Proper planning can make all the difference
New Straits Times (Columns)
09 Sep 2006
Sulaiman Mahbob

RECENTLY, the Prime Minister was quoted as saying that planning is important for ensuring project delivery.

In many earlier instances he underscored the need for impact analysis. I could not agree with him more after reading in the media of the many instances of project delays.

Development projects are, after all, policy intervention to change or improve society, for example, to increase family incomes or farm yields, enhance health standards or raise the stock of human capital in the country.

For developing countries such as Malaysia, where there is still much to be done to improve the social status of the community, we cannot afford the luxury of having projects that are inadequately designed, incomplete or whose impact is uncertain, especially in this time of budget deficits.

Thus, projects need to be properly conceptualised, designed and managed to ensure their effectiveness and fullest contribution and synergy to the many policy objectives of the nation. The fact that the leadership commented on the need for good project planning indicates there is something not quite right about the processes of development in the country.

Good project planning entails sound pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, rigorous preparation and articulation of project purpose, scope and content, detailed estimation of costs and manpower requirements and their mobilisation, a built-in impact analysis, and of course the physical design and precise location.

Many a time, projects are approved and allocations made but these elements are not completely attended to. Expedience and urgency as well as the need for synchronisation with other processes, such as budgeting, are often cited as plausible reasons. The implementation of projects has to be managed and monitored in real time to identify the sources of delay and institute corrective measures.

That is why development plans are often slow in the first year of implementation because the approved projects are not completely designed and their specific locations not yet identified, let alone acquired. Normally, by the second and third years of the plan, the pace of implementation hastens.

This is not to say that all projects lack speed of implementation; many don’t. After all, we are not new at undertaking these tasks. There is much experience to be drawn upon.

However, the continuity and commitment of officers and interdepartmental co-operation must be there always to ensure effective planning and co-ordination at all stages of implementation.

For some reason or other, the planning cells in the ministries have been weakened. Courses in project planning do not appear to be fashionable any more.

This is a mistake, as project planning and co-ordination involve many processes that cut across departmental boundaries. Equally important is the need for support and attention from related ministries to ensure synergy of project impact.

This is all the more important because project planning and preparation tend to be multidisciplinary in nature. Thus in some areas we may need a team of officials from technical, management, financial and social disciplines to work hand in hand to conceptualise, plan and manage the projects to their full fruition. Hospitals, agricultural projects and universities, and even staff quarters, are examples of projects involving the need for various technically qualified personnel other than administrators.

The Prime Minister’s concern for corridor development and human capital development in the Ninth Malaysia Plan re-emphasises the need for good and effective programme and project planning.

In the recent past, we put the concern for regional planning and development in a remote corner of our policy-making apparatus.

A suggestion to be considered is to reinstate the importance of the planning cells or sections in all ministries or major departments (eg agriculture, health, education, the police and military and the like) by providing them with competent and experienced officers involving a few technical disciplines, and who have been exposed to project planning and management techniques.

The Prime Minister’s speech in Parliament when introducing the 9th Malaysia Plan put the emphasis loud and clear. A successfully implemented project needs careful planning as well as detailed management and monitoring. To underestimate these concerns is to plan for less effective delivery of our development projects. This we cannot afford.