Why Govt projects often get failed or stuck incomplete in Manipur?

Shanjoy Mairembam *

Planning on various govt projects in Manipur state are conducted by dignified (IAS & MCS) officials on consultation with external professionals. Then, the curiosity arises 'why govt projects often get failed or stuck incomplete in Manipur?'

A first glance on this issue leads to the key probable answers – 'Poor Project Management' and 'Unskilled Operational Structure'. Some of the areas within project management worth giving more focus by planning officials are as follows:

Project Management (PM) Skills: PM skills are achieved after extensive hands-on work experience via continuous improvement and knowledge sharing with other experts in the similar fields of work. Planning officials need to update their PM skills for better project planning and execution with global outlook.

Govt should consider providing training courses for few officials in top management institutes within the country and aboard. In addition, officials should have access to reputed online research databases (such as Harvard Business Review, Business Source Premier, EBSCO Electronic journals, etc) for better planning.

New online/offline forums should be created for interaction with public/professionals on various govt projects to provide suggestions/inputs. E.g. students of MU (such as MBA graduates) can be employed to conduct analysis and consultancy services of govt projects at low cost via customize internship projects.

Project Management Team: The chain of commands/management from planning till implementation seems unclear and unspecific to everyone involved. The flow of concept and responsibilities are not imparted properly in the entire govt administration, thereby most officials do not know their crucial roles toward the bigger picture.

The very critical aspect herein to be remembered by the entire team is 'Believe self first to succeed before asking others to believe on the brilliant idea'. Wonderful business presentations mostly do not lead to successful end results due to practicality of implementation and execution issues.

There needs to be something similar to a corporate strategy group in the administration which evaluates the entire picture and guides the various divisions toward the goal. Such step will help in eradicating the prevailing concept of "Never ending govt project', and overcoming likely implementation issues.

Stakeholder Analysis & Project Scoping: These two key areas seem missing often in most govt project plans. These documents do show the general contents of a business plan such as the planning team, resources required, execution plans, industry/sector research report, budgeting, timeline, etc.

Yet, stakeholder analysis is the most critical activity of any project and it needs to be conducted periodically (not just only at the start of the project initiation phase, since stakeholders may keep changing their views on the project thereby impacting the project completion).

Project scoping also helps in defining the focus areas for the project team to achieve the goals and it closely relates to stakeholder analysis. E.g. Stakeholders can be local people, central govt funding authorities, nature/season, private contractors, etc.

Yet, one of the key stakeholders in most projects found often missing in the analysis is the underground militant organisations and how to deal with this key stake holder. The project team can't satisfy all the key stakeholders throughout, but it should still move towards the completion of the project goals in a balancing mode to the stakeholders.

Risks & Uncertainty Management: Officials are often found wanting in most govt projects on how to deal with possible risks already recognized and any uncertain situation in the future. Moreover, there seems to be no special focus area in the planning documents for risks and uncertainty management.

The officials should also be trained more on conflict management/negotiation skills (to manage the govt ministers, local people, non-state agents, etc).

E.g. What is the value of building a hydro electric power plant on that river this year if the river is going to dry up soon in 6-7yrs in future?, why do thermal power plant need to be build in that year if continuous fuel supply can't be sustained in future and also if the per unit power cost produced can't be achieved lesser than the likely market sales energy unit price?, etc.

Opportunity Costs: Various project plans are created by officials under the influence of some great minds or learning from the visits to developed cities, etc. But, officials are again found wanting to provide business justification –
why they choose to take up those projects?,
Have they really considered 'the Opportunity Costs'?,
Which project would have been the best suitable or best value for money invested?.

There should be a discussion room before initiating on any development project by inviting several drafts of possible solutions. The govt should choose one among all the project draft solutions which justifies with higher value to the people and state.

E.g. Wasn't there any other alternatives than building a fly-over in the middle of small Imphal city (with the huge money already invested) to ease the traffic issues?, etc.

Project Closure/Exit Strategy: Officials seem more concerned to complete the plan created by higher authorities without providing valuable feedbacks and timely inputs to the planning team so that the projects can deliver more value even after the project completion or expiry.

The timeline of the project has to be clearly defined and monitored. There must be an option or strategy to exit at certain points of the project phase if the planning team feels the project is not worth investing. E.g. What is the business justification of building an entire game village homes with crores of rupees if those homes can be used only for one time during the sports competition?, etc.

(Detailed analysis on Manipur Government's planning activities can be done by accessing the link here .)
The latest Manipur State Development Draft Report can be accessed via the link here.