Principles of Project and Cost Management

Introduction

Project management is a branch of knowledge of planning, making organizations and controlling resources that will lead to conclusion of chosen project objectives. Also from the definitions a project is an attempt in doing something but at the same time, it also has limitations that are, it always has a specific time of starting and finishing. The projects are usually done so that unique products can be produced to bring about benefits (Goldhader 2001).

The major challenge of project management is succeeding to achieve the set objectives and goals at the same time, coping with the usual constraints in developing projects such as time, scope, quality and the prepared budget of the project (Green 2000). Other challenges that are secondary to that include the one of optimizing the allocation and also integrating the necessary inputs to meet the set objectives of the project (Donalds 2001). A project therefore is a number of activities that usually make use of the available resources such as the materials, money and many other resources which have not been mentioned to fulfill the said goals and objectives (Muller 2006).

Strategic planning

Strategic planning is a process of a specific organization trying to determine its strategy, or maybe direction and deciding to make allocations of the available resources in pursuing the put down strategies, which has the inclusion of the capital and people involved (Mc George 2000). Strategic planning involves the use of various techniques of business analysis. This

technique has SWOT analysis as an example. There is also the PEST analysis, such planning as the strategic planning is used by different organizations and business as a determinant for the future success (Palmer 2004). Project title; Saadiyat Inclined Bridge, UAE

This is a bridge that its construction is still going on. This bridge has to be completed in order to make connections of the two islands possible. The major objective for construction of this bridge was to connect the two islands which are currently far apart and there exists no reliable form of transport between the two islands (Nickels 2004). The other objective is to facilitate or rather boost the tourism industry in that region, since there are plans of building tourist hotels and also the bridge itself will serve as a tourist attraction site. As a result, there will be foreign exchange earned thus boosting the economy of the said region.

The Saadiyat Island is about half a kilometer from Abu Dhabi. This island has experienced extensions which have been made artificially by landfilling. The bridge itself is approximately1500 meters long and about 70 meters wide (Nickels 2004). It is therefore said to be one of the biggest bridges in the world. It has got a provision for twelve car lanes and an extra space big enough for three railway tracks (Nickels 2004). With its completion, reduction of traveling time will be realized to up to ten minutes from roughly fifty minutes. The bridge has got eight supporting pilers which are on the foreland side and seven other pilers on the Saadiyat side.

The pilers mainly support the hollow boxes of concrete which have got spans within the range of 40-140 meters. About 200 meters is the span of the main bridge which has an overhead clearance of about 127 meters at the center of the bridge 1(Nickels 2004). This again are being supported by four V-shaped, 30 meter high similar pilers per section. 28.0 degrees is the inclination of the twelve supports.

This interesting project is being headed by a team of civil engineer contractors. These engineers are namely; Sadiq AG and Seif Mohamed. Within Sadiq AG, the development of the project is being taken care of by subsidiaries of the Sadiq AG’s company’s, Sadiq International and bridge constructors(Nickel 2004). There are some other companies that have worked closely with this in the construction of the bridge which includes the PERI engineers who are coming from Nuremberg in united Arab Emirates. Dubai has shown to be very constructive. This has been evident during the offer time and also during the time of the bridge construction time.

The PERI design solution for the individual supports that are inclined is basically made up of some sets of formwork better known as the V GT 24 formwork, it is approximately 7.87 meters wide,and a formwork of VARIO which has been inclined forward with some platforms which been put together. There are also those that have been reversely inclined and as a result they have risen the formwork section(Nickels 2004).

To an extent this is based on a hired standard material which was gotten from the V GT 24 wall which is found on the formwork , a system that is mainly being used by many construction engineers who have dealt with the building of bridges in the recent past. Also in addition, to V GT 24 wall the SLS heavy-duty spindles are also been widely used in the construction of the bridge(Woodhead 2007).

And since the supporting angle was put to be big, the concrete loads that are high up are being carried by the reverse inclined formwork which was placed in a reverse position. The installation of the framework which was done by the contractors over the waters of the sea gives a good surface which is meant to support any load that might be put on the bridge(Halpin 2000). The girder fame work which is made of steel is approximately 950 millimeters high above the sea.

