Stakeholder Engagement Plan For The Sydney Airport Parallel Runway Project

Project Influence Area

The construction of the Sydney Airport Parallel Runway is an aviation project at set to be carried out at Sydney Airport. The project aims to expand the capacity of the airport to accommodate more cargo and passage airplanes (Jain, Zaher, & Roy 2017, p. 87). Furthermore, the contraction of the parallel runway will see the airport position itself as a hub in the region. The increased capacity will also allow the airport to travel to new destinations.  The Construction is set to commence on first November 2018.  The construction will include leveling of the fallow land on the eastern part of the airport before starting with the building. This stake holder’s engagement plan will help in future engagements with the stakeholders and also assist in managing the project and even the facility after it is complete. The plan adopts an all-inclusive perspective with details ranging from the project feasibility study to the implementation of the project and management of the project as well. It is important to note that this stakeholder engagement plan takes into consideration the currently known stakeholders. It may, therefore, need revision in case of introduction of new stakeholders.

The construction of the Sydney Airport parallel runway comes with three levels of engagement (Wennerstrom et al. 2018, p. 303). Boaz et al. (2018) denotes that levels of engagement help in zone mapping of the stakeholders. Zone one stakeholders are those stakeholders who will directly be affected by the contraction of the runway as they will interact with the project on a daily basis.  These are people who are directly affected by the project. The zone includes airport workers, construction job seekers, regular airports customers and pilots. The zone two stakeholders are those who will interact with the project but not as frequent as the zone one stakeholder. This zone includes civil societies, religious bodies, academic institutions, and research institutions (Dyer, Grey, & Siddall 2013).  The zone three stakeholders who are the minor stakeholders as their interaction with the project are expected to be limited.  The minor stakeholders include the representation from the city dwellers.

The plan aims at improving decision making and understanding between the Sydney Airport Parallel runway project management team and the community. It is intended to create a friendly atmosphere to enable smooth operation with the support of both the city and the government. Furthermore, the plan creates an adequate opportunity for the community and the government to communicate any grievances promptly (Rodriguez-Melo & Mansouri 2018). Other than that, the project management team is also provided with avenues for fair sharing of information and making clarifications as well as giving responses on the issues raised by the community and the government. The objectives are summarized as follows;

• Find out the majors stakeholders who will be affected by the project and those who can influence the activities of the project.
• Find out the best channels of communication through which the project management can disseminate information and ensure accessibility, transparency and adequate consolations.
• Aid in building mutual respect and long-lasting relationships between the stakeholders and the project management for the benefit of both parties.
• Provide the stakeholders with sufficient opportunity to influence the activities of the project including the planning and design.
• Establish a working and official grievance and solution mechanism.
• Provide specific roles and responsibilities for the project implementation
• Specify the monitoring and reporting methods to measure the effectiveness of the project at different stages.

Construction of the Sydney Airport Parallel Runway project is keen to abide by all national and international regulations governing the development of runways. The project has undertaken Environmental and social impact assessment as required by law and has been issued with an environmental permit. Other than that, the project is keen in adhering to a list of rules and regulations surrounding the construction of the parallel runway. Some of the controls are as follows. Construction requirement procedures, safety requirements, construction personnel recruitment requirements, noise and air pollution regulations, construction safety requirements, procurement procedures, privacy policies, anti-corruption policies, local and international construction regulations, and environmental regulations. The Sydney airport management ensures compliance with these requirements and regulations by seeking clearances from the relevant bodies before commencing the construction.

The Objectives of the Plan

Stakeholder engagements involve interactions between the project management and the community. The interactions should be free from any form of intimidation, interference, manipulation or coercion. The information shared during the interactions should be in a format that is relevant, culturally appropriate and easily understandable by both parties. Effective stakeholder engagement ensures that the project implementation is carried out under favorable conditions of mutual trust and respect. The following are the benefits that come with effective stakeholder engagement;

