Stakeholders’ involvement in successful implementation of waste to energy projects: case studies in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Same as to many countries, Sri Lanka is also facing a waste crisis due to the issues in municipal solid waste management. As a solution, Waste to Energy (WtE) concept was aroused, which transforms waste to energy in the form of electricity. Although it was a successful strategy for many of the countries, in Sri Lanka, most of the instances, WtE projects were resulted in failures due to issues provoke in the implementation. Poor stakeholder management has been one of the key contributing issues behind these failures. Hence, there is a timely need of identifying key stakeholders and their role to pledge project success. Despite the abundance of research on WtE projects, a gap in literature could be identified, when it comes to exploring stakeholders’ involvement in successful implementation of WtE projects in Sri Lanka. Thus, this study is aimed at bridging this knowledge gap. A qualitative research approach with two case studies were used in this study. A total of 12 interviews were conducted and collected data were analysed using content analysis. The empirical findings revealed that government, community, central environmental authority, engineering procurement and construction contractors, municipal council and central electricity board are the most influential stakeholders involved in the implementation of WtE projects. Although their level of contribution is varied to each other, all stakeholders along with their interests and involvement collectively thrive to assure the successful implementation of WtE projects in Sri Lanka. The knowledge generated through this research can be used by respective industry practitioners in Sri Lanka in implementing future WtE projects successfully.