Causes of Delay in Construction of Bridge Girders
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This document analyzes the causes of delay in the construction of bridge girders for three spans of a major bridge across the Sabarmati River in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Data was collected on the planned versus actual construction schedules. The total delay was found to be 75 days, with various activities like staging work, shuttering work, and reinforcement fixing experiencing delays. Major causes of delay included insufficient equipment capacity, lack of skilled labor, delays in design drawings, and poor site management. The contractor was found to be primarily responsible for these delays through issues like inadequate planning, site layout, and labor productivity.
![Causes of Delay in Construction of Bridge Girders
DOI: 10.9790/1684-12140812 www.iosrjournals.org 12 | Page
References
[1] Assaf, S. A., And Al-Hejji S. (2006). “Causes of Delay in Large Construction Projects”. International J. Project Mgmt.,Science Direct,
24, 349-357. 4
[2] Enasfathitaher, R.K.Pandey “Study Of Delay In Project Planning And Design Stage Of Civil Engineering Projects” (2013)
[3] S.K.Patil, A.K.Gupta, D.B.Desai, A.S.Sajane “Causes Of Delay In Indian Transportation Infrastructure Project” (2013)
[4] Jyh-Bin Yang And Chih-Kuei Kao “Review Of Delay Analysis Methods: A Process-Based Comparison” (2008)
[5] Tarek Hegazy And Wail Menesi “Delay Analysis Under Multiple Baseline Updates” (2007)
[6] Muralisambasivan , Yau Wen Soon “Causes And Effects Of Delays In Malaysian Construction Industry”
[7] Ashwiniarunsalunkhe, Rahul S. Patil“Effect Of Construction Delays On Project Time Overrun Indian Scenario (2014)
[8] Ram Singh, “Delays And Cost Overruns In Infrastructure Projects: Extent, Causes And Remedies”, Economic And Political Weekly,
Vol.21. May 22, 2010, Pp 43-54.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/b012140812-151120082817-lva1-app6891/85/Causes-of-Delay-in-Construction-of-Bridge-Girders-5-320.jpg)
Causes of Delay in Construction of Bridge Girders
- 1. IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE) e-ISSN: 2278-1684,p-ISSN: 2320-334X, Volume 12, Issue 1 Ver. IV (Jan- Feb. 2015), PP 08-12 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/1684-12140812 www.iosrjournals.org 8 | Page Causes of Delay in Construction of Bridge Girders Keval J. Shah1 , Prof. M. R. Apte2 1 Post graduate student, Department of Civil Engineering, Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune (Maharashtra, India) 2 Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil Engineering, Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune (Maharashtra, India) Abstract: The construction industry is the tool through which a society achieves its goal of urban and rural development. Delays inconstruction are the most serious problems which even slow down the national development. It is one of the sectors that provides important ingredient for the development of an economy.It is widely accepted that a project is successful when it is finished on time. Unfortunately, due to many reasons, largenumber of construction projects fails to follow the planned schedule and hence delayed. Construction delay is considered to be one of the recurring problems in the construction industry and it has an adverse effect on project success in terms of time, cost and quality. So, careful study and planning of each and every activity of a construction project becomes important in order to minimise delays. This paper presents the causes of delayoccurring on anongoing bridge construction project with respect to constructionof bridge girders of three spansof a Major bridge across river Sabarmati, Gandhinagar, Gujaratas a case study. Keywords:Project delay, Types of delay, Time overrun, Cost overrun I. Introduction Issue of delay in the construction sector is a worldwideproblem. Delays occur in most construction projects, either simple or complex. In construction, delay can be defined as the extension of time in the completion of project. In short delay means failure to complete project in targeted time and budgeted cost as agreed in contract. Construction site activities are only the second part of the whole construction process. The first part comprises of all kinds of office work like planning, designing, estimating, negotiating, purchasing, scheduling, controlling, accounting, etc. are required to be done carefully in the office before the work starts on the site to accomplish the objective of a project within budget and on schedule. Construction delays are widespread in most projects around the world. Some delays may happen in the preconstruction phase which is defined as the period beginning from the initial conception of the project to the signing of the contract between the owner and the contractor; however some of them may happen in the construction phase that is the period when actual construction is underway. Project schedules are dynamic and uncertain. Several factors, controllable and uncontrollable, affect the project schedule and cause delays. These delays definitely create negative impacts on project performance. Delay in schedule in the completion of a construction project is a majorproblem for contractors leading to disputes and spoiled relationships between project participants. The challenge is to measure the net impact of construction delays accurately. In absence of which delay claims between all parties involved in the construction process would become serious and lead to litigation.Time for performance of a project is particularly an important consideration for the owner and the contractor. Often, the most troublesome construction disputes involve delays and failure to complete the work in a timely manner. In fact, delays can be caused by several parties therefore the effects and remedies vary from case to case. Concurrent delays are two or more delays occurring at the same time and are always difficult to resolve. So, in this paper delay occurrences on a bridge project is given with respect to the construction ofgirders as a case study. II. Objective Of Study The objectives of this study are: 1. Determine the major construction delays of the project. 