Reconstruction- Rebuild of Libya — a Big Challenge
Important Risks in Government projects and sustainable development in Libya
“Project success is suggested to have two major components: issues dealing with the project itself and issues dealing with the client.” (Pinto, Jeffrey K., Dennis P. Slevin, 1988, pp70–71.)
This article is centered around the client. The client undergoes the following obstacles:
1- Delays in invoice payments: delays in progress payments causing cash flow problems to the contractor.
2- Unreasonable bureaucracy in government sectors due to unqualified decision makers as well as slowness of the owner’s decision making process which leads to suspension of work.
3- Changes in government sectors roles and responsibilities.
4- Libyan government resistance and marginalization for decades to private local sector — putting obstacles for the growth of this sector.
5- Time and cost problems are commonplace in Libya causing over inflation.
6- Issues of poor contractual relationships between public clients and contractors.
In fact, a focus on risk management is therefore necessary to improve the current project’s poor performance. On time, on budget; if this happens the project is in the right shape. But if one of them is out of scale, immediately financial issues will rise up. Any delayed or any extra work will affect the result of the financial plan.
Measurement of success of the project is reflected by current and future output.
Leaving these issues unresolved may bring additional obstacles.
On the other hand, as the government controls the reconstruction, the political decision will always lead and not the economical decision.
Even if the job has been done on time and on budget, many companies are not able to handle their projects equally well and the client is not satisfied with the closing of the project. This will have direct impacts on the relationship between the organization and the client. If you want to get another contract with the client, then absolutely their satisfaction is your ultimate measure of success
For many decades, the Libyan economy has been over-dependent on state companies and with the critical issue of a highly centralized government. “When central governments hold and control property rights over natural resources; this provide an opportunity for corrupt government actors to capture rents from those resources” ( Centralization and corruption, the Social-ecological systems meta-analysis database. (SESMAD) project)
Libya needs to embark on a local private sector development strategy to lead the reconstruction and this will be the main key to success and main driver for economic recovery.
A comprehensive plan should be created to promote the private sector development, economic diversification, and decentralization. Local government management of key resources for public service delivery are currently being controlled entirely in the capital. This plan should be designed to build the capacity for responsive and effective service delivery and should remove the control from the capital. Thus, decisions on resource allocation can be made where services are provided and constituents can demand accountability for service quality, and promote policies that ensure equitable distribution of national resources to regional and local governments. We should strengthen transfer policies, revenue and expenditure assignments, capital budgeting, fiscal responsibility, and public procurement.
Without taking this matter seriously, any reconstruction or rebuilding will be obsolete.
Regards,
Dr. Nabil AL Tarbaghia
