Engineers Against Poverty (EAP), with assistance from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), is pioneering the application of a partnership model of social performance within the engineering services sector. The programme will develop and promote strategic multi-sector partnerships - between principal contractors, their clients, government agencies and community groups - with the aim of increasing the contribution made by the engineering industry to the elimination of poverty in emerging economies and developing countries.

A research team comprising staff from EAP, ODI and Balfour Beatty Power Networks (BBPN) visited Indonesia in June 2003 as part of this programme. The objective of the visit was to capture Balfour Beatty's experience on the Lot 3 Java-Bali 500kV Transmission Line Construction Project, to analyse it as an example of a major infrastructure project in Indonesia, and make this knowledge available to help identify options for developing a multi-sector partnership project within Balfour Beatty Group (BBG).

These findings arise directly from the investigation of BBS's involvement in Lot 3. The extent to which they can be generalised to other operating companies and different contexts will depend on how typical Lot 3 is of similar projects.

Summary of Main Findings

• The Indonesian public policy environment is potentially supportive of partnership based approaches.
• Positive examples of social performance, particularly in local content and HR development were observed.
• Social performance is not systematically recorded and reported.
• BBS were involved in resolving land and access disputes but did not have contractual risk.
  
• Work needed to secure operating company senior staff buy in to initiatives emanating from Group level.

Petter Matthews, Ian Neal, Michael Warner and Andy Tanner