Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition

by Bent Flyvbjerg, Werner Rothengatter, Nils Bruzelius

Book Overview

Megaprojects and Risk provides the first detailed examination of the phenomenon of megaprojects. It is a fascinating account of how the promoters of multi-billion dollar megaprojects systematically and self-servingly misinform parliaments, the public and the media in order to get projects approved and built. It shows, in unusual depth, how the formula for approval is an unhealthy cocktail of underestimated costs, overestimated revenues, undervalued...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521009464
• ISBN13: 9780521009461
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Important, a quick read, a valuable reference.

Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition It is not an accident that your local megaproject is running at least 50% over budget or, more likely, 100% (plus) over budget. It is so much of a problem in megaprojects that the only reasonable conclusion is to assume all announced megaproject budgets are low by multiple factors. The numbers are produced by experienced consulting professionals under the direction of government planning agencies. Both groups should know better. We are therefore forced to conclude that the numbers are not off by accident. This book is an easy read with a recurring theme. By the time the book is finished the point is pounded home. Until the trend is corrected, which is until people and organizations are rewarded or penalized based on the accuracy of their numbers, all megaprojects everywhere are highly suspect - if not already convicted of deliberate deceit of the public.

Packed with Knowledge!

Every once in a while a little book comes along that, while small in size, carries sufficient intellectual weight to strike the body politic between the eyes, thereby getting its collective attention. This may be one such book. It offers a realistic look at megaprojects - those major infrastructure endeavors that span vast bodies of water, dam natural resources to generate energy and extend rail lines to previously unreachable regions - and compares the promises of these projects to what they actually deliver. The report card isn't very good. Cost overruns are typically 25% to 100%, and sometimes 200% or more. Worse yet, studies show that the public tends to use megaprojects - be they airports or subway systems - only a fraction of the amount predicted. We strongly recommends this book to politicians, legislators and anyone who wants to know the truth behind these huge infrastructure projects, as well as to CEOs, CFOs, project managers and risk officers in the private sector - this applies to your projects, even if there is a difference of scale.