Project Management There Are Several

Project Management

There are several tasks that are involved in the planning and initiation stage of the project. The first is going to be to initiate contact with the local government to gauge their readiness for such a project. If they are amenable, tentative plans should be drawn up. This will involve beginning the site selection process, gathering possible designs and identifying target markets. With a sense of the market and the site, the financing team can go ahead and work with the local government and the company's bankers to acquire the funds and push the project forward. At that point, final design can be undertaken and construction commenced.

Yours Truly

John Smith

Sam Holiday

Dakar Yoff

Daisy Debit

Ted Rivers

Frank Tower

Project Mgr

Engineering

Marketing

Local Liaison

Accounting

P&R

Construction

Initial discussions with local government

Target market identification

Site selection

Financing

Budgeting

Design

Procurement

Construction

Sales

Government liaison work

Key

Responsible for Contribute to Approval

2. A work breakdown structure can be used to help summarize and visualize the complex set of information that goes into determining how a project is completed. There are multiple deliverables for this project. See Appendix A for the WBS.

3. Much information needs to be collected in order for this project to proceed. The first set of information will be market information regarding travel to Cape Verde. The marketing department is responsible for estimating not only the potential size of the Cape Verde travel market but also for determining the demographic characteristics of that target market. This will help us to shape the project, in terms of its features, size and marketing.

We will also need a substantial amount of information about Cape Verde before we begin. The country is a small island nation off the coast of Africa, with a population of just over 400,000 (CIA World Factbook, 2010). We need to know a lot of things about the country, from the number of English speakers to the ways in which we can deal with the chronic water shortages there. We need to know about their environmental regulations, and the amount of government support for this project we can expect. Our local liaison Dakar Yoff will procure this information and deliver it to the Project Manager, who will then disseminate it to the relevant functional managers.

We also need to know about the local construction workforce, if it meets our needs. Mr. Yoff will work with our Construction head Frank Tower. If there are any needs that cannot be met by the local workforce, Mr. Yoff will investigate the possibility of getting guest workers into the country.

Most of the information will be gained from primary sources, including both the market research and the local research. This information will be communicated prior to the launching of the project, in written form that can be used for future reference.

4. Cape Verde is a relatively undeveloped country, and not without good reason. It is a difficult place in which to set up this type of business. However, the government has recently taken steps to improve the economy by encouraging tourism development. The government is trying move away from the all-inclusive model, which could shape our project (Turkish Weekly, 2009). The government has recognized the importance of tourism to economic development, which hopefully will result in a lot of support. Cape Verde has a lot of other things going for it as well. It has a stable security situation. The culture is fantastic, and very distinctive. The county has a blend of Portuguese and African influences. Cape Verdean music is well-known in world music circles and we feel there is tremendous opportunity to capitalize on the richness of Cape Verdean culture. There is a large Cape Verdean diaspora that lends additional nuance to the culture.

The infrastructure is still relatively poor, but has been improving in recent years. There is not much paved road, although the roads to our location from the capital and its airport will be paved. The airport at Praia is brand new, having just been opened five years ago, overcoming a major infrastructure hurdle. The main problem we have now is that most of the flights are domestic -- the only international ones are from Lisbon, Boston and some African cities. We need to see more European flights to that airport if we are to become a destination of choice. Electrics are in good shape, but the water supply is touchy and the remoteness of the islands makes importing water a difficult proposition. We may need to consider a desalination plant.

Geographically, the country is gorgeous. It is situated in the Atlantic, off the coast of Africa. It is sunny, warm and dry. Its proximity to Europe gives it a strategic advantage over many other destinations. The main drawback to the geography is that it is subject to drought and water shortages, which present a logistical challenge for us. Praia is located on Santiago Island, which is the largest in the archipelago. It is not, however, the island best developed for tourism. That said, there is a lot of potential. The resort would be located close to Praia on the south coast, which is the driest part of the island. The mountains of the interior provide a rugged beauty, some of which we will leverage for our golf course.

The economy of Cape Verde has traditionally been weak, but in recent years has improved thanks primarily to the development of the tourism industry. The industry has created a lot of new jobs in Cape Verde and the government is expected to continue to support it going forward. Tourism is growing at a rate of 22% per year and the country is expected to hit the 1 million tourists per year mark by 2015. The industry contributes 10% of the country's GDP and this is expected to increase to 30%, employing around 50,000 people in the process. The government, therefore, is very supportive of the industry (Afrol News, 2007).