I read OF a book on the subject of cost over-runs on public works projects, so I did a google search:

From http://www.innobriefs.com/editor/20030723megaprojects.html :

MegaProjects
(Innovation Briefs, Vol. 14, No. 4, July/August 2003)

After nearly twenty years of planning and construction, significant segments of Boston's Central Artery project (" The Big Dig") finally opened this year. Coinciding with the opening has been a publication of two groundbreaking new books discussing complex multi-billion dollar transportation projects. They are "Mega-projects: The Changing Politics of Urban Investment by Harvard University's Alan Altshuler and David Luberoff (Brooking Institution Press, 2003) and "Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition" by Bent Flyvbjerg, Professor at Denmark's Aalborg University (Cambridge University Press, 2003). The books provide fresh perspectives and new insights into the forces that are shaping contemporary public works projects.
.. .
"Contractors and other project promoters who stand to gain from the mere construction of projects -- and who are often powerful movers in the early stages of project development -- may have a self serving interest in underestimating costs and overestimating demand," the author states. "They are happy to go ahead with highly risky projects as long as they themselves do not carry the risks involved and will not be held accountable for lack of performance."
(See link above for the rest of this article)

Also:
http://assets.cambridge.org/0521804205/sample/0521804205WS.pdf

There were a lot of other interesting documents turned up by google using the following search term: cost over-runs government projects international book

Thanks
JK