Study onApply Construction Management Strategies in Cambodia: 2015 Volunteer project of Once Imagined
Submitted by: (12098014D)
Submission Date:16-7-2015
Content
1.Introduction
2.Background
2.1Construction Projects in Cambodia
2.2Case Study
3.Compare the Construction Culture with Case Study
3.1Procurement and Payment
3.2Construction Stage
4.Discussion on Apply Hong Kong’s Management Strategies
4.1Pre –construction Service
4.2Construction Management
5.Conclusion
Introduction
Development is essential to the future of Cambodia after 20-year political disputation. Lots of infrastructure were built by overseas construction companies. Besides large-scale projects, numerous small-scales works in Cambodian village such as toilet, housing and school etc. were done by NGO from the world.
However, Cambodiansare seldom involved in these small-scale projects. Hence, it is worth having a study on the probability on corporation in order to provide job opportunities as well as techniques. Case study in this report was a cooperated construction work and indicated that the efficiency of the whole project.
This report is going to compare the procurement and culture between Hong Kong and Cambodia in order to figure out the suitable construction management strategies to improve the efficiency.
Background
Construction Projects in Cambodia
According to Cambodia Construction Association, construction companies around the world have taken part in Cambodia construction industry. They not only involved in design stage as well as construction stage, but also play an important role in material supply. (Commerial news, 2015)In fact, Cambodian government trends to attract overseas companies in order to achieve their development plan, such as underground service, road construction etc.Besides urbanization, local workers may take the benefit-- staying in home country to earn their living.
However, rural villages are missing in their Government’s consideration. Thus, charity groups from different countries came to Cambodia and built the living facilities for the villagers.(Wu, 2010)These volunteer works usually were done by the foreigners.
Case study is a charity work, which is organized by Hong Kong students, to build a one-storey school in Chan Sor Village in Siem Reap. Hong Kong students were responsible for design of school and construction fee while local NGO were responsible for coordination and construction.
Our design is slightly different from their traditional house but materials are same as local.
The initial construction fee was25,000 Hong Kong Dollars, which was prepared by NGO after the design was done. The NGO had a letter agreement, which promised that the school would finish on 23May, 2015 within budget. The construction job started on 11May, 2015. Extra fee was required during the construction stage in order to ensure the project could be done on time.
Extra cost was 350 US dollars for the design of raised platform, which is an innovative design in Cambodia, and 310 US dollars for extra workers to ensure the project could finish on time.
Compare the Construction Culture with Case Study
Procurement and Payment
According to the interviewees, the procurement of small-scale projects in Cambodia can be classified as “design and build” simply. The owner tell the contractor what be built by phone call or in market. The workers will construct and design at the same time on site to achieve the goal.
At the same time, there was no contract to force the contractor. It was a root problem of management. The contractor and the workers lost motivation to finish the project on time. On the other hand, supervision cost was high in the case. Further discussion on this problem is shown in section 4.
Construction Stage
Material was the first aspect to be concerned in the construction stage. Raw materials were treated on site before become the part of construction in Cambodia while construction materials were imported from other countries in Hong Kong. Therefore, the cost of material is difficult to measure in Cambodia since the condition of the raw material was various.
Workers are the key in the construction stage since the quality and progress of work are affected by their skill and their productivity. Worker performance was inconsistent in the project since working culture were far difference from Hong Kong. They did not have specific working hours and working target every day.
Lots of workforce could be found in the market from May to August due to the rest of farming. Workers were skilled but contractor were not familiar with work planning. Thus, there were no information and standard to let us follow the schedule. There was an example. Heavy rainfall has been encountered during the stage, which means the completion day may be postponed.
Remedial works should be introduced but lack of information was an obstacle to do management and estimation.
Discussion on Apply Hong Kong’s Management Strategies
Previous section has shown that the efficient of work was unsatisfactory. There are two fundamental reasons. First, pre-construction services were not well-prepared, which increase the diffculty of schedule mangement.Kalkhoran, Liravi and Fereshte(2014) suggested that the client should receive pre-construction services such as schedule, budget, and constructability reviewsto achieve a good risk management.Second,the difference between two cultures may affect the quilty of relationship as well as the proformance.
Pre –construction Service
Hong Kong construction industry has a well-developed pre-construction service system to control risk in tendering stage. Master program, bills of quantity and constructability reviews are prepared as a document in building contract. (Hills, 1995) It is difficult to apply the whole system as the projects usually are small scale in Cambodia, which should reduce the administration cost.
However, it is worth taking these documents as reference to apply in the future to facilitate project management. As previous section has mention, contractor was not familiar with work planning. Therefore, it would be better that clients prepare draft of master program and bills of quantity to discuss with contractor on the possibility of the plan.
Construction Management
Main idea of construction management is responsibility allocation. Sharing the risk and responsibility may facilitate the job effectiveness. (Radosavljevic and Bennett,2012) In Hong Kong, the basic management has been written in building contract. Stage payment is used in order to protect the clients’ interest, but this strategies may not be applied in Camboda since the capcity of contractor are inadepate.
Retention fund is common in Hong Kong Building contract, which is suitable to apply in small-scale project in Cambodia. Hills (1995) explained that the object of retention is to secure the main contractor’s obligation to complete the works and make good defects. The moiety of the retention fund is released after the certificate of practial completion and making good defect are issued.
Conclusion
Wu (2010) mentioned that service learning can benefit disadvantage group to improve their living quality. Project combined with their local construction culture had indicated the importance of planning and management. Regarding to case study, management theories applied in Hong Kong are also suitable for construction projects in Cambodia in order to improve the efficiency.
This report has revealed that development in Cambodia’s village can be done by cooperation with better management in future.
Reference List
Commerial news. (2015). 柬埔寨建築業發展前景好(2015-02-27)
Hills, M. J. (1995). Builing Contract Procedures in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Pearson.
Kalkhoran, Seyed Hossein Abedian ; Liravi, Gholamali; Rezagholi, Fereshte. (2014, April). Risk Management in Construction Projects. International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology, pp. 133-139.
Wu, C. (2010). A Study to Undergraduate Students on Assistance in Bridging International Digital Divide via Service-Learning: 2009 Overseas Volunteer Project of CYCU for Cambodia. Taiwan Journal of General Education, pp. 109-134.
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