypothesis is that Iran's active participation in developing these corridors, particularly through key projects like the Chabahar Port, not only boosts trade and connectivity but also counters geopolitica l isolation and fosters long-term regional cooperation. The research utilizes the theory of regional integration and interdependence, supported by qualitative content analysis of documents, texts, and expert interviews related to regional transport strategies.The findings indicate that efficient transport infrastructure is fundamental for economic development and political stability in Central Asia. Iran's collaboration with Russia and China further amplifies the benefits of these corridors, providing a strategic counterbalance to Western influence. Ultimately, the study highlights that Iran's role in Central Asia is pivotal for broader regional integration and sustainable development.

Predicting Extension of Time and Increasing Contract Price in Road Infrastructure Projects Using a Sugeno Fuzzy Logic Model

Road infrastructure plays a crucial role in the development of countries, significantly influencing economic growth, social progress, and environmental sustainability. Major infrastructure projects are frequently challenged by substantial risks and uncertainties, leading to delays, budget overruns, and compromised quality. These issues can undermine the economic viability and efficiency of projects, making effective risk management essential for minimizing negative impacts and ensuring project success. For these reasons, a study was conducted using a Sugeno fuzzy logic system applied to completed projects. The resulting model is based on 10 project characteristics and provides highly accurate predictions for Extension of Time (EoT) and Increasing Contract Price (ICP). By utilizing this model, project management can be significantly improved through more accurate forecasting of potential delays and cost overruns. The high precision of the Sugeno fuzzy logic system enables better risk assessment and proactive decision-making, allowing project managers to implement targeted strategies to mitigate risks and optimize project outcomes.

Beyond polarisation and simplified storylines: Exploring discursive struggles over a transport infrastructure project in Vienna, Austria

Major transportation infrastructure projects are often associated with public disputes and polarised debates. However, by using the example of a controversial infrastructure project in Vienna (the “Lobau highway”), we show that a binary “pro-versus-con” framing does not do justice to the complex realities of such debates. Based on a Q methodological analysis, we reveal four distinct perspectives, which reflect a broad spectrum of “generally pro” and “generally against” positions: (i) More roads, more traffic, (ii) Less politics, more facts, (iii) Better roads, better city, and (iv) The highway must be built. While our analysis points at unexpected overlaps between perspectives and some entry points for consensus building, it also highlights disagreement on fundamental beliefs such as the impact of roads on the environment, the phenomenon of induced traffic, or the right to drive a car. Against this background, we discuss the wider socio-political context of the analysed debate, reflect on the basic premise of consensus building, and derive policy implications.

Optimizing the cost of the STEP programme.

The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) programme is a world-leading fusion power plant programme that has embedded a cost conscience in its design from the early phases. This firmly addresses the attitude of cost complacency of which many major infrastructure projects have historically been accused. While a detailed and highly accurate whole life cycle cost analysis is not possible, or even valuable, during the conceptual design stage, this early design phase is still the most critical programme phase where a focus on costs can drive longer term reductions and impact whole life cycle costs at the high level. Consequently, appropriate estimating methods for these early-stage designs and lessons learned from other industries are used to inform design decisions and ensure cost is part of the overall option analysis. Hence, while the overall programme cost estimate is too immature to be a reliable indicator for the final programme costs, significant effort has been undertaken to understand the major cost drivers and take action to make the STEP design as cost-effective as possible. This article is part of the theme issue 'Delivering Fusion Energy - The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP)'.

Management Economic Systems and Governance to Reduce Potential Risks in Digital Silk Road Investments: Legal Cooperation between Hainan Free Trade Port and Ethiopia

