Review And Analysis of E-Procurement Practice yy Construction Industry In India
Rajiv Gupta Akash Sharma Ajit Anil Gole and Borish Kshetrimayum
E-procurement is the electronic purchase and sale of goods and services through an Internet-based platform. It is a tool designed to improve the purchasing process transparency and efficiency and helps buyers capture savings in various forms. Its prevalence is observed both in the private and public sector. The objectives of this research study are to review the practice of e-procurement by the Indian construction industry, to compare the status of e-Procurement in Private sector and Public sector and to determine e-Procurement factors considered critical by practicing construction industry managers. The research study utilized both qualitative data and empirical data. Primary data collected is from 89 valid responses from the public sector and private sector employees. Data analysis is done by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Statistical tools used are descriptive analysis, one way ANOVA and factor analysis. The main contributions of the research paper are that the practice of e-procurement differs for the public sector and private sector organizations and in e-procurement system four factors viz. System Confidence, System Usability, System Upgrades, and System Vulnerability are critical from the user's point of view
E-procurement; Project Supply Chain; Construction Industry; Construction Materials Management
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Research Articles
Performance Analysis of Cement Concrete Pavement Blocks Reinforced with Bamboo Mesh
Poojith Prakash Sumanth V. Bharadwaj Supraja I. and K. N. Vishwanath
In the current scenario which demands a solution for sustainable environment, many innovations are essential in construction technology. Concrete is the most used and important material for construction in the whole world. Concrete is experimentally found to have strong compressive strength but is similarly poor in tensile strength. The aimless infrastructural development is affecting the environment. Steel which is highly expensive, uneconomical and also leads to increase in CO emission is being used as a 2 major construction material apart from concrete in construction. The purpose of this paper is replacing steel with bamboo to obtain an environmentally-friendly cement concrete paving blocks which can replace rigid pavement. The use of bamboo reduces the effect on environment due to the fact that bamboo is an eco-friendly material. This study makes use of bamboo (bamboo is treated with linseed oil and well-seasoned) as a mesh reinforcement in the cement concrete pavement blocks to increase the tensile strength of the blocks and to make it an effective replacement for the white topping or cement concrete pavement. The use of bamboo resulted in providing similar tensile strength compared to steel and also increased the compressive strength allowing it to be used under high wheel loads. The expected compressive strength was 40Mpa with the use of M40 concrete, but the compressive test results at 28 days resulted in 52 + Mpa, thereby giving a clear sign that this is the best alternative to rigid pavement.
Compressive strength;Tensile strength; Eco-friendly; Mesh reinforcement; White topping
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Research Articles
Hybrid Annuity Model In Highway Projects: A Review Of Current Challenges And Possible Solutions
Murali Jagannathan and Jeetu Soneji
The Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) was introduced by the Government of India as a project delivery framework for highway projects mainly to ease the financial issues that many developers faced while executing infrastructure projects, especially highways in the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode. Even after incorporating terms that were considered to help developers by easing the financial burden on developers and bringing in equity from Government, the response by the private developers were not encouraging. The lukewarm response signals the presence of unresolved issues. In this paper the authors explore the existing literature to understand the various shortcomings of the HAM delivery framework and list down specific areas in the Model Concession Agreement (MCA) that may be bothering the developers to adopt the delivery model enthusiastically. Subsequent to the identification of the drawbacks of HAM, the possible solutions that could ease the concerns of developers, financiers and the government are identified. The expert viewpoint also suggests that there are concerns of HAM that need attention and resolution. As the HAM is relatively new, this study is expected to help the practitioners as well as the body of knowledge to bridge the gap in understanding of this hybrid model of Public Private Partnership (PPP). In the opinion of the authors, HAM may be 'quick-fix' solution that may need to undergo structural changes towards the traditional PPP models as the economic situation eases.
