Incorporating environmental sustainability in project management practices in Ghana

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Date
2021-06-23
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Abstract
Sustainability concerns in delivering construction projects have come to the forefront of the world, and the gap between project management and sustainability is still been built. It is therefore important for project managers to identify how their organizations can become ecologically sustainable, socially responsible and economically competitive. This is a quantitative study that was conducted in the Kumasi metropolis with an aim of identifying ways of incorporating environmental sustainability into project management practices in Ghana. The primary research was conducted using survey questionnaires. The structured questionnaires were used to obtain data to ascertain the negative impacts of projects on the sustainability of the environment, challenges associated with incorporating environmental sustainability into project management practices and strategies could be adopted to enhance incorporation of environmental sustainability in project management. A total number of fifty questionnaires were administered and forty were retrieved representing a response rate of 80%. Relative Importance Index rankings were the main tool used for analysis. The findings of the research revealed the main impacts of projects on the environment as air pollution, destruction of virgin land and noise pollution. The main challenges associated with the incorporation of environmental sustainability into project management practices are slow government programs, lack of public education, and lack of support from top management. However, the strategies to enhance the incorporation of environmental sustainability in project management; considering environmental sustainability at planning and design stage, effective legislative frame work and creating awareness programs were also ascertained. It was recommended that there should be public education on how environmental sustainability could be incorporated into project management practices
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Construction Technology and Management, College of Art and Built Environment, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Award of Master of Science.
Keywords
Environment, Environmental sustainability, Project management, Ghana
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