Megaprojects:

Challenges, Opportunities, and the Role of the Project Profession

Megaprojects:

Challenges, Opportunities, and the Role of the Project Profession

Megaprojects are essential to modern economics, reshaping industries, communities and even entire countries. For better or for worse, our lives are being shaped and changed depending on their execution.

However, megaprojects are notoriously challenging to execute successfully. It is estimated nine out of ten megaprojects have cost overruns, frequently over 50% in real terms.1 And too often, these cost overruns are coupled with massive benefit shortfalls – failing to deliver on expectations.

While large megaprojects have transformed economies and captured our collective imagination, from the Panama Canal to the Sydney Opera House, there is a hidden impact when they under-deliver. What could have been achieved if the billions of dollars spent desperately trying to keep megaprojects on track were invested elsewhere? It highlights the imperative to get megaprojects right, not only for their transformative potential, but to unlock investment that can continue to deliver positive social change.

To truly unlock megaprojects' potential, we need to increase the emphasis on world-class project management. Skilled project professionals are not just facilitators but essential stewards of investment, risk, measurement and delivery. Their expertise and leadership can help determine whether megaprojects become symbols of progress or cautionary tales of mismanagement.

Additionally, megaprojects too often suffer from a lack of long-term thinking and benefit-driven decision making. There needs to be a shift in focus to delivering project success, not just project management success, increasing the focus on the benefits the megaproject aims to deliver. The project profession can help megaprojects deliver MORE.

Role of Megaprojects

Megaprojects are traditionally defined as large-scale, complex investments that typically exceed $1 billion in cost, take years to complete, involve multiple stakeholders, and impact millions of people. 1 However, this definition is continually evolving to emphasize the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of these projects. Political, social, technical and organizational factors play a significant role in their success or failure. Moreover, there is growing recognition that understanding human factors, including culture, motivations and emotions of stakeholders, is vital to enable mega project success.2

The scale of such projects extends beyond infrastructure, spanning sectors as diverse as energy, health, and digital transformation.

The cross-industry nature of megaprojects means they operate within a complex ecosystem of interconnected organizations, suppliers and policy makers, tending to be more concentrated in infrastructure and construction.

The box below shows the wider ecosystems in which megaprojects are more likely to transform.

Common ecosystems transformed by megaprojects:

  • Infrastructure, water and energy, information technology
  • Industrial processing plants, mining, supply chains, government administrative systems, defense, air and space exploration, urban regeneration, and major events.
  • Strategic corporate initiatives and change programs, mergers and acquisitions
  • National Health Care Systems

Examples of megaprojects:

  • High-speed rail lines, airports, seaports, motorways, hospitals, national health or pension ICT systems, national broadband, the Olympics, large-scale signature architecture, dams
  • Wind farms, offshore oil and gas extraction, aluminum smelters, the development of new aircrafts, the largest container and cruise ships, high-energy particle accelerators, and the logistics systems used to run large supply-chain-based companies like Amazon and Maersk

Pitsis et al. (2018), "Megaprojects redefined – complexity vs cost and social imperatives", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 7-34.

Megaprojects projected to increase

Megaprojects, though incredibly diverse, share a common purpose; they serve as vehicles for change and economic growth across the world. Despite their challenges, megaprojects show no sign of slowing. A McKinsey forecast estimates that global infrastructure investment needs will reach $57 trillion by 2030, driven by population growth, urbanization, and the transition to sustainable energy.3 This unprecedented scale of investment underscores their critical role in shaping the future.

Recently, the industry has witnessed the rise of ‘giga projects’—ultra-large initiatives with ambitions to transform entire countries. The Red Sea Development in Saudi Arabia, for instance, aims to revolutionize tourism and accelerate the country’s transition away from an oil-dependent economy. Costing billions of dollars, it is one of a range of giga projects announced as part of Saudi Arabia’s national transformation program. With targets including the creation of 120,000 jobs and power delivered by 100% sustainable energy, these projects have incredible potential.

The job creation driven by megaprojects offers significant opportunity for the project management profession. The PMI 2022 jobs report highlighted that manufacturing and construction is one of the fastest growing areas for project managers, projected to create 61.4 million jobs worldwide by 2030. This highlights the vital role the project management profession has addressing the challenges that megaprojects face.

The Challenges Facing Megaprojects and Opportunities for the Profession

The UK’s HS2 mega project epitomizes the promise and perils of megaprojects. Once envisioned as a transformative project to modernize the world’s oldest railway system, the project has run into crisis after crisis, morphing from a megaproject into a mega-problem. A spiraling budget led to the cancellation of the planned route connecting the North of England to the South, exacerbating the perceived divide between the North of the UK and the economic powerhouse of London.

These broken promises, spiraling budgets and failure to live up to expectations are common occurrences that plague megaprojects. Too often, megaprojects are designed without a clear focus or unification around the benefits it intends to deliver value to the communities and stakeholders it will serve. As described by Flybjerg, megaprojects are strongly influenced by the four sublimes, including wanting to be the first to deliver something, make something the biggest longest, or create a political legacy etc.

This leads to a variety of challenges, including:

  • Complexity and unplanned events that are often unaccounted for in project planning.
  • Poorly managed stakeholder and public perceptions. A lack of strong communication strategies means public patience wears thin.
  • A lack of a cohesive vision across the project. Megaprojects are incredibly complex and this vision is vital.
  • A lack of long-term thinking focused on societal impact and stakeholders. Megaprojects often don’t deliver the expected benefits, including the UK’s Channel Tunnel and Berlin Brandenburg Airport.
  • A narrow view of the project, with not enough consideration given to where they fit in the wider picture.

