Determination of critical environmental, social, infrastructure, and economic indicators as evaluation checklist for pre-project abandonment plan assessment in-line with sustainable development goal plan

Abstract

The increasing number of project abandonment because of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic 2019 (Covid-19) calls for better management of abandonment projects. The outbreak of Covid-19 has affected the environment, economy, and society aspects globally. In a developed country like Malaysia, the requirement to submit an abandonment plan is stipulated under the Environmental Guidelines in Malaysia (EGIM) 2016. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a Sustainable Pre-Project Abandonment Plan Assessment Checklist in Malaysia that is in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2030 aspirations. This new Sustainable Pre-Project Abandonment Plan Assessment Checklist in Malaysia is comprehensively structured; is expected to minimise the negative impact of the abandonment process towards the environment, socio-economy, and efficient management of infrastructure; and complies with the related legislation in Malaysia. In this study, data was collected and analysed using NVivo12. It consisted of findings from documents reviewed such as legislations, journals, and books. From the NVivo12 analysis, the results showed 28 critical indicators for abandonment plan assessment and related legislation that synchronises with SDG 2030 is required to develop the Proposed Sustainable Pre-Project Abandonment Plan Assessment Checklist in Malaysia.