Weightage of criteria for road green planning and procurement implementation

Abstract

Malaysia’s Government immerse serious effort and initiative to implement the agenda of sustainable development which relatively increase the adoption of green construction practices. The initiatives includes the introduction of The National Green Technology Policy (NGTP), The National Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan (NREPAP), Construction Industry Transformation Program (CITP), and Green Procurement as well as Voluntary Green Rating Tool System. Among the challenges in adopting green policies and initiatives in government projects along its lifecycle from inception to operation & maintenance, is seen due to a limited element of green initiatives in line with current sustainable policies that bind inside a contract. Since Malaysia has highly attention on the green infrastructure especially for highways and roads, this study aims to propose new criteria suitable for green planning and procurement in Malaysia's road development project until the operation & maintenance of the road. A survey and Focus Group Discussion were conducted in Perak, under Perak State road project whereby the maintenance contract are managed by Public Work Department (JKR) and Ministry of Rural Development (KPLB). The data collected were analysed with the help of SPSS using Factor Analysis. The study found that green planning and procurement is needed to be embedded in green policies and initiatives in Malaysia’s road development project and road maintenance. However, there are vast challenges and barriers of green planning and procurement implementation that needed strategies and action to be overcome including; Lack of awareness of green planning implementation; Green planning lead to higher project cost to its green technology; Lack of clear measurement of green performance; the manufacture of green products is found in a slow responsive production whereby many green products is still under the development stage; and furthermore the Green suppliers are limited. This study proposed the weightage of criteria and sub-criteria of green planning and procurement that suitable to be considered in the contract governance of road projects.