Romania Think Tank
Managing a project the hard way
By: Christopher Troxler
The revitalisation of the Lipscani area, Bucharest's historic area, provides the city and its residents with the rare opportunity to create a much-needed centerepiece, but progress is slow and chaotic
Posted: 01/10/2007
Year after year, we have watched as firms have built one atrocity after another - characterless buildings that are often of sub-standard quality and aesthetics, driven by the hunt for huge profits. The result is that Bucharest is not only scarred by the old concrete blocks that litter the city, but also by the new buildings that overcrowd and overwhelm different neighborhoods throughout the city.
The revitalisation of the Lipscani area, now known as Centru Istoric (eng: Historic Centre) provides Bucharest and its residents with the rare opportunity to create a much-needed centerepiece for the city. With its classic architecture, cobblestoned streets, churches and other cultural landmarks, the Historic Centre is the perfect project for the Primaria Municipala Bucuresti (PMB) to showcase Romanian heritage and create a lasting asset that instills pride. Once this project is complete, the zone will most certainly become one of the most significant centres for tourism, culture, history, and commerce.
In September 2006, PMB ended the tender process and signed a contract with Spanish construction firm, Sedesa Obras y Servicios SA, to begin restoration of Bucharest's oldest neighbourhood. In addition, the City Hall hired a multinational engineering consultancy firm, Pell Frischmann, to act as the project "watchdog" and project management unit. Although this project was developed over a number of years, many questions remain unanswered. City Hall officials comfort the public by stating that works will execute in a manner to satisfy the future needs of the city and the community. There is often talk about a "master plan", but one is yet to be provided to the public. In short, public information about the future of the Historic Centre is lacking or, rather, non-existent.
To add to the challenge of limited information, the public struggles to obtain a voice in the development process. Throughout the planning and design of this project, there was limited direct involvement of community interest groups and citizens in the restoration of the Historic Centre - a trend that continues today.
Bucharest's historic center, the Lipscani district. Picture: Arwen Kidd.
Romania Think Tank (RTT) and Asociatia Investitorilor din Centrul Istoric (AICI) began working together a year ago with the goal to facilitate an open and constructive dialogue in order to improve the flow of information, increase transparency, and promote civil society involvement in the Historic Centre development process.
Unfortunately, it has been a long year of struggles with the City Hall and different project teams to accomplish our goals. In the past year, we have tried a variety of methods to obtain information - organising conferences, events, workgroup sessions, and meetings. At each stage, we have received basic information - and commitments to provide more consistent communications. However, these were always empty promises. It was only recently that we scored our biggest win - regular access to the weekly project meetings between the municipality, Sedesa, Pell Frischmann and other project teams.
This accomplishment only came after we formally escalated our issues to the primary project financers and co-financers. In June, AICI hosted a meeting with the EBRD, the municipality, the Dutch government, Sedesa, and Pell Frischmann. Although a very heated and emotional meeting, we were pleased to find that most parties were in agreement that effective public communication is lacking, that there was a lack of transparency regarding the project developments, and that more cooperation was needed between all parties.
At the time I am writing this article, we have attended two of the weekly site meetings. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to attend the most recent meeting as it was, "not open to the public due to it being of a technical nature". The meetings are held each Tuesday at 0800. The location is one of the Sedesa containers located outside of the entrance to Hanul lui Manuc. Although I realise this might not be a smart "political move", I would like to present some of my observations about the project meetings - and how this project is progressing.
From the perspective of an experienced project manager, the weekly site meetings are madness and chaos. Even a senior City Hall official attending one of the meetings referred to it as "stupidity". No agenda is presented in writing - nor does a "mental agenda" seem to exist. In addition, no meeting minutes are circulated such that previously unresolved activities or issues can be addressed. The meetings are filled with tension and emotion, leading to considerable tangential conversions in which participants try to defend themselves, their workers or their organisations.
Collaboration and communication is lacking between the project teams. On one level, the challenges are simply on a language level. Some key project managers are foreigners with limited Romanian knowledge. In some cases, these foreigners are chairing the meetings. Most importantly, they are required to actively pursue information and updates from different project teams - and better understand the challenges faced in the project. Although there are efforts to hold the meeting in English, I approximate that 75 per cent of the meeting is held in Romanian. Unfortunately, no translator is provided to these foreigners - and a tremendous amount of information is lost to them as a result.
An additional example of lack of communication and collaboration relates to Smardan Street and the Ministry of Culture's official approval to allow work continuation. As a procedural note, Sedesa digs up a street and identifies historical artifacts. They stop immediately and a team of archaeologists are brought in to study and catalogue the findings. It is only when the Ministry of Culture signs off on the archaeology report that Sedesa can continue their work. In this case, the archeologists finished their work and official report. However, the final report sat somewhere in the ministry for three weeks without obtaining approval - forcing further considerable delays to the project. What I found most interesting is that the project teams didn't resolve this issue in a timely manner (such as following up every day). Rather, they waited until the weekly meeting to request an update from the ministry - only to find that approval has still not been granted and that they are losing more time.
Project delays are considerable. Although not officially in the project plan, Bucharest's Mayor Adriean Videanu had requested that Lipscani, Smardan, Franceza and Sfantu Dumitru streets be completed in time for the Bucharest Days celebration in the first week of September, a deadline that caused considerable stress for the project teams - especially as it became increasingly more difficult to meet. There are considerable concerns about the quality of works. This stress has even caused Pell Frischmann engineers to recently request if archeologists can temporarily cover up a discovered cemetery on Sfantu Dumitru street with sand - such that pedestrians will have access for the festivities. This is clearly not a desirable solution for those working hard to meticulously catalogue the human artifacts - it is more a solution out of desperation to satisfy the whims of the mayor.
It was the hope of RTT and AICI that, by attending these weekly meetings, we would gain additional insight into the master plan regarding the project. This plan would include more detailed information regarding the final design plans, final traffic circulation, ideas of how business growth will be moderated, as well as plans for how the area will be revitalised architecturally and culturally. To be fair, this weekly meeting is not the venue to learn about all of these things. That said, it is clear that nothing is final - as this master plan simply does not exist yet. This is an opportunity. We will continue to pursue our goals - to press for this information, and to request the involvement of the public in the design and planning process. This is a project for the people - and we will continue to try to involve the people.
Christopher Troxler heads Romania Think Tank, about which more can be learnt by visiting www.rtt.ro
Comments:
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Friday 12th June 2009 at 18:06 Santhan said: "The involvement of community in all developments and matters concerning the environment of the community, should always be conducted transparently, with mechanisms to allow community participation in influencing the direction of the project. In South Africa, where I presently reside, there is the issue of changing road names to those that are more suited to the multi-cultural society here. The changing of road names has many consequences. Communities gathered and collectively voiced their desire to keep some of the previous names of certain roads, despite the municipalities decision. As a collective they were able to prevent the change of many road names. The concept of a Romanian Think Tank is exactly what Romania requires for realising it's awesome potential. One of the fundamental aspects for its progress is creating more interest and awareness of the initiative as well as encouraging community participation. May this initiative grow from strength to strength for the good of all people in Romania. Thank you for this well written article." | |