september 2020

The coronavirus pandemic posed new challenges to the transport
and logistics sector, and this year's ZIRP - Transformation of Transportation
Conference was opened with a panel discussion on
Transport and Logistics in Time of COVID-19.
The conference, where international and domestic experts in the
field of transport and logistics discussed the challenges they face
due to the new situation, was held online on September 29 and 30,
2020, organized by the Faculty of Transport Sciences, while the Faculty
of Economics & Business - Zagreb was one of the co-organizers.
ZIRP is one of the leading internationally recognized regional conferences
in the field of transport and logistics with participants from
more than 20 countries.
A new presentation as part of the Brown bag seminar was held on
September 17, 2020, by Mr. Đuro Kolar, Ph.D. (Monash University,
Melbourne, Australia). He presented a paper entitled Governing the
Dark Dyad of Megaproject Reality: A Case Study of a Mega Public Sector
Program of Projects.
Some politicians are narcissistically ambitious and find the decision
to implement mega public sector projects irresistible. They generate
symbolic emotions to be seen as ‘emperors,’ gods, or goddesses.
However, the means to achieve such a megaproject reputational
legacy is difficult. It is plagued with a Machiavellianism and tribalism
world constituting a dark relationship dyad of megaproject benefit
reality and ruthless political power. This tends to cause an eerie
death to megaprojects—that is, failure to achieve most of their strategies
and public good benefits. The purpose of this paper is to investigate
the dark side of megaproject reality and suggest an effective
governance mechanism to successfully achieve the megaproject’s
public good strategies and benefits. A case study was conducted on
Australia's largest infrastructure program in history, the AU $14.7
billion Building the Education Revolution program. The results indicate
that situational-based project governance mechanisms are essential
in minimizing the effects of the dark relationship dyad in
megaproject policies. Politicians can then make rational decisions
and rightfully claim the image as an ‘emperor'.
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