Identifying barriers to implementing a sustainability assessment tool for road project planning: an institutional perspective from practitioners in Indonesia

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in developing tools to assist decision-making in moving towards sustainable development, such as Sustainability Assessment (SA). It is argued here that more advanced and sophisticated tools are less useful than strengthening institutions when it comes to better engagement of stakeholders and more integrated decision-making. This paper aims at understanding barriers that impede the implementation of an SA tool for road project planning by examining how and when practitioners experience these barriers. From the empirical perspective of Indonesian road planning practitioners, the study reveals the five most influential barriers, including i) insufficient funding support, ii) limited skilled personnel that can use the tool, iii) unavailability of data and information, iv) unavailability of a specific arena for decision-making, and v) unavailability of detailed procedures/manuals. This research discusses strategies for successful implementation, particularly in a context that is less favourable to integrated decision-making, such as Indonesia.

Keywords:

• institutions
• impact assessment
• online survey
• micro-level
• Indonesia

Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely appreciate three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on our manuscript. We would also like to thank Agus B. Sailendra (Indonesia Road Development Association) and Ibnu F.P. Poerwo, PhD (Indonesia Association of Planners) for obtaining lists of road planning practitioners to contact for this study. We are deeply grateful to M. Idris (Ministry of Public Works and Housing) and Dian Aquarita for administering the data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Finance, Republic of Indonesia, under Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) Grant [Nr. 20160222015432].