Toolbox

In order to prioritise and define the most strategic projects of the plan to include in a Project Portfolio, a preliminary analysis must be conducted on the list of projects defined in Phase 2. If Block E Strategic Development and Spatial Plan was developed, these resulted from the Strategic Projects Workshop (Activity 23). If Block F Land Management Plan was developed instead, projects resulted from Land Strategies (Activity 26). Project preliminary studies can be more or less comprehensive, according to the time and resources available. However, it is important to have a base line in terms of the technical, financial and management solutions and constraints, as well as clarity on the benefits that each of the projects from the established list provide. 

This activity seeks to consolidate information relevant to each of the projects or initiatives defined in Phase 2: Plan to subsequently prioritise them. The objective is to quickly obtain, with reliable but not detailed data, an approximation of the configuration of each project in all its facets. This will allow the team to order the ideas necessary for the resolution of the problem and to select and prioritise it among the available and possible alternatives in order to contemplate their applicability and possible outcome. 

As a first step, the team should list the benefits that the project would be fulfilling according to different categories (e.g. protection of natural areas, increase or improve public space, promote and diversify housing, contribute to social cohesion, etc.). These benefits should be directly linked to the findings of the diagnosis and the results of the Formulation of Strategies and Initiatives (Activity 22) or Land Strategies (Activity 26). The team should also list for each project, which objectives are being addressed. Projects subsequently prioritised in the strategic project portfolio should ideally respond to more than one objective.

For the pre-feasibility study, the technical team shall prepare a sheet with the following components, as a minimum requirement:

1. Preliminary technical study; how is the project going to be implemented, what is the strategy? You should have a preliminary idea of what the project involves and how the project will be developed. 
2. Approximate financial costs; these can be global parametric costs and categories and ranges can be created. For example: less than USD 60,000 / between USD 60,000 and USD 500,000, between USD 500,000 and USD 2,000,000, etc. This can then help in the prioritisation of projects.
3. Implementation arrangements; it should take into account current capacities as well as existing regulations and the responsible institutions and entities to be involved, and identify whether conditions are favourable for executing and implementing the project. Categories can also be established, e.g.: No administrative changes required / Changes to by-laws or municipal regulations required / Creation of institutions or management bodies required / Management by other entities or institutions required / Metropolitan coordination required.
4. Timeline and priority; short-medium-long with approximate number of years for each project.