• Building good reputation:  public recognition of human rights and need for environmental protection by the project management builds trust and reduces risks.
• Cuts costs: The presence of a good rapport with the community saves the project management costs that they might incur as a result of the absence of stakeholder engagement which would have come not only regarding money but also regarding reputation.
• Peaceful coexistence: with effective stakeholder engagement, it is easy for the project management to comprehend the emerging issues surrounding the project such as job opportunities that the project offers.
• Risk management: meetings help the project management and the community to identify and prevent social and environmental impacts they might disqualify project viability.
• Management of stallholder expectations: through engagements with the stakeholders, the project management gets to know the attitudes of the stakeholders and their expectations as well.
• Effective Stakeholder Engagement Principles
• For a stakeholder engagement to be considered effective, it must abide by universal best practice principals which are recognized internationally. The practices are as follows;
• The trust which is achieved through dialogue and respect of the society’s cultural believes and opinions.
• The respect which comes as a result of recognition of the stakeholder’s cultural values and interests.
• Integrity which is realized as a result of mutual respect and trust
• Transparency is accomplished when the project management responds to the stakeholders’ concerns adequately.
• Inclusiveness is attained when extensive participation is encouraged and appropriately supported.

In the process of planning for stakeholder engagement, it is vital to take note of the following concerns. Development of trust between stakeholders and the project management requires recourses and time and should start right from the first engagement (Milosavljevic et al. 2011, p. 956). It should be expected that new stakeholders might join the course later. However, no willing stakeholders should be ignored or excluded. Cultivation of trust among the stakeholder is a continuous process and should never experience any fallbacks (Marsh, and Kennedy 2018, p 12). It should be expected that some of the stakeholders will need training son the terms of engagement as well apart from training on the technical issues about the project. It is such demands that increase the cost of engagement as the project management strive to meet the expectations of the stakeholders, and at times the project might not have the internal capacity to implement them (Pontee & Morris 2011).

Stakeholders might have unrealistic expectations for the project regarding the benefits that the community might gain from the project. It is vital for the project management to manage these expectations by making it clear what they can do and what they cannot do right from the beginning of engagements (Burch, Giannoulakis, & Brgoch 2016, p. 78). In some cases, the stakeholders might expect the project to perform roles of the government such as road construction and building of schools. Such a project might be a burden and therefore to avoid development of such expectations from the project management by the stakeholders, it is paramount to identify and adequately communicate the roles of each party in the project.

The proponents of the project should note that social norms and values of a community can be a hindrance to free and effective participation in meetings (Haine-Schlagel et al. 2017, p. 373). Under such circumstances, it might be hard to identify the stakeholders that represent the common interest of the community especially when there are conflicting interests. To avoid making wrong decisions under contradictory stakeholder interests, it is vital to use the help of a community liaison officer with the knowledge of community power dynamics (Walters 2011). Through the officers, the project manager can develop an understanding of the locals and come up with structures that support active stakeholder engagement.

After a series of consultation meetings, it is possible that some of the stakeholders will develop stakeholder fatigue. The fatigue might come as a result of unfulfilled promised by the proponents of the projects or when the stakeholders feel that their lives have not changed as expected. Furthermore, the fatigues might also result from unaddressed concerns from the stakeholders. More often, under circumstances of consultation fatigue, the consultations meeting always turn into forums for raising complaints. Bruce and Shelley (2010) denote that such situations can be prevented by ensuring that stakeholder meetings are not used to give promised but to manage the expectations of the stakeholders and disseminate vital project information. Furthermore, the forums should be used to get feedback and views from the stakeholders and project specialists.

Requirements and Regulations

The rest of this stakeholder engagement plan focuses on strategies for overcoming the concerns mentioned above to ensure smooth implementation of the Sydney Airports Parallel runway project.

The study of the stakeholders is essential in establishing a relationship between the project management and the stakeholders (Marsh & Kennedy 2012, p. 89). It also aids in the identification of suitable methods of consultations during the project. The most commonly used consultation methods include radio broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, meetings, newsletters, pamphlets, workshops, interviews, phone and emails. To help in the identification of the appropriate frequency of engagement with a particular stakeholder group, Chirozva, Mukamuri, and Manjengwa (2013) denote that some criteria need to be taken into consideration. First, the project manager should look at the extent of the impact that the project has on the stakeholders’ group. Secondly, it is paramount to consider the influence that the stakeholder group has on the project. Lastly, the project manager should look into the socially acceptable means of engagement and passing information within the locality.

The level of engagement with a particular stakeholder group is determined by the influence of the group on the project and the impact that the project will have on the group (Stelfox et al. p. 2). The higher the influence and impact on the group, the more frequent consultations require and the lower the level of impact and influence the less the number of consultations required for the project. It is vital that all the engagements are conducted in a culturally acceptable manner using the appropriate methods for the different stakeholder groups. For instance, consultations with government officials will take the form of formal meetings with discussions with the public can take the form of focus groups, visual presentations or posters (Talley, Schneider, & Lindquist 2016, p. 89). The techniques of engagement used should be aimed at disseminating information to the stakeholders and consulting stakeholders, gathering information and building relationships with the stakeholders. The following diagram summarizes the influence and interests drives of stakeholders.

