Conflicts with external stakeholders in irrigation construction projects in Sri Lanka: A narrative analysis

Irrigation Construction Projects (ICPs) in Sri Lanka usually face conflicts with various external stakeholders, i.e. general public, government authorities. Such conflicts are most likely to end as court cases in litigation, which is a time and money-consuming process. With the view of avoiding conflicts at its first instance, this research assessed causes of conflicts and consequential influences of such conflicts over the lens of case-study research strategy. Four case-studies were evaluated via 21 expert interviews. The main conflict zones in ICPs are obstructions from government authorities, public protests, effects of government policy changes and political influences, difficulties of project area occupancy, and financial limitations. The origin for most causes of conflicts is poor coordination between stakeholders. Time-overrun is the most frequent consequential-contractual-influence. Causes of conflicts, solutions to overcome such causes, and consequential-contractual-influences were presented in cognitive-maps towards facilitating decision-makers in ICPs. This research recommends to utilize detail design and feasibility stage to avoid most conflicts in the construction stage.