Reflection on “Moving Ahead By Alderton, March 2014”

The article “Moving Ahead” is discussing the outcomes of the mega-project; argue the faulty reputation about those projects of being always behind schedule and over-budget. The article suggested that the traditional criteria relating to cost overruns and completion dates are inadequate measures of the success for such projects; the decision-making should include a wider set of complex considerations, like projects’ societal as well as economic implications.

The article discussed the five global transportation projects contending with these complex considerations, and illustrating how the giants can greatly vary and be effective. The first project was the California High-Speed Rail. What I found interesting in that project is that the key of success in that project is not technical, as the engineering aspects are manageable, but the real key is in the management; the only way to manage that project was to ensure having people who can make decisions concurrently, and without the bottle-neck effect. Another interesting thing about that project is that it was viewed not just as a transportation project, but it is considered to be a transformational program, because by connecting economies, the state becomes more competitive.

Another project discussed was the Panama Canal Expansion. In that project, coordination was very difficult as the project was divided among many contractors around the world, and all of them must collaborate and work as one team. Additionally, a self-contained team was created to be inclusive of everything such as safety, legal, environmental, contracts, engineering. And what I found to be the most interesting thing is that the project was not considered unsuccessful because it was not finished on time, because the main driver was generating more income for the country of Panama.

Atlanta Belt-Line was another project that was mentioned in the article. In that project, the biggest challenge was delivering projects; the communicating progress to all 45 communities that would be served by the project. It was very interesting to see how the project management was listening to the community, and addressing their needs. A combination of digital tools was used also to reach a wide range of people and also cut across all kinds of demographics and interests, and that created a real sense of ownership by the community.

Another project was the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. In that one, the design and construction standard of the bridge not only needed to satisfy the all requirements stated in the Mainland’s regulations, but also had to suitably take into consideration the Hong Kong / Macao construction standards. And with a view to minimizing the environmental impacts caused by the civil works, a non-dredge reclamation for reclaiming the artificial island was developed, and in that way the main stakeholders expected the project to bring much positive impact on tourism and even more opportunities for commercial investment in that area.

Finally, the article discussed the Maasvlakte 2 project. What I found interesting in that project is that the top management invested very early in the stakeholder management in order to address complaints and worries in their design, and also the success of that project was much more than time and budget; the real success will be if the Port in 20 years’ time will be considered the most sustainable port worldwide.

Some of the lessons learned from this article are that it is highly recommended to have a detailed risk register which runs the gamut from legal issues all the way to funding issues and to detailed engineering issues, that enables the project manager to look virtually at everything that might influence the progress of the program. Additionally, establishing a strong and sound team’s communication and collaboration helps in preventing budget overruns plus sidestep potential schedule overruns.

Personally, I had the chance to work on mega-projects all the around the world, and one of those was Prince Mohammad bin Abd Al-Aziz International airport in Al-Madina in kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In that project, the main designer had the idea of a Palm Tree, and the whole design was established around that idea. It was the first of its kind when it comes to the design and construction; we had to go through a lot of challenges as the connections designers. There were too many subcontractors involved, and the communication was a nightmare for all of us. The project exceeded its budget by millions, and the schedule was nothing near met; however, the final product was first of its kind, and became a tourists’ attraction, and the final customers were impressed by the outcomes, and that is what really matters, the satisfaction of the client, and as a result, the company was offered to work on another multi-million airport project in the same country.