Key performance indicators and assessment methods for infrastructure sustainability—a South African construction industry perspective

This paper identifies key performance indicators (KPI) for infrastructure delivery and maps computational methods required to achieve sustainability objectives in developing countries. It builds on previous research that developed taxonomy of infrastructure sustainability indicators and computational methods, to propose an analytical decision model and a structured methodology for sustainability appraisal in infrastructure projects in a developing country like South Africa. The paper uses the ‘weighted sum model’ technique in multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and the ‘additive utility model’ in analytical hierarchical process (AHP) for multi-criteria decision-making, to develop the model for computing the sustainability index—a crisp value for evaluating infrastructure design proposals. It discusses the development of the KPIs that are encapsulated within the analytical model. It concludes by discussing other potential applications of the proposed model and methodology for process automation as part of integrated sustainability appraisal in infrastructure design and construction in developing countries.