TO better prioritise ongoing capital work projects in the Shire, Mareeba Shire Council (MSC) has adopted the Project Prioritisation Criteria to develop the 2024/25 Proposed Capital Works Program.
Like most local government authorities, Mareeba Shire Council has limited funds available for capital works projects and Mayor Toppin said the International Infrastructure Management Manual provides several methods for prioritising projects, of which MSC regularly uses two.
“The first method is a multi-criteria analysis which is part of council’s project prioritisation tool (PPT), and the second method is a risk assessment using council’s Enterprise Risk Management Framework,” she said.
“The Project Prioritisation methodology relies on criteria and weighting for each asset class with each criterion prepared with a rating system that is weighted at council’s discretion.
“Ultimately, a priority or appraisal score is developed which is used to rank the projects within the program.”
The percentage weightings can be varied to reflect the relative importance between each criterion, with the total percentages equalling 100 per cent.
Each year, council officers review the criteria used to evaluate projects and where appropriate recommend improvements for council’s consideration. This year the focus continues to be on objective criteria where possible.
“In addition to the PPT appraisal score, a basic risk rating of the current situation to the Council and the community is also provided for each project,” Mayor Toppin stated.
“Council officers access the risk by asking the question, “What would happen if the project does not proceed?” The risk rating is calculated using council’s Enterprise Risk Management process, with the inherent risk score provided in the Capital Works Planning sheets for Councillor’s review.
“This provides council with a clear indicator of the risks that are mitigated by funding projects and the risks that are accepted.”
The PPT criteria will provide the framework for council officers to assess and prioritise projects for the Council review.
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