Scaling Up to Speed Up? A critical evaluation of programme management in Indonesian megaproject development

For decades, policymakers in developing countries have perceived mega-infrastructure project development as a viable strategy to achieve economic growth. However, in practice, megaproject management underperforms and does not live up to this ambition. This is largely rooted in the contradiction between the temporary organization of megaproject management and the long-term strategic goals of such projects. Because of this, there is a strand of literature advocating programme management as a new mode of megaproject governance to counteract the complexity of megaproject development. This paper aims to contribute to the literature both on megaproject development and programme management by providing a critical evaluation of programme management in dealing with these contradictions, particularly in the case of immature economies in developing countries. The paper reflects on a case study of the acceleration of infrastructure projects in Indonesia through a programme management approach. A content analysis on policy documents and online official media releases was performed and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders at both the strategic and project level, as well as expert interviews, were conducted. The findings show that there are two sides of programme management. Despite the success at the strategic level, stakeholders at the project level are unable to create effective and efficient interaction, especially in dealing with dynamic power relations and unfamiliar funding schemes. This means that the shift from projectification to programmafication is not always followed up by significant shifts in stakeholders attitudes and behaviors at the project level.