This research explores the interplay between innovation, economic systems, governance structures, and law, and how they interact with one another in the context of China and Ethiopia’s investments in the Digital Silk Road. The way cutting-edge methods related to governance and economic systems might help lower the risks involved in major infrastructure projects, like the Digital Silk Road, particularly in light of law and 5G developments, is investigated. China–Africa connections are to be strengthened, sustainable development is to be encouraged, and healthy economic progress is the goal of the partnership between Ethiopia and the Hainan Free Trade Port. The impact of these transnational investments on fair growth and sustainable development is assessed, while exploring the evolving agendas and procedures governing investments. This research draws attention to how the law and legal cooperation between Ethiopia and China may promote mutually advantageous outcomes, promote transparency and governance mechanisms, and lessen the likelihood of disputes. This research on the factors influencing the future of the Digital Silk Road and its consequences for long-term, sustainable economic growth, and business in the area, aims to provide valuable insights for policymakers, development professionals, and academics, and for the copromotion of China and Ethiopia in terms of digital investment. This research relates to the promotion of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), in terms of construction and economic development. It also examines how the DSR raises concerns about data security and privacy, cross-border transactions, technology transfer, and cyberterrorism, as well as encourages digital investment, such as through enhancing digital governance regulations, modernizing international investment agreements (IIAs), and bolstering global health, coordination, and cooperation; the article concludes by analyzing the implications for Africa. The findings show that such cooperation would support Africa’s digital transformation and sustainable development, while strengthening China–Africa cooperation.

Implementation of land acquisition for development of public interest (Analytical study on the construction of bypass road facilities to the Mandalika special economic zone)

Background: This study aims to determine the procedures for implementing land acquisition for constructing the Lombok International Airport ByPass road to the Land Acquisition Area for constructing the Lombok International Airport ByPass road to the Mandalika Special Economic Zone. Methods: This study uses empirical legal research with the statutory, conceptual, and sociological approaches. The data types in this study are primary and secondary, while the data sources use library research and field research. Techniques and ways of obtaining data are by conducting interviews and observations. The purpose of this study is to find out the procedures for implementing land acquisition for the construction of the Lombok International Airport ByPass road to the Mandalika Special Economic Zone, and to find out the inhibiting factors in this activity. Findings: The procedure for implementing land acquisition for the construction of the Lombok International Airport By Pass to the Mandalika Special Economic Zone as stipulated in Law Number 11 of 2020 Ciptaker regulates 4 (four) stages of acquisition starting from planning, preparation, implementation, and delivery of results. Conclusion: The land acquisition implementation committee has carried out land acquisition procedures following the provisions of the Laws and Regulations. The obstacles in constructing the Lombok International Airport By Pass road to the Mandalik Special Economic Zone include social, cultural, and economic factors. Novelty/Originality of this Study: An empirical examination of the land acquisition process for a major infrastructure project, specifically the Bypass Road from Lombok International Airport to the Mandalika Resort Special Economic Zone, employs a multifaceted approach encompassing legislative, conceptual, and sociological perspectives. This study uniquely identifies and analyzes the social, cultural, and economic barriers affecting the land acquisition process, providing insights into community dynamics and compensation issues within the context of Indonesian agrarian law and development.

Neoliberalism and the splintering of city-regionalism: the case of Denver’s regional transit agency in times of COVID-19 urban austerity

ABSTRACT Public transit service provision is fraught with contradictions and tensions, which today tend to converge around the city-regional scale of planning and governance. The promise of public transit is to promote economic development and improve regional accessibility, mobility, equity, and sustainability. However, these priorities can often conflict with each other, resulting in the splintering of the corresponding city-regional planning and governance structures set up to finance and deliver major transit infrastructure projects. Drawing upon a case study of transit-led city-regionalism in Denver, Colorado, USA, this article explores how the tensions and contradictions embedded within regional public transit service planning are exposed and exacerbated during times of financial austerity, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines how the neoliberal goals of promoting transit-oriented redevelopment in Denver alongside expanding service to Denver’s wealthier suburbs clash with the pandemic-induced expediency of targeting transit service for front-line workers and transit-dependent populations in core urban neighborhoods. The article demonstrates that in times of COVID-19-induced urban austerity the entrepreneurial city-regional approach to infrastructure provision originally developed for the FasTracks expansion program is increasingly at odds with regional objectives to use mass transit to foster equity and transport justice.

