Public hearings in Thailand's infrastructure projects: effective participations?: Fid-Bau Portal

Public hearings in Thailand's infrastructure projects: effective participations?

Manowong, Ektewan / Ogunlana, Stephen O.

–

The purpose of this article is to report the results of research on whether the public hearing in Thailand's infrastructure development projects can be an effective vehicle for the project's public participation and conflict resolution on projects.

Design/methodology/approach –

The performance of public hearing depends on factors such as the structure of the process, participation, management, and resource required by the process. A case study approach is used to assess the performance of public hearings conducted in infrastructure development projects in Thailand by examining the project stakeholders' attitude by means of questionnaire survey and interviews. Evaluation by hearing participants and their level of satisfaction are interpreted to derive the effectiveness of the hearings. The extent to which satisfaction effects on evaluation is also considered.

Findings –

It is shown that the hearings had moderate to low effectiveness primarily because the participation and management performance aspects did not meet the participants' expectations. The relationships of evaluation and satisfaction indices were examined. The hearing participants focus both on the process and outcome of hearings.

Originality/value –

The research reported the results of scientific assessment of public hearing performance, constituting a significant step towards understanding and implementation of public hearings in the Thai context as well as their influence on the efficiency and effectiveness of the project management concerning the stakeholder values.