Comparison of Environmental and Political Risks in Two Highway Projects

Construction industry as such is prone to risks and more so, infrastructure projects. Risk Management is becoming an increasingly challenging activity. Risk is defined as that variable, the occurrence of which has an adverse impact on the project in terms of time and cost overrun and in the process losing the track of the objectives of the project. Managing risks is a strategic tool for reaping the full benefits of the critical initiatives that are implemented in any organization. Organizations which implement good risk management practices tend to extract the maximum advantage. Application of risk informed approach to any infrastructure project is still in its infancy as far as India is concerned. Considering this aspect in mind, a study was conducted on two road projects i.e 1)Moradabad-Bareilly project 2)Yamuna Express way (connecting Noida and Agra) both of which are in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This study was carried out for the selected projects by considering 5 factors each for Environmental and Political risks. Risk Severity Index (RSI) was calculated for each of the 5 risk factors. The standard deviation and coefficient of variation (CV) for each of the identified factors for both the risks were calculated. Based on the RSI, Anova analysis was carried out which significantly indicated that the risks were better managed in the second project as compared to the first project.