Infrastructure Australia has emphasised the importance of thorough planning and analysis before major projects are greenlit, in a set of new guidelines for Australian governments.
Releasing its new “benchmark” guidelines on July 24, IA implored governments to ensure projects have rigorous business cases and secure funding sources, before they are committed to by often over-eager politicians.
IA’s chief executive Philip Davies said governments frequently fail to undertake thorough consideration of possible projects, options or analyses of various costs and benefits, before jumping on board a politically popular project.
“Ultimately, we want to ensure that community needs are properly understood, all options considered, and communities consulted before projects are committed,” Davies said.
“This should include making better use of existing infrastructure by deploying new technologies or utilising the data we’re already collecting.”
IA’s principles recommend governments “quantify infrastructure problems and opportunities as part of long-term planning processes,” and identify responses via development studies which provide consideration of the full range of options available along with the efficiencies and affordability of each.
Detailed analyses of potential projects ought to be carried out through full business cases prior to the announcement of preferred options, and the viability of “alternate sources” of funding should be considered as a way to minimise use of public funds.
Stakeholder and community engagement is also a central theme of the principles, which recommend governments to seek early input and feedback on projects from local communities, businesses, industry groups, and infrastructure owners and operators.
Davies said IA’s release of its decision-making principles would provide the community with a set of “expectations” with which to hold governments to account, establishing greater transparency, responsibility and accountability in the development of major projects.
“We want to see Australia’s governments do more to engage with communities, both in communicating long-term infrastructure plans, problem identification and by incorporating community input in a meaningful way into the project development processes,” he said.
“Part of this involves being more transparent around project decision-making by publicly releasing the analysis and processes that form the basis of funding decisions.”
Indeed, IA’s guidelines call on governments to release all information supporting their infrastructure decisions – including full business cases and analysis for project planning, option assessment and development – to the public. Commitments should also include carrying out and releasing post-completion reviews that assess whether projects realise their purported economic cases and whether they are delivered on time and on budget.
“The scale of investment in major projects and the long life of most infrastructure assets warrants rigorous decision-making processes,” Davies said.
“Our hope is that Australia’s governments embrace these Infrastructure Decision-making Principles and give the community added confidence that decisions on public infrastructure projects are robust, transparent and accountable.”