Hydroelectric power plants are among the projects most exposed to “staggering overruns” in costs and schedules, according to the new bible of major projects from François Legault’s chief of staff. How big things get done.
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Although the construction of new dams seems essential to the Quebec premier, the authors of How Big Things Get Done point out that these major projects result in significant budget and schedule fluctuations.
Nevertheless, the new CEO of Hydro-Québec, Michael Sabia, reiterated in his action plan that he wants to build new power plants by 2035.
Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon also called for a reduction in bureaucracy in order to speed up the construction of dams and wind turbines.
“Over the course of 15 years [prévus pour un projet] There are 10 years of paper and 5 years of concrete,” he said.
Since the transfer of the tram project to CDPQ Infra, Quebec ministers have proudly walked the corridors of the National Assembly with a book entitled “How Big Things Get Done.”
Courtesy of Twitter – Marie-Michèle Sioui
The Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Martin Koskinen, noted that the work was “extremely relevant in these times.”
Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon mentioned on Tuesday, unlike several colleagues, that he had not read “How Big Things Get Done”.
Reading for Fitzgibbon
According to Olivier Choinière, a professor of project management at the University of Quebec in Rimouski and a researcher at the Center for Governance Studies at the University of Ottawa, the energy minister should address this.
“If Pierre Fitzgibbon reads the book, he will be interested, it talks about the five worst types of megaprojects in terms of costs and time overruns, based on the 16,000 projects examined,” emphasizes the expert.
In this list, dams rank fifth in terms of risks (see box).
Courtesy of Hydro-Québec
“The reason: These are projects that are not very modular and are not very repetitive,” explains the professor. In Quebec, do we have additional expertise in hydropower so that we can learn even if it was built a long time ago? Perhaps. But a lot of time passes between projects. We need to know whether we are learning lessons from the past.”
In his opinion, one of the mistakes made by governments is that they view each project as something unique. “It’s a bias we have,” he said.
Important planning
Written by Professor Bent Flyvbjerg and Canadian journalist Dan Gardner, “How Big Things Get Done” highlights the mistakes to avoid when managing and completing a mega-project.
Contrary to Minister Fitzgibbon’s desire to cut red tape, the book suggests that comprehensive risk analysis is essential, that we must plan slowly and then act quickly.
In her opinion, a lack of analysis in the planning phase is one of the worst mistakes, along with excessive optimism.
The authors of “How Big Things Get Done” used data from 16,000 megaprojects. They report that 92% of megaprojects are over budget, over schedule, or both.
The 10 riskiest projects according to How big things get done
1. IT projects
2. Nuclear storage projects
3. The Olympic Games
4. Nuclear power plants
5. Large dams
6. Airports
7. Defense projects
8. Large buildings
9. Aerospace projects
10. The tunnels
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