The dark side of projects – Navigating the influence of politics on infrastructure projects of national or local significance

Abstract

Several factors undermine the delivery and performance of infrastructure projects – politics is one crucial factor when these projects are of national or local significance. Their visibility makes these projects attractive to politicians and decision-makers. There exists a “political sublime” to these projects that are also often media magnets. Politicians get euphoria alongside attention from building monuments to their causes and actively seek these projects for visibility to get re-elected. However, the projects that attract political attention often fail to acknowledge their key stakeholders by failing in their delivery, i.e., wasting public money. This raises many questions about public sector-driven projects where stakeholder value maximisation is essential, and projects need to deliver to meet the continuously growing expectations of stakeholders. While the focus on a group and its relevance to the operation of a business is critical for understanding the influence of stakeholders, such influence is not likely to be considered entirely legitimate without also acknowledging the issue stimulating stakeholder interest which could be social or political. By building on the argument from academia around the “stakeholder-centric” approach to projects, this presentation will offer insights into understanding the stakeholder ecosystem through the concept of stakeholder salience and issue salience.