Project owners – Overlooked factors of uncertainty in the example of a water infrastructure improvement project?

The Paradox of Water Management Projects in Central Asia: An Institutionalist Perspective

“…A further finding was that the innovations brought from outside often required substantial public and private investments for fine-tuning to local circumstances, and to the specific needs of end users [11]. Numerous present-day water management projects in Central Asia exhibit similar patterns [12][13][14].…”

“…Consider a recent study of the implementation of innovative irrigation technologies by Water Users Associations (WUAs) in the Ferghana Valley, shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan [13]. The third party commendably invested non-trivial resources into addressing the salient problem of water and land use in provinces suffering from land degradation and water scarcity.…”

“…The third party commendably invested non-trivial resources into addressing the salient problem of water and land use in provinces suffering from land degradation and water scarcity. Furthermore, in contrast to the state-directed innovation projects, WUAs' traditional focus on efficiency was no longer "purely technical" but rather based on "a more human and organization centered paradigm" [13] (p. 1). Yet, Kazbekov et al [13] discerned that "the interests and experience of temporal project owners" led to project uncertainty and thus to the failure of the project's technical upgrade [13] (p. 9).…”

“…Furthermore, in contrast to the state-directed innovation projects, WUAs' traditional focus on efficiency was no longer "purely technical" but rather based on "a more human and organization centered paradigm" [13] (p. 1). Yet, Kazbekov et al [13] discerned that "the interests and experience of temporal project owners" led to project uncertainty and thus to the failure of the project's technical upgrade [13] (p. 9). Encapsulation and institutional dominance were evidenced by the third party's interference with the local owners' interests which turned out to play a non-negligible role.…”

“…The authors have discovered that if the third parties influence these interests, existing project knowledge and experience, i.e., "project memory", might get lost or overruled when transferred to new owners. Even if the roles of project partners are legally fixed, "the individual interest might shift power balances between internal project owners and therefore might determine changes of project objectives and implementation procedures" [13] (p. 8).…”