The View | What Hong Kong can learn from Frank Gehry on delivering mega projects on time and within budget
- A study found that 99.5 per cent of large-scale projects globally fail to meet timelines, budgets and objectives but Gehry’s projects do – because he retains control
- Problems start when project goals and decisions are exclusively made by those who don’t know the design best
To be fair, this is not unique to our government projects. Oxford University professor Bent Flyvbjerg and his team studied more than 16,000 major building and infrastructural developments around the world and found that 99.5 per cent of the projects failed to deliver on time, on budget and to achieve their objectives.
The general public might ask, are these projects not handled by experienced, well-compensated professionals? How do these so-called professionals and experts not learn to avoid the same mistakes?
Most private projects are developed using bank loans, which are costly, especially after recent interest rate increases. So owners want their projects built in the shortest time and to start operating as early as possible.
Often, such requirements are prerequisites in the lending terms and conditions, as lenders have every interest in the project quickly generating revenues for repayment. This often results in very tight – sometimes unreasonable – project timelines with no slack or room for failure.