Creating an Efficient Public–Private Partnership Bundle: An Empirical Study

Public–Private Partnerships have been implemented globally as a key procurement strategy for addressing the issue of funding gaps amidst the immense pressure to deliver new major infrastructure projects. However, in current practice, procurement selection is applied to the entire bundle of project activities. This often leads to unduly large bundles of externalized project activities that create unduly large PPP contracts and attempt to transfer too much risk. To address this gap, this paper presents the development and testing of an implementable model that embodies a range of microeconomic theories—namely, transaction cost and resource-based theories—and property rights theory. This paper presents the first empirical testing of this model based on two road and two health projects, using competition as an independent measure of the validity of the recommended procurement strategy. The results provide compelling evidence that a rigorous application of the model will enable a substantial improvement of existing procurement approaches, such as identifying the most suitable bundle to be procured using a PPP approach.

Research on Critical Factors Influencing Organizational Resilience of Major Transportation Infrastructure Projects: A Hybrid Fuzzy DEMATEL-ISM-MICMAC Approach

To strengthen major transportation infrastructure projects’ (MTIPs’) organizational resilience and fortify their capacity for crisis management and project risk prevention. In this paper, based on the resilience theory development process, the connotation of organizational resilience of MTIPs is defined, and 20 influencing factors of organizational resilience of MTIPs are extracted from four categories of stability, redundancy, adaptability, and rapidity according to the literature analysis and case study method. The significance, causality, and multilevel recursive order structure of the influencing factors were investigated by the fuzzy DEMATEL-ISM approach, and their driving and dependent characteristics were analyzed through MICMAC. The results indicate that risk warning and prediction, human resources management, inter-organizational synergies, resource reserve situations, organizational leadership, and organizational learning are the crucial factors of organizational resilience in MTIPs. There are three levels and five ranks in the multilevel recursive rank structure of the factors affecting MTIPs’ organizational resilience. Among them, risk warning and prediction, equipment condition and performance, human resources management, and organizational leadership have the deepest impact on organizational resilience in MTIPs. The findings can clarify ideas for subsequent research on organizational resilience in this area and inform project decision-makers in developing strategies for optimizing organizational resilience.

Hybrid Evaluation Model to assess the overall barriers of public-private partnership contracts

Public-private partnerships are increasingly being used in many countries as a common management technique to enhance the delivery of public services and major public infrastructure projects. Understanding the project characteristics and obstacles to a public-private partnership is key for those involved to improve implementation. This study focuses on barriers that arise from public-private partnership contact in field wastewater treatment plants and offers a methodology for evaluating the overall barrier for public-private partnership projects by analyzing the relationships between the barrier elements. A primary list of barrier factors and their eight latent project characteristics were collected through literature reviews, then using the Delphi technique to filter the barrier insights concerning project characteristics and develop the final list using field interviews. 207 valid questionnaires were obtained. The data was deconvoluted into crisp numbers using fuzzy set theory, and a second-order structural equation model was used to validate the conceptual model. The results of the study indicate that the availability payment capability group has the highest score of all the groups in this study. This study proposed a model that enables the private sector to measure and evaluate aggregate barriers in projects so that it is easier for decision-makers to determine whether they can choose the project or not.

Rhythms, dressage and pacemaking in South Side Chicago: examining the construction site of the Obama Presidential Center

ABSTRACT This article examines the effects of a major civil project, the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side, on the everyday rhythms of this part of the city. In particular, we examine the construction site of this center and its impact on the production of rhythms. We focus on the notion of “dressage” in Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis, suggesting a critical reading of this notion through the theory of pacemaker. Theorizing the interrelation between rhythms, dressage and pacemaking, our article investigates the interface of the built environment and everyday rhythms. We employ the chronoanalysis concept of the “pacemaker” to analyze the OPC construction site’s disruption and introduction of new rhythms which transform the park. The discussion provides reflections on how Lefebvre’s concept of dressage can be theoretically advanced through pacemaking and thereby made fruitful for empirical inquiry. The examination of the OPC construction site draws attention to how major infrastructural projects change the rhythms of urban spaces and can provide concrete perspectives on how capitalist urban redevelopment becomes manifest in people’s lived everyday experiences and routines.