The basic design structure and the models of the PERI UP systems together with the dimensions that are used, makes it easy to cope with the load-bearing building which is usually moved through the inclined form of work ,a unit in the PERI UP systems of construction, then taken through the SLS, which have the heavy spindles put on them so that they can accommodate the heavyweights (Palmer 2004). There are towers that are placed near the shores and are usually 2.0 meters in width, these towers are then linked together to make sections of frame that give support to the bridge (Goldhader 2001).

There are ledgers which were installed while pointing towards where the load will be , this ledgers measure to the required building standards of the bridges as needed by the authorities concerned. The scaffolds in the bridge remain adequately stable for large amount of load that is exposed to it.

This stability is attributed to the linkage of the higher ledgers to the PERI UP systems and also as a result of this, the resulting huge scaffolds can quickly be moved and this movement will never impair its stability at any point (Donalds 2001).

The individual supports that were being used in the construction of this bridge were usually made in an alternate way. This was mostly for major steps having their concrete heights as 5.0 meters, and they were also 3.0 meters in other outward direction ( Green 2000). This applies to each of the cases because they were inclined by different numbers of pilers. This method of construction that was put forth by the PERI contractors has an allowance for supporting frames to be moved in a forward direction towards the steel girders that were stationed on the rails.

For efficiency in the support provision in the platform levels, there were few tower models of 2.50 meter base and 4.70 meter in their height extensions were also combined. The PERI UP program has got some connections that usually saves time and are mainly done by using a component which is standardized (Muller 2006). This extensions that were being used in this PERI section could easily be adjusted to the height that is usually required by the contractors and engineers who are responsible for the on going construction.

There are different methods that are basically in use in the building of the bridge, for example, the incremental method which was launched in the building of the Western Foreland bridge which had many pilers to bring out its beauty on the Saadiyat island. The huge spans in the middle of the bridge act as supporters of the bridge and are mainly made of steel.

Statement of work

A statement of work is a particular statement that is usually very specific with regards to the required needs or resources in a given contract. It should therefore have all the aspects that a particular job requires, and the assessment of the performance (Woodhead 2007). It is also known to be a statement that has the services in particular that a concerned contractor is supposed to perform in a detailed manner (Mc George 2000).

Saadiyat project has the following as its projects statement of work;

Project title: Saadiyat inclined Bridge

Objectives

The major objectives for construction of this bridge was to connect the two islands which are currently far apart and there exists no reliable form of transport between the two islands (Nickel 2004). The other objective is to facilitate or rather boost the tourism industry in that region since there are plans of building tourist hotels and also the bridge itself will serve as a tourist attraction site. As a result there will be foreign exchange earned thus boosting the economy of the said region. The Saadiyat island is about half a kilometer from Abu Dhabi (Nickel 2004).

Project Background

The project of the Saadiyat inclined bridge is situated in Abu Dhabi which is the known capital of the UAE that is in the Persian Gulf (Green 2000). There has been some lucrative business that has come up in this islands for example, just recently, a palace hotel was opened and it is said to be among the biggest hotels in the world. Also the town is supposed to be hosting some tournament sponsored by formula one popularly known as the grand prix race (Woodhead 2007).

With such in mind, there was an urgent need to link the islands so that the region may realize high foreign exchange from the tourism industry, that is expected to grow drastically after the completion of the project (Halpin 2000). Also since moving from one point of the island to another point of the other island usually takes some time, therefore, there was a need to come up with the Saadiyat project in order for the time taken to travel between the two islands to be reduced (Green 2000).

Project Requirements

The project has to go through several phases for it to come to a completion. Saadiyat inclined bridge has gone through the project offer stage (Woodhead 2007), and now is still under construction. Thereafter it will have to get to the project completion stage(Nickels 2004). After all that, the contractors will assess the completed bridge to confirm if the resources were properly used during its construction (Green 2000). They will also do an assessment on whether the resources provided were adequately used. The project also requires that the contractors to carry out the value management study for the said bridge and at the same time, a risk management study be done by them. The project is supposed to take approximately one and a half years for it to be completed (Muller 2006).

Deliverance Requirements

The contractors of this project will be giving out reports once in every three months to the selected committee members. The contractors will also be required to provide a detailed budget and resource allocation reports as per that time of delivery to committees responsible for confirmation of efficiency in the usage of the provided resources.

Performance period

The project was initiated on July 2007. It is to run and be completed after one and a half years.