2. To analyse different causes of delay of the project 3. To measure the net impact of construction delays accurately. III. Construction Delays There are a number of definitions for delay. In the construction management context, the simplest definition of a delay is “an event or a condition that results in finishing the project later than stipulated in the contract.” There are four main groups of construction delays:
- 2. Causes of Delay in Construction of Bridge Girders DOI: 10.9790/1684-12140812 www.iosrjournals.org 9 | Page 1. Critical or noncritical 2. Excusable or non-excusable 3. Compensable or non-compensable 4. Concurrent or non-concurrent The diagram displayedin figure presents a general overview of how the construction delays can be categorized and some of the frequently occurring delays on any infrastructure project and the responsible stack holder are as follows. Chart 1: Delay classification SR. REASONS FOR DELAY RESPONSIBILITY 1. Delay in handing over of site Client 2. Unforeseen ground conditions Consultant 3. Conflicts between owner and other parties Other 4. Improper planning of contractor during bidding stage Contractor 5. Poor means of contracting Contractor 6. Inaccurate specification of site condition Client 7. Unrealistic time schedule given in contract Consultant 8. Faulty soil investigation report Client 9. Slow decision from owner Client 10. Bureaucracy in client's organisation. Client 11. Ambiguity in specifications and conflicting interpretation by parties. Client 12. Unrealistic inspection and testing methods proposed in contract. Client 13. Delay in approval of completed work (i.e. stage passing) Client 14. Delay in approval of shop drawings and samples Client 15. Non availability of drawing/ design on time Client 16. Consultant or Architect's reluctance for change Consultant 17. Obtaining permissions from local authorities Client 18. Poor organizational structure for client or consultant Client/Consultant 19. Financial Constraints of contractor Contactor 20. Delay in running bill payments to the contractor Client 21. Inadequate experience of contractor Contractor 22. Poor labour productivity Contractor 23. Lack of control over subcontractor Contractor 24. Frequent change of subcontractor Contractor 25. Poor site management and supervision Contractor 26. Use of improper or obsolete construction methods Contractor 27. Increase in scope of work Client 28. Rework due to errors in execution Contractor 29. Rework due to change of design or deviation order Client 30. Delay in finalization of rates for extra items Client 31. Poor coordination among parties Client 32. Delay in material delivery by vendors Other 33. Delay in material to be supplied by the owner client 34. Delay in material procurement (action by the contractor) Contractor 35. Change in material prices/ price escalation Other 36. Improper storage of materials leading to damaged material when necessary Contractor 37. Inefficient use of equipment Contractor 38. Lack of skilled operators for specialized equipment Contractor 39. Extreme weather conditions Other 40. Local political conditions Other 41. Restricted access at site Client 42. Site accidents due to lack of safety measures Contractor 43. Site accidents due to Negligence Contractor 44. Lack of motivation for contractor(viz. Incentive for early finish etc.) Client
- 3. Causes of Delay in Construction of Bridge Girders DOI: 10.9790/1684-12140812 www.iosrjournals.org 10 | Page IV. Research Methodology Research methodology is designed after assessing the extent of the objectives to be fulfilled. For data collection a cable stayed Major Bridge across river Sabarmati, Gandhinagar, Gujaratis taken as a case study. There was a huge difference in rate of progress and time required in completion between planned schedule and actual execution in girders of three spans constructed on site. Frequent site visits were carried out to find the key factors that control time performance as well as the factors which govern the rate of progress in order to find out major as well as general causes of delay in construction of girders. V. Data Collection The data collected from site regarding the progress of construction of bridge girders is given in Appendix-A (planned vs execution period in days). End cross section of girder VI. Data Analysis For data analysis each activity of construction of bridge girders has been compared with its planned duration andactual duration. Delays occurred in each activity and the cumulative delay are calculated in days as shown in Appendix B (delay and cumulative delay in days). Also graphs for planned schedule vs as executed and cumulative delay occurred on each girder are plotted for better understanding of the delay phenomenon. Total delay caused on the project in completion of girders for 3 spans is 75 days (Appendix B (Delay and Cumulative delay in days)). Activity wise total delay is shown in following table. Sr. Activity Delay on Span 1 (Days) Delay on Span 2 (Days) Delay on Span 3 (Days) TotalDelay (Days) 1 Staging work 3 3 2 8 2 Shuttering Work 7 7 2 16 3 Reinforcement fixing 22 6 6 39 4 Cable arrangement 8 4 0 12 5 Concreting 0 0 0 0 Total 75 There upon reasons of delay and interpretation are discussed in next section. Chart 1: Cumulative delay Chart 2: Planned vs Execution.
