Public participation in development of small infrastructure projects

This article presents the benefits of public participation concerning social and environmental impacts in the development of an infrastructure project. A small hydropower project, which is situated in the Nan Province, Thailand, is selected as a case study. In this study, the public participation process comprised an interview questionnaire survey and a focus group discussion; 1550 questionnaires were used to collect the opinion of local people and stakeholders regarding the project's development. Citizen dialogue and focus group discussions were conducted to provide information and to collect details of the public's opinions, concerns, and needs. The results from the questionnaires were analyzed statistically and then illustrated on maps using the Geographic Information System technique. The results from the citizens' dialogue and the focus group discussion show the benefit of giving project information to local people and bringing the needs of all groups into consideration in planning, decision-making, and the implementation of the project. Copyright (c) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.