Yes, construction cost, time and scope are important, but there is more: a new action plan for infrastructure success

Purpose - During the planning and delivery, iron triangle criteria, are essential for internal stakeholders (e.g. owner, sponsors and delivery company), mostly ignoring external stakeholders such as local communities (often perceived as inconvenient) or end users. In the medium-long term, infrastructure cost and benefit are far more important for external stakeholders and the environment.Design/methodology/approach - The iron triangle criteria, i.e. delivering on time, budget and quality/scope, is the traditional perspective to assess the success of infrastructure projects. Delivering on cost and time is significant, but particularly for infrastructure, there are more relevant success criteria. The authors argue which criteria are important, and explain why.Findings - The authors challenge the traditional view of judging projects based on respecting time, budget and quality/scope. The authors explain that discussing the social value and contribution to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is extremely relevant. Crucially these metrics keep changing, even after the project is terminated.Originality/value - The authors provide a new seven-step action plan for decision-makers to improve infrastructure provision by reflecting on SDGs and engaging with external stakeholders, particularly minorities and the weaker members of their communities. Such an action plan is focused on the cost and value for different stakeholders on different timeframes and progress toward social value and achieving SDGs.

Automated summary

This article discusses the criteria for assessing the success of infrastructure projects, pointing out the importance of external stakeholders and the environment, which is often overlooked by the traditional iron triangle criteria. The authors propose a new action plan focused on achieving social value and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and engaging with external stakeholders to improve infrastructure provision.