Design Risk Management In Ethiopian Federal Road Projects
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Date
2009-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Project risks have significant impact on construction project’s performance in terms of cost, time
and quality. Thus, managing the risks has been recognized as a very important management
process in order to achieve the project objectives. The objective of this research is to examine
whether design risks are contributory to cost and time overruns, and poor quality of works, and
make recommendation based on the findings. The research, thus, reviewed 10 Road construction
projects performed during the last 14 years, and conducted interviews with professionals of the
Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) who are involved in procurement, design review, and
monitoring implementation of Road construction projects at Federal level.
The findings of this research revealed that design risks were contributory to cost and time
overrun and poor quality of works. The underlying cause of the risks is that designers lack
construction experience and fail to fully address constructability problems that surface during
construction. And it was found that the breeding ground for design risks is the Design-Bid-Build
project delivery method currently in place. This project delivery system is characterized by
separation of phases which does not make use of construction experience in the development of
design.
Design-build Project delivery method allows collaborative efforts of Designers and Contractors
in early phases and, therefore, lays the ground to minimize or manage the design risks by
optimizing the design and construction personnel. Constructability problems which have an
impact on time, cost, and quality are, therefore, better addressed with Design-Build project
delivery method.
Keywords: Risk management, Design Risk, Constructability, Quality management, Project
delivery method
Description
Keywords
Risk Management; Design Risk; Constructability; Quality Management; Project Delivery Method