A territorial approach for infrastructure project management: the case of the hydropower plant of Belo Monte, Pará, Brazil

Abstract

Abstract The socio-political complexity and consequent transactional and institutional costs of infrastructure projects are magnified in the Brazilian Amazon, a rich-resource region with social and environmental fragilities, thus posing challenges for project management. One of the main drivers of the Brazilian development strategy is infrastructure projects. However, these projects struggle to meet results in terms of local development, overloading social services, changing livelihoods, violating human rights, and exacerbating social vulnerabilities, environmental degradation, and deforestation. Despite greater scrutiny in environmental licensing, the process remains insufficient to mitigate impacts, and social participation is limited. The decision-making process remains technocratic and isolated from civil society, ignoring its inherently political character. Territorially blind and socially deaf projects lead to contestations by civil society and poor anticipation of demands, making territories mere receptacles of investments. Consequences for project management include delays, processes in courts, reputational damages, and missed opportunities for sustainable territorial development. Through semi-structured interviews and documental analysis of the case study of the Belo Monte Hydropower Plant, we investigate how a territorial approach to infrastructure governance can affect project management. Analysis shows that territories are actively influencing and influenced by infrastructure delivery, which corroborates the idea that contextual specificities to infrastructure delivery require specific ways of planning and managing projects. Adopting a context-specific territorial approach could anticipate some of the challenges and complexities of infrastructure management in developing and emerging economies. Also, results oriented toward development goals, such as the SDGs, can be more efficient both for territories and project delivery.