Legal Aspects of Engineering Asset Management

Immovable assets include engineered infrastructure such as buildings, manufacturing plant, roads and railways. These assets are built on land. In most jurisdictions, proposals to acquire and/or establish immovable assets on landed property must comply with several legislative provisions. In many instances, the acquisition and/or establishment of an immovable asset becomes embroiled in legal disputes between contending stakeholders asserting rights to ownership/custodianship of land. Such disputes add to the costs of capital development projects, mergers and acquisitions, and influence decisions as to where an asset intensive business venture can be located. Legislation not only provides the means to resolve ownership/custodianship rights but also, it stipulates legal imperatives for control and utilization of engineering assets on landed property. It is in this regard that this chapter presents some of the legal aspects of engineering asset management.