securing reliable
contracts to ensure
a financially fea-
sible program. The
key will be estab-
lishing a single
project authority
with sound proj-
ect management
practices. The ini-
tiative’s decades-
long timeline also
means project
plans must include
strong financial
foresight. The
outer seawall proj-
ect will take 15 years to execute while the islands,
which project leaders hope will function as a sepa-
rate city, will be complete in 40 years. The plan
is for new island real estate to ultimately pay for
the project, with international loans bridging the
financial gaps.
To weather the storms that come with changing
political tides—and government administrations—
the project plan must be flexible, Mr. Coenen says.
He recommends that project teams re-evaluate the
program every two to three years.
“You cannot plan ahead 25 to 40 years from now,
not with such a complicated, interrelated plan,” he
says. “You must be very flexible and make contin-
gency plans that can withstand delays or changes.”
Pragmatic Projects
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is learning from a
country renowned for its flood mitigation projects:
the Netherlands. The Netherlands’ approach is to
allow some floodwater to flow in, rather than try to
keep all of it out.
The Dutch city of Rotterdam is helping Ho Chi
Minh City officials attack the problem from two
sides: bolstering protections against the water
while creating spaces for it to enter. The city is
pursuing 30 projects worth over US$190 million
that focus on water resources, energy, and waste
and land management. To slow subsidence, the
city will build 30 large reservoirs that store tens
of millions of cubic meters of water, helping to
significantly reduce the amount of water pumped
from aquifers.
As the Ho Chi Minh mitigation projects get
underway, team members are learning from Dutch
flood-management professionals. But knowledge
is being transferred in the other direction as well.
“They’re learning from us about storm-surge barriers and dikes,” Alexandra van Huffelen, Rotterdam’s vice-mayor for sustainability, told The
Guardian, “and we’re learning from them [that]
you need to…let nature help you protect the coastline.” —Novid Parsi
theEdge
Water Problems
These 10 countries are at the greatest risk for
flooding due to rising sea levels.
Country Vulnerable residents
1. China 50. 5 million
2. Vietnam 23. 4 million
3. Japan 12.8 million
4. India 12. 6 million
5. Bangladesh 10. 23 million
6. Indonesia 10. 15 million
7. Thailand 8.2 million
8. The Netherlands 7.8 million
9. The Philippines 6. 2 million
10. Myanmar 4. 7 million
Source: Climate Central
REFORMAT AND REBOOT
Government-sponsored IT projects are making headlines—but the news is rarely good. The
stories often highlight high-priced cancellations, with taxpayers footing the bill.
For instance, the United Kingdom’s Home Office sunk nearly £350 million in a computer system that had to be scrapped in 2013. The next year, the U.K. government reported that successful delivery of 41 of the 199 projects in its £500 billion portfolio was “in doubt.” In the United
States, the botched launch of the federal
HealthCare.gov website in 2013 brought
new attention to IT project shortcomings. The annual cost of failed U.S. government IT projects is estimated to be
as high as US$20 billion.
These failures have many observers
asking this question: If tech startups can
The annual cost of failed U.S.
government IT projects is
estimated to be as high as
US$20 billion.