Diagram 1.1

The stakeholders for Sydney Airport Parallel Runway Project will be categorized into three groups. The first group will include the Government bodies such as government departments, local authorities, and public advisory entities. The second category will consist of the immediate community that will be affected by the projects. This category encompasses people seeking jobs in the construction site, Representatives of the city dwellers and the airport workers. The third category will take care of the civil societies as well as the development agencies such as religious organizations, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutes that work in the line of aviation. The fourth and the last category will be that of commercial organizations. In this category, local businesses, Unions and associations will be included. The local service and product providers will also be included in this category (Bzdak 2015). Each of the classes has groups and people with similar interests in the projects. This categorization will help in the development of a working approach to be used during the stakeholder meetings.  It is important to note that the different stakeholders will be affected differently by the project and therefore each category will require special attention during the stakeholder meetings. The plan takes into consideration the key factors of interest and influences levels of the stake holder.

Overview of Stakeholder Engagement

In this section, gives close attention to the individual stallholders.  The project stakeholder is:

• Sidney Airport workers
• Construction job seekers
• Pilots
• Regular customers
• Local business people
• Government department of infrastructure and regional development
• Australian Building and construction commission
• Australian Commission for safety and quality in healthcare
• Civil aviation safety authority
• Civil Society Australia
• Residents of Sydney city center

Stakeholder activities on the Sydney Airport parallel runway project are vital for risk management. It is therefore paramount to initiate the engagement as early as possible to avoid potential negative impacts (Legacy 2011, p. 7). The stakeholder engagement is going to be conducted in three phases. The first phase which will be the initial engagement phase will involve interviews with representatives from the various stakeholder groups. The purpose of this phase will be to:

• Make the formal introduction of the project to the stakeholder representatives.
• Identify and take note of issues and impacts that should be covered in the subsequent phases of engagement.
• Take note of how the stakeholders are related to the project
• Acquire stakeholder opinions that should be fed into the assessment process.
• Gather feedback on the precautions that the project has taken to mitigate the social- environmental impact of the project.

The next phase of the stakeholder engagement will be the disclosure and consultation phase. This phase is further broken into stages as follows (Boaz et al. 2018, p.90). Communication with the stakeholders will majorly be through one on one discussion during stakeholder meetings. However, before the first meeting, the management of the Sydney airport will reach the stakeholders through emails to for communication of the invitation to the first meeting and the introduction of the project. Before the start of the construction, four stakeholder meetings will be held. The first meeting will involve all the stakeholders. In this meeting, the project idea will be communicated to the stakeholders. The proposals for the construction and the details surrounding the development will be given to the stakeholders.

The second meeting will involve government bodies and regulatory authorities. In this meeting, the management will seek the attention of all related government bodies and regulatory authorities to ensure that the project plan meets all the legal requirements and all the regulatory requirements before it is started. The member stakeholders will then visit the site of the construction together with the Airport management. Succeeding the visit will be the plenary session where the stakeholders will ask questions regarding the laws and regulations governing the project. The second meeting will involve the people who will interact directly with the project such as construction job seekers, pilots, airport workers, local business persons. This meeting will focus on the opportunities that the project is going to create for the stalk holders and how they can seize the opportunities that come with the new parallel runway. The third stakeholders meeting will include the residents of the city. This group of stakeholders might not be directly affected or involved in the projects. However, additional runway in the airport means creating capacity for more planes.  Low flying planes are most likely to cause noise pollution. The stakeholders in this meeting will, therefore, be interested in the precaution that the project management has taken to ensure that there is a minimal disturbance in the city due to low flying airplanes.  The objectives of this phase of stakeholder engagement are as follows;

• Give feedback on the social and environmental impact assessment and other mitigation measures that the project has taken.
• Get stakeholder input of the impact assessment and mitigation measures put in place.
• This phase of stakeholder engagement is scheduled to take place in October 2018. All the disclosures and consultations will be designed according to the following principals:
• All opportunities for discussions and all consultation events will be highly publicized among the affected or targeted parties, and the publications should come two to three weeks before the meeting.
• The non-technical summary should be provided before the meeting.
• The entire issues raise during the meeting are adequately answered or closely followed.
• The timing and the location of the meeting should enhance accessibility for all the interested parties.
• All the information communicated during the meeting should be free of any technical terms that may not be easily understood by the stakeholders.