Hybrid Annuity Model; Model Concession Agreement; PPP
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Research Articles
Evaluation Of Urban Redevelopment Projects: A Citizen Survey In Pune
Pradeepta Kumar Samanta and Ramakrishna Nallathiga
With rapid urbanization, there is increasing pressure on converting the rural land into the urban land (also known as Greenfield development) giving rise to urban sprawl. As urban sprawl is inefficient in extending the urban services and development of the land, the redevelopment of inner city areas (also known as Brownfield development) has been gaining importance in both developed and developing countries. Therefore, all major development authorities have been promoting urban redevelopment projects, particularly in the dense and already congested areas of cities. In India also, several cities have begun undertaking urban redevelopment projects in a big way, particularly under the National Urban Renewal Mission of the Government of India. However, there is an academic debate about undertaking such large projects. Unlike the new development, urban redevelopment is a reconstruction of a previously developed area. Specifically, redevelopment changes the land use between types of urban land, while new development is changing non-urban land into urban land. But in the process, it is also essential to take the different views of stakeholders and subject the projects to public scrutiny. In this context, the current paper proposes to evaluate an urban redevelopment project proposed in Pune city. Based on the survey of the citizens living in the proposed redevelopment project area, the paper brings out some of the important aspects of project planning and development that are hitherto not considered in such projects. The paper emphasizes that these aspects need to be carefully considered for better project implementation and success.
Assessing Team Performance Using SNA In BIM Based Projects
Shobha Ramalingam , Sarthak Balaggan , Ch Santhosh Kumar , Anurag Sharma , Anubhav Sahu and Raghvendra G. K.
Construction projects are envisaged as temporary project networks, wherein several stakeholders of the project come together for a specific period of time to complete project goals either face-to-face or virtually. Striving at efficiency and high performance, researchers have shown interest to explore team dynamics and its impact on project performance. However, there are limited studies that have addressed this concern with respect to domestic and global projects. To this end, two Building Information Model (BIM) based Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) projects were selected for the study, one from a firm executing domestic projects and the other from a firm providing off shored engineering services. To assess the team dynamics, communication across the participants were collected through emails and minutes of the meetings for a period of 12 weeks. Data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively using social network analysis techniques and ethnographic coding respectively, to explore on team dynamics and network of conversations necessary for high performance. The findings showed that the domestic team were more cohesive compared to the virtual team as the project progressed. Virtual BIM project mandated the role of a central connector to coordinate information across stakeholders. Further, there was more exchange of information in the virtual project in the form of instructions (declare), requests and discussions compared to the domestic project. The findings are expected to act as a stepping stone for enabling team performance in construction.
Team Dynamics; High Performance; Building Information Model; Social Network Analysis; Construction
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Research Articles
Acid And Sulphate Resistance Of Geopolymer Mortar Synthesized From Wastewater Containing Highly Alkaline Substances
Tenepalli Jai Sai and Neeraja. D.
Availability of fresh, pure and potable water has turned out to be a serious issue throughout the world. The cement and construction industries are among the prominent sectors responsible for water crisis as they consume vast volumes of water for various activities. In this regard, an experimental investigation is being carried out to assess the suitability of replacing distilled water with wastewaters for preparing the alkaline activator solution, which in turn is used in synthesizing geopolymer materials. This paper presents the durability performance of geopolymer mortar mixtures synthesized with wastewater containing a alkaline substance such as sodium highly carbonate sulfate when exposed to acid and attack. Test geopolymer mortar mixture was produced from class F fly ash, activated with alkaline activator solution produced by mixing wastewater which contained highly alkaline substance like sodium carbonate with distilled water were used to . Control geopolymer mortar cubes prepared compare the results. The experimental programme involved in casting, curing and immersing test and in solutions of 2% acidic control mortar cubes separately (Hydrochloric acid, Sulphuric acid) and 5% (Sodium and Magnesium sulfate sulfate sulfate along with the evaluation of their resistance in terms of ) solutions up to 84 days visual appearance, . The changes in mass and compressive strength at regular intervals results that test wastewater indicated geopolymer mortar mixtures prepared with containing alkaline substances were