Cross case analysis on internal early preparation of stakeholder engagement for infrastructure projects

Abstract Characterised as uncertain, complex, politically-sensitive, and extensive in nature define a mega infrastructure project which counting multiple stakeholders with various interest. Common problems during construction on stakeholder conflict were due to project stakeholders have different interests. Such problems are reworks, disagreements, cost overruns, lack of communication. As the project getting complex and massive, the importance of stakeholder engagement element in project management process is undeniable. The stakeholders in infrastructure project must be efficiently engaged and need earlier involvement during the pre-construction phase either direct or indirectly. This paper aims to recommend improvement to the initial process in stakeholder engagement in infrastructure which involved the internal preparation of engaging the stakeholder before later stage of consultation take place. Two case studies across New Zealand and Malaysia applies through a comparative qualitative analysis and observations. This research obtained information from project documentation and interviews. Such documents are engagement reports, public engagement report and project documentation. The result from the comparative analysis shows the attributes obtained from two case studies during the initial early preparation process of large/mega infrastructure projects. Lesson learnt derived from these two case studies will adding on the improvement to the stakeholder engagement process for an infrastructure project. The findings provide insight into how the factors of engaging stakeholders and public early and closely, improve transparency of information, and understanding of the design concept would help in improving international early preparation of stakeholder in both projects. The paper provides a point of reference for project owner and project team to assist them in emerging best practices of stakeholder engagement in major infrastructure construction projects.