- 4. Causes of Delay in Construction of Bridge Girders DOI: 10.9790/1684-12140812 www.iosrjournals.org 11 | Page After careful study of delay occurred on each activity and the reason of delay are worked out and the stake holders responsible for the delay are as follows. SR. REASONS FOR DELAY RESPONSIBE PARTY 1 Insufficient crane capacity Contractor 2 Non availability of bar binder Contractor 3 Non availability of skilled labour Contractor 4 Delay in design Client /Consultant 5 Labour issues Contractor 6 Conventional method of bar cutting and bending Contractor 7 Over labour employment on a single work other than important one. Contractor 8 Poor site layout resulting in poor labour productivity Contractor 9 Shortage of Concrete due to insufficient capacity of RMC Contractor 10 Delay in procurement of bearing plate Contractor Table: Summary of Delay reasons Above mentioned causes of delay have direct effecton time overrun and cost overrun for the whole project. Careful identification and mitigation of causes of delay is required to save time and cost. The comparisonof cumulative delay is shown in Chart 1. It is observed from Chart 1 thatthe construction of girder of span 1 delayed more than the other two girders. Major cause of delay of construction offirst girder on span 1 is delay in getting working drawings.Other two girders will not be affected by this reason because all girders are symmetrical on the bridge. There are also some reasons which affect performance of girder on span 1 such as labour issues, more number of labours employed on an unimportant work and lack of skilled labours etc. Another important reason is poor site layout planning. Because of poor site layout planning workers have to walk more and this resulted in wastage of time and poor labour productivity. Same girder on span 2 gets delayed by less number of days compared tothat on span 1. Major reason is labour issues. Contractor is responsible for this delay. Third girder is delayed by 15 days only and major reason for delay is again labour issues. VII. Conclusion This study aims to investigate the important causes of delay in construction of bridge girder. Activities on site with respect to construction of girder are thoroughly observed and comparison done between planned and as executed schedule. The results revealed that the problem ofdelays in construction of bridge girder is frequent and notable. Contractor plays vital role in completion of project as scheduled. Most of reasons for delays are related with contractor performance such as site management, labour productivity, and lack of expert proficiency in supervision etc. Same as delay in drawing and delay in design come under client responsibility.It is evident that consultant has a less responsibility. Some of the causes are to be addressed are beyond the control of all the project parties such as differing site conditions, unforeseen weather etc. Talking about the overall responsibility of delay, contractor possesses near about more responsibility. Total time required as per planned scheduleon Span 1 + Span 2 + Span 3 = 150 days but actual time of execution taken for the same 225 days. Therefore total delay is 75 days.
- 5. Causes of Delay in Construction of Bridge Girders DOI: 10.9790/1684-12140812 www.iosrjournals.org 12 | Page References [1] Assaf, S. A., And Al-Hejji S. (2006). “Causes of Delay in Large Construction Projects”. International J. Project Mgmt.,Science Direct, 24, 349-357. 4 [2] Enasfathitaher, R.K.Pandey “Study Of Delay In Project Planning And Design Stage Of Civil Engineering Projects” (2013) [3] S.K.Patil, A.K.Gupta, D.B.Desai, A.S.Sajane “Causes Of Delay In Indian Transportation Infrastructure Project” (2013) [4] Jyh-Bin Yang And Chih-Kuei Kao “Review Of Delay Analysis Methods: A Process-Based Comparison” (2008) [5] Tarek Hegazy And Wail Menesi “Delay Analysis Under Multiple Baseline Updates” (2007) [6] Muralisambasivan , Yau Wen Soon “Causes And Effects Of Delays In Malaysian Construction Industry” [7] Ashwiniarunsalunkhe, Rahul S. Patil“Effect Of Construction Delays On Project Time Overrun Indian Scenario (2014) [8] Ram Singh, “Delays And Cost Overruns In Infrastructure Projects: Extent, Causes And Remedies”, Economic And Political Weekly, Vol.21. May 22, 2010, Pp 43-54.