Handling social risks in government-driven mega project: An empirical case study from West China

Abstract The sustainability of project implementation requires the use of effective instruments to cope with the undesirable social risks. Facing group confrontation and conflict around mega project in the past decade, Social Stability Risk Assessment is currently conceived as a managing way to handle social risks by the Chinese government. In this paper, a case study of Jixian Industrial Park project from western China is conducted to explore how to identify specific social risks under the dominance of local government. Response package is further released to prevent, reduce and control the destructive consequences of risks that may occur before or during the project construction. Enlightenments are obtained in the end to provide valuable implications. As a reference example, the research of this paper ushered in a practical framework of social risk management which may be effectively applied in other fields of program implementation.

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