The third phase of stakeholder engagement activities will be based on ongoing engagements. These are engagements that will be conducted during the implementation of the project. For this purpose, a committee will be selected with representation from all the stakeholder groups. The representatives will frequently sit to analyze the progress of the project. They will also be responsible for information dissemination to their various groups. The venues for the meetings will be agreed by the committee.

Considerations for Stakeholder Concerns

Furthermore, the project management committee will also aid in the dissemination of information through the use of notice boards which they will use to provide updates on the progress of the project and the project activities. The notice board will also be used to provide guidelines for raising grievances. It is also at this stage that the project manager will appoint community liaison offices to act as a bridge between the project management and the Sydney City dwellers.

Table 1: Stake holder Engagement plan matrix

The resources that are at the disposal of the proponents of Sydney airports parallel runway include human resource and engagement techniques that the project manager will employ during stakeholder engagement. The social management and reporting structure is as follows;

The head of the project is the General Director of the Sydney Airport. Under the General Director, there is an Operations Manager who answers to the General Director. The Operations Manager in charge of the various officers who respond directly to him/her. The officers in this category are the community liaison officer, the safety and training officer, the chief environment officer and the legal officer. Under the safety and training officer, there is a junior safety and training officer. The junior environmental officer and coordinator of system and administrations report directly to the chief environmental officer.

Roles of the community liaison officer

• Handle all the community-related tasks
• Spearhead implementation of engagement strategies employed by the project management.
• Come up with a community development plan based on the mitigation strategies proposed.
• Develop a grievance management system in all the affected areas.
• Develop a monitoring and evaluation plan.
• Enhance good rapport between senior management and the city dwellers.

The Sydney Airport Parallel runway project will make use of a combination of different tools in the process of engaging with the stakeholders. The tools that will be used include:

1. Grievance mechanism:  This is a template that allows the accurate recording of all the grievances raised during stakeholder meetings and consultation forums as well. Before the commencing any such forums, an officer from the airport will be appointed to do the recording.
2. Commitment register: This is a register that will be used by the project management to record any commitments made by the project management during the consultation forums. This will help in managing stakeholder expectations and also make clarifications of what the project management can do for the community.

• Engagement notes format; this is a template that ensures that all the engagements made during the meetings are well captured. An officer from Sydney Airport will be appointed to make entries on the template. The entries made on the template will act as the minutes of the meetings.

The tool ensure that the project managers are able to track their commitments to the stakeholders, assess impact of the project on the stakeholders and ensure adequate monitoring and reporting of the project activities as summarized in the following diagram.

Diagram 1.2

The project will maintain a systematic filing system of all public consultations to ensure easy follow up of the implementation of all the commitments made by the project manager. The files will also be available for public viewing ding working hours to anybody who might be interested. Stakeholder engagement will periodically be evaluated by the operations director who will be guided by the community liaison officer. During the evaluation, the key indicators that the personnel will focus on are the understanding level of the stakeholders, the number of grievances received and addressed and the level of engagement of the affected group. The measurement of the indicators will be done using data obtained from management responses to presented grievances, minutes from engagement meetings, grievances register and commitment register (Dyer, Greyand & Siddall 2013, p. 95). The reporting of the finding will be done monthly by the operations director. The Director’s reports will include plans for the next month, the number of grievances registered, the management responses to grievances, the entries on the commitment register, the progress of the partnership between the project management and the community and the number of visitations to the information center.

Conclusion

The stakeholder engagement plan for the Sydney Airport Parallel Runway presents a strategic plan of interaction between the project management and the stakeholders. It give priority to the different groups of stakeholders but it is also keen to properly manage the expectations of the stake holders. The plan takes into consideration the different level of interest and influence of the different stakeholders to come up with strategic stakeholders engagement activities. Furthermore, the plan has a well structured feedback mechanism to help the project managers to monitor and evaluate their progress and relationship status with the stakeholders. The understanding of the stakeholders informs the choice of engagement tools selected for purposes of this stakeholder engagement plan. The methodology pays attention to the specific interests of the stakeholders groups and in effort to have a constant link with the stakeholders, the plan makes use of community liaison officer. Monitoring, Evaluation and reporting makes use of key measurable indicators to give the right picture of the state of the relationship between the project and the community.

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