Project completion will be on February 2009. Therefore, it is past seven months from the time it began (Muller 2006).

Government Estimate

Duration of the project: 18 months (one & half years). Total cost estimate: $ 500,000,000

Information of the Sole Source Company

This gives information of the company that was given the contract to construct the bridge i.e Saadiyat inclined bridge. Sadiq international and bridge constructors are the name of the company that was awarded the contract. This company was chosen because it has been known for their good construction history and its work is usually commendable. So it was because of the said reason that won the company the contract on building the bridge. It is also believed that it is the only company that could start and complete the project without cases of failure(Mc George).

Organization Breakdown Structure

This is a word that refers to the tool that can be used by the people of the project management with the group leader in a hierarchical way. This is done in this way with the purpose of carrying out and making a thorough and described representation of the organization of the project (Nickel 2004). This is for the reason of creating arrangements for enacting a relationship between the several project assignment packages and also between vital work packages and the units in the organization (Donalds 2001).

It should be enacted at the beginning of a certain activity to assist in the organization of the project. It can also be done as the activity continues.

Work Breakdown Structure

It is a necessary method in project management that is used in determining and also in the organizing to an extent of the project in question. It makes use of the tree structure. A work breakdown structure that has been designed well will make assigning of projects a single terminal an easy task (Green 2000).

Cost Management

This is an activity of trying to keep up your control in financial matters in a particular given project. Cost management is achieved by involving the following processes; the process of evaluation, estimation processes, doing or creating a budget, monitoring, doing analysis, to be able to forecast the future of a particular project and lastly doing a report on the final cost(Nickel 2004).

These processes of cost management are discussed hereunder;

Estimation

This involves projecting of costs and working hard to control the cost throughout the project. It usually puts across the overall know-how of the project and all the planned intentions of the said procedure. Estimates are never guessed,only the correct and real estimates are used in projects.

Bidding

This is where the concerned or rather the chosen contractors are provided with a range of options which will allow them to have a wide range of choices to make accurate numbers from.

Timing/ programming

This ensures that there is efficient use of time because each and every activity is allocated to a specific time frame. In the schedule, each activity is also given to a specialized individual in that field to take care of everything that goes on during his time.

Cost model

This is a model that is mostly constructed during stage of programming. This tool that is used in planning gives the option of controlling the project cost from the outside.

Reviewing of the document

Reviewing serves to reduce some of the alterations during construction

Assessment of the facility

Assessment of the facilities that are available is normally done so that costs of maintaining the facility can be projected by the contractor. This tool often assists in making long-term decisions and in telling the future maintenance in some of the facilities that currently exists (Nickel 2004).

Importance of cost management

Cost management will help you as a constructor or an owner in the following ways;

It will help you to have an exact idea of the cost of the project (Green 2000). And also will assist you to obtain an individual expert who will be representing you. In addition when you do cost management to your projects you will use this important tool to have a full control of your projects. And as an architect the cost management tool is very important to you in that it will assist you to improve credibility of your processes in designing (Palmer 2004). It also helps you in proving that you are a professional in the a given field. And as contractors the tool will help you to develop a growth of your scope in the construction management and as a contractor as a whole. Cost management gives a more exact estimate because of the reasons hereunder;

It is because it naturally involves itself in the construction bidding this means that you are being provided with an up-to-date cost estimate(Woodhead 2007).

Its exactness is as a result of good experience in a great number of types of building. It also gives good and advanced analysis on the methods of being able to be within your proposed budget. As a result of good experience, it gives professional products. This products are delivered using a special software. The person making decisions in the project is the one who is totally responsible for the costs that are directly related to cost of the project (Goldhader 2000).

References

Goldhader, M. 2001, Construction Management,Wiley publishers,Boston.

Green,F. 2000, Cost Management,Harvard univ. press, Cambridge.

Mc George, D. 2000, Cost Estimation,Harwoth p.,New York.

Palmer, A. 2004, The construction industry, Mc millan p., California.

Nickels, G. 2002, Value Management, OUP, Oxford.

Donalds,W. 2001, Professional Approach to Construction Management, Oxford University Press, New York.

Muller, P. 2006, Principles of project management, Mc millan publishers,New York.

Woodhead, K, 2007, Project development, Harwoth p. New York.

Halpin, D. 2000, Civil Engineer’s Guide,OUP, Oxford.

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