Prevention of flash floods in the town of Kokrajhar through efficient drainage network design

Flash floods are common in the town of Kokrajhar in north-eastern Indian state of Assam. Many areas in the town of Kokrajhar are submerged in water almost every year due to floods during rainy season. These floods cause heavy damage to roads, agricultural production and halt the progress of major infrastructural development projects. Hence, prevention of floods has become an important concern in the town of Kokrajhar. This study investigated the causes of floods and offered a solution for their elimination. The investigation showed that inadequate and inefficient network of storm drains was the reason for the flash floods. A new drainage network for the town of Kokrajhar has resulted from studying the shortcomings of the existing network of storm drains. The new network is designed in accordance with the recommendations stated in the “Manual on storm water drainage systems” prepared by the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization in 2019.

Smart and Sustainable City Experience on Smart Campus: A Case Study from Hassan Ist University

The desire to meet the demands of regional competition requires cities to adopt new patterns of urban management. In this sense, the trend at the global level is to use smart city standards by investing in the digital transformation of various public services in cities. In recent years, many efforts have been made in many Moroccan cities to improve their attractiveness by being part of the process of upgrading and enhancing their territories through the implementation of major infrastructure projects and the digitalization of urban administrations.
 This study was conducted to examine the feasibility of a smart campus as a discounted smart city, and it relies on the dissemination of a quantitative survey, via a questionnaire (live and online), supplemented by a qualitative survey based on focus group methodology. We have gained a broader perspective that allowed us to understand the reality of things on campus. The study also showed that there are many efforts that the university must take in conjunction with developing its plan to advance Hassan I University to the ranks of smart universities.
 This article is part of a study proposing a strategy for developing the campus of Hassan I University of Settat to be a smart one.

Chinese investments as part of infrastructure-led development: multi-scalar contestations around Georgia’s flagship infrastructure projects

ABSTRACT Drawing on an analysis of major infrastructure projects in Georgia, we propose a reconceptualization of infrastructure-led development as constituted by multi-scalar contestations. We illustrate that actors associated with different great powers more often pursue similar rather than significantly different strategies and tend to collaborate when financing and developing particular infrastructure projects. We find that hegemonic rivalry is either similarly important or at points even less significant than contestations at other scales in defining the fate of infrastructure projects. We suggest that environmental and class struggles should be considered as integral to the analysis and theorization of infrastructure-led development.

3D fault model and seismotectonics indicate the potential seismic risk in the Daliang Mountains, southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Areas of active tectonics host many active faults and frequently experience moderate to large earthquakes. The possibility of devastating earthquakes makes the development of major infrastructure projects in these areas risky. World-class large-scale step hydroelectric projects have been built along the Jinsha River, such as the Xiangjiaba, Xiluodu, Baihetan and Wudongde reservoirs in the Daliang Mountains of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Using the SKUA-GoCAD modelling platform, we created a thorough 3D model of the active faults. Regional geological information, historical strong earthquake catalogues, small earthquakes with fine displacement and 3D seismic tomography are all integrated in this model. The Mabian–Yanjin fault belt consists of a number of discontinuous faults that are either exposed on the surface or concealed, according to the 3D fault model. Some destructive earthquakes, including two enormous M s 7 and many moderate earthquakes, have occurred along this fault belt. Some pre-existing thrust faults, together with numerous immature faults in specific areas, may have been reactivated and changed into strike-slip faults. The Jinsha River basin's seismic and geological concerns must be carefully considered given the existence of such intricate fault networks and seismic activity. Supplementary material: A video of the 3D fault model is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6949201

Environmental, economic, and social impacts of sugar cane bagasse and eggshell wastes for soil stabilization.

Sustainability is a core topic for all sectors including geotechnical engineering (e.g., design of foundations, earthworks structures, and pavements for major infrastructure and building projects). Despite being comprised of environmental, economic, and social pillars, most sustainability studies in this area have focused on the first. Furthermore, social impacts and the three pillars integration are little explored. As a result, there is a lack of systemic and holistic assessments of innovative geotechnical alternatives. This research advances in this area by performing a complete sustainability assessment and integration of the environmental, economic, and social pillars of two expansive soil stabilization alternatives: (i) sugar cane bagasse ash combined with hydrated eggshell lime alkali-activated by sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and (ii) Portland cement. Individual analyses were carried out to determine the environmental, economic, and social impacts, and the single sustainability index. Alkali-activated binder dosages showed higher impacts in 4 out of 10 environmental categories. For both binders, high-density/low-binder dosages contributed to environmental and economic sustainability as they require lower quantities of raw materials and diesel for materials transportation. The total costs of alkali-activated binder dosages ($189.79 and $154.45) were higher than that of Portland cement ($72.49 and $54.04), mainly due to the high cost of NaOH acquisition. However, the alkali-activated binder dosages implied lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and thus lower social cost of CO2. The alternative binder presented a higher positive social impact. The alkali-activated high-density/low binder dosage is the most sustainable soil stabilization strategy.

Viewpoint: Realising carbon-reduction benefits from DfMA/MMC – reflections from a major infrastructure project

Drawing on their project experience, Alice Berry, Sahil Limbu and Heleni Pantelidou share tips on how to ensure that modern methods of construction deliver carbon savings.

Hamilton Based the Central Banking of the U.S. Bank upon the Notion that there is No Political Independence without Economic Independence

The Continental Congress foray into printed money during the American Revolution was so disastrous that the United States printed no more money for nearly a century, the one exception being a brief period during the War of 1812. After that Congress chartered and unchartered its national bank twice. The American economy henceforth (1816–1836) was often structurally short of coins, and without any national coinage Americans had to find substitute forms of currency to finance the burgeoning economy. The Supreme Court ruled that sovereign States and individuals could authorize both State and private banks to issue their own notes. In consequence, nearly all paper money in circulation was either State or private banknotes based on a limited reserve of gold. This generally proved insufficient to adequately fund major infrastructure projects. The federal government also had no institution for raising or transferring large amounts of money to fund these national improvements. Nonetheless, Hamilton’s U.S. Bank, without the help of a national currency, was an institutional precursor for what would not take final form until 1913. There would be no Federal Reserve today without the Whig-Republican agenda institutionally incarnated in the First and Second U.S. Bank.

Smart Rainwater Harvesting Service Design

Megacities expansion around the globe have significantly increased the demand for resources to the point of depleting available reservoirs and requiring importing resources from nearby locations sometimes implementing major infrastructure projects for guaranteeing access to resources. This is particularly true for one of the largest Megalopolis in the world, Mexico City, that imports 40% of its water supply from neighboring states. Despite of being a city holding important hydric resources, the lack of strategies, technological innovation, user-centered service design, consistent data acquiring, and optimization tools have led to a poor water management that maintains the metropolis with a constant scarcity of the resource. Therefore, the aim of the current paper is to present a conceptual service design for smart rainwater harvesting in urban settlements that provides an alternative source for citizens to reduce the local hydric stress, diminish aquifer overexploitation and increase water well recovery contributing to more sustainable cities.

Whether and When to Invest in Transportation Projects: Combining Scenarios and Real Options to Manage the Uncertainty of Costs and Benefits

Transportation infrastructure projects are a cornerstone of economic growth. However, the issue of whether new transportation infrastructure projects deliver the expected benefits has come under considerable scrutiny. The growing economic uncertainty and the tightening of budget constraints have made the design, evaluation, and selection of such high-cost projects particularly critical. There are disagreements as to how project decision-makers can evaluate the long-term costs and benefits of infrastructure projects. The objective of this article is to address such disagreements. We develop and apply an innovative methodological approach that combines real options with scenarios to help policymakers assess the costs and benefits of transportation projects. While these techniques have been widely adopted in corporations, there is little empirical evidence regarding their combined use by project decision-makers dealing with complex infrastructure projects. In this article, we fill this gap in the planning and project studies literature. We show that scenarios and real options can be very helpful in developing a more comprehensive understanding of long-term impacts of major infrastructure projects and thus in selecting the most relevant projects. Overall, our article assists the debate on the management of the uncertainty of long-term costs and benefits of infrastructure projects and helps cope with such uncertainty.