Komiete Tetteh

Assessing The Socio-Economic Impact of Large-Scale Projects: An Illustrative Case Study of Jumbo Glacier Resort, East Kootenay Regional District, British Columbia, Canada Komiete Tetteh

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Sociology - Economy and Industry, , language: English, abstract: Social and economic impact assessment (SEIA), which seeks to predict the nature, magnitude, distribution, duration and significance of changes in the social and economic well-being of communities affected by a proposed development, has become an integral element of project planning, approval and implementation processes. This paper examines the essence of SEIA and demonstrates its applicability, using a proposed $450m Jumbo Resort near Invermere, a small community in the southeastern interior of British Columbia, Canada, as an example. Given the large-scale nature of the project and the limited infrastructural, financial and technical capacity of the host East Kootenay Regional District, it is demonstrated that, without significant intervention by senior governments through massive financial, human resource and logistical support in addition to the creation of resource municipality at Jumbo, the project may not be socially viable, given the severity of the impacts on affected communities.