Research funded by PMI in 2020, led by Juliano Denicol at University College London, summarized the key causes of poor megaproject performance in literature.4 These causes often stem from human-centered factors and complexities introduced by culture and their associated behaviors and decisions. They highlight why a human-focused approach and expanding the mindsets of those involved in megaprojects is critical to improving outcomes.

  • Decision-Making Behavior. Poor decisions stemming from psychological and political biases.
  • Strategy, Governance and Procurement. Inadequate definitions of roles and responsibilities and the absence of a long-term vision.
  • Risk and Uncertainty. Inadequate anticipation and handling of complexity and change.
  • Leadership and Capable Teams. Dysfunctional teams that lack a collective vision and the skills/capabilities required to address requirements of the project.
  • Stakeholder Engagement and Management. Lack of understanding of complex stakeholder relationships and how to manage competing interests.
  • Supply Chain Integration and Coordination. Disjointed supply chains due to a lack of understanding of interdependencies and a lack of visibility across the supply chain.
Applying M.O.R.E. to Megaprojects: A New Paradigm for Success

PMI's MORE concept—Manage Perceptions, Own Project Success, Relentlessly Reassess Project Parameters, and Expand Perspective—offers a human-centered and relationship-driven way to address these challenges. By delivering MORE, the project profession can redefine what success means for megaprojects and ensure they deliver lasting value.

Manage Perceptions: Shaping the Narrative of Megaprojects

Public and stakeholder perception can make or break a megaproject. These projects are subject to intense scrutiny from investors, policymakers, media, and local communities. Too often, the conversation focuses on cost and timeline failures rather than the long-term benefits megaprojects aim to provide.

Project professionals must proactively manage perceptions by establishing clear and transparent communication strategies. This involves engaging stakeholders early, setting realistic expectations, and continuously reinforcing the broader vision of the project. By shaping a compelling narrative around the project’s societal, economic, and environmental contributions, project leaders can sustain stakeholder confidence and minimize opposition.

Own Project Success: Moving Beyond Traditional Metrics

Historically, megaprojects have been judged by their adherence to budget, scope, and schedule. However, these constraints do not always reflect whether a project has created real value. A high-speed rail system completed on time and on budget is not a success if it remains underutilized due to poor integration into the transport network or lack of customer demand.

Stakeholders involved in megaproject delivery, including project managers, must take accountability for ensuring megaprojects deliver meaningful outcomes, not just meet technical requirements. This means embedding benefits realization frameworks from the outset and ensuring that success is measured in terms of societal impact, sustainability, and stakeholder satisfaction. Project leaders should advocate for a broader definition of success that prioritizes long-term value over short-term project execution. These success factors can be used to drive team cohesion and motivation, aligning everyone around a shared vision that extends beyond deadlines and budgets to deliver lasting, human-centered impact.

Relentlessly Reassess Project Parameters: Adapting to Change

Megaprojects operate in highly dynamic environments, subject to shifting economic, political, and technological landscapes. Yet, megaprojects frequently ‘lock-in’ to certain concepts, with little room for flexibility or alternatives.1 This inflexibility can lead to obsolescence before the project is even completed.

Additionally, these long-term projects are subject to a variety of external forces that are impossible to predict in their early stages. PMI’s MegaTrends 2024 report highlights key forces that will continue to drive disruption, including workforce shifts, technological innovation, and climate change. Additionally, geopolitical instability and regulatory changes introduce further layers of complexity that demand resilient and sustainable project planning.

To navigate these uncertainties, project professionals must adopt a proactive, flexible approach—integrating risk management, stakeholder engagement, and innovative problem-solving to ensure long-term project viability and success. Project professionals must adopt a mindset of continuous reassessment, leveraging real-time data analytics, and fostering a culture of flexibility. Rather than seeing scope changes as failures, project managers should view them as opportunities to refine the project to meet evolving needs. Establishing iterative review processes can help megaprojects remain aligned with their intended goals despite inevitable disruptions.

Expand Perspective: Seeing the Bigger Picture

Megaprojects do not exist in isolation. They interact with social, economic, and environmental systems in complex ways. However, traditional mega project management approaches often take a narrow, execution-focused view, neglecting the broader impact of these projects. Complexity is rarely accounted for.1

Project professionals must adopt a systems-thinking approach, considering how megaprojects fit within larger ecosystems. This means ensuring that infrastructure projects integrate seamlessly into urban planning, that technological projects align with broader industry trends, and that environmental sustainability is built into decision-making. By advocating for a holistic view, project leaders can help ensure that megaprojects serve not just their immediate stakeholders but society at large.

Conclusion: The Future of Megaprojects with MORE

Megaprojects hold the power to transform industries, economies, and societies, but their success hinges on how they are planned, managed, and executed. By shifting focus and accountability to project success and building teams that can work together through complexity, conflict and pressure, project professionals can help ensure these massive investments deliver real value. The MORE concept provides a roadmap for navigating complexity, improving stakeholder engagement, and fostering adaptability. If megaprojects are to fulfill their promise, they must be driven by vision, accountability, and a commitment to sustainable progress.

Summary

How to cite:
Project Management Institute (2025). Megaprojects: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Role of the Project Profession.

1  Flyvbjerg, B. (2014). What You Should Know about Megaprojects and Why: an Overview. Project Management Journal, [online] 45(2), pp.6–19

2  Liedtka, J. and Locatelli, G. (2023). Humanising complex projects through design thinking and its effects. International Journal of Project Management, [online] 41(4), p.102483.

3  https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/infrastructure-productivity

4  Denicol, J., Davies, A. and Krystallis, I. (2020). What Are the Causes and Cures of Poor Megaproject Performance? A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda. Project Management Journal, 51(3), pp.328–345.