Understanding project stakeholders’ perceptions of public participation in China's infrastructure and construction projects

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. AbstractPurpose -Public participation has been implemented with growing frequency as an instrument for dealing with the increased socio-economic and environmental disputes in public infrastructure and construction (PIC) projects in China. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of major stakeholders on the major aspects related to public participation practices in China's PIC projects and intends to convey what is presently happening in this segment of the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach -Specific topics of the social effects, benefits, forms, and barriers were addressed through a recent survey of the major stakeholders involved in PIC projects. The survey results were used to perform a strength-weakness-opportunity-threat analysis for evaluating the status quo of public participation in PIC projects. Findings -The survey results indicate that the development of public participation practices in China remains relatively slow despite the urgent need to promote this mechanism for solving socio-economic and environmental disputes in PIC projects. Thus, a four-step strategic plan is suggested to be established to overcome main barriers for the implementation of public participation and promote its development in China. Originality/value -This study aims to evaluate the status quo of the public participation practices in China by conducting a national survey, which has never been conducted before. The findings of this paper provide a holistic view of the status quo of public participation in China's PIC projects and promote a better application of this mechanism in the construction industry.

Deficiencies in Project Governance: An Analysis of Infrastructure Development Program

“…Firstly, the infrastructure projects are produced by multiple counterparties through a complicated series of interlinked transactions, and secondly, the significance with respect to catalytic functions in the development process and national security and comfort has made the infrastructure development process politically salient (Levitt et al 2009a). China's socio-economic and environmental conflicts in public infrastructure and construction (PIC) projects are handled through public participation (Xie et al 2014). Participation is a process through which stakeholders motivate and share control over priority-setting, policy-making, resource allocation, and access to public goods and services (World Bank 2017).…”

Improving the effectiveness of public participation in public infrastructure megaprojects

“…Public participation has become an effective channel to solve conflicts among stakeholders during the decision-making process in PIMs (Xie et al, 2014;Sun et al, 2016). Since the 1970s, democratic governments worldwide have been increasingly encouraging the involvement of all kinds of stakeholders to enhance the sustainability of PIMs and its benefits to the community (Li et al, 2012).…”

“…Public participation is ineffective in China (Tang et al, 2008;Sun et al, 2016) and does not always reach meaningful public participation in the USA (Innes and Booher, 2004). Public participation should be effective to deal with stakeholder conflicts and socio-economic and environmental issues in the decision making of PIMs (Xie et al, 2014). Therefore, a case study of high-speed rails is conducted to determine the effectiveness of public participation in China and the USA.…”

Deficiencies in Project Governance: An Analysis of Infrastructure Development Programme of Multi-Projects

“…Firstly, the infrastructure projects are produced by multiple counterparties through a complicated series of interlinked transactions and secondly, the significance with respect to catalytic functions in the development process and nations security and comfort has made infrastructure development process politically salient [5]. China's socio-economic and environmental conflicts in public infrastructure and construction (PIC) projects are handled through public participation [28]. Participation is a process through which stakeholders motivate and share control over priority-setting, policy-making, resource allocation and access to public goods and services [29].…”