AN ASSESSMENT OF RISK MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN HAWASSA INDUSTRIAL PARK

Abstract

The development of the industrial park in Ethiopia has been underway for some time. In most cases, the Industrial Parks (IP) aim to attract investors from abroad. The high level of advanced infrastructure demand of IPs is considered to be of greater importance. Since it is anticipated that international companies will operate in the parks, effective project management will be central to them. A systematic and formal project risk management is one of the key characteristics of effective project management. The risk to the project is forthcoming and cannot be prevented. In the case of large projects like IPs, there is usually a serious focus on the risk factor for project management. One of the public industrial parks in Ethiopia, the Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP) project under study. Taking into account the high-risk prevalence in IP projects, the project research area is chosen. Along with many other projects, environmental, financial, and social aspects make the project riskier. Aspects related to risk management practices are studied using a basic random sampling, purposive sampling technique, and a mixed approach method. Structured questionnaires and interviews were made to achieve the objective of the study. The risk management process, project risk management techniques, standardized mechanism, and management tools, were the main areas, while the questioners were focused on. Furthermore, on the findings, it is mentioned that there are gaps in the planning and implementation process of project risk management phases. And, the workers were using unorganized and informal risk management approaches, on the other hand, the researchers concluded that the HIP project staff lacked sufficient risk management knowledge, whereas the management team possesses superior knowledge and execution performance in risk management mechanisms and tools. Generally based on the findings, a recommendation for HIP project experts and management was that the corporation needs to pay close attention to risk management practices and techniques through capacity building and risk-related pieces of training. IPDC's top management must meet with the dedicated directorate regularly to discuss risk before it occurs, and the corporation should also prepare various working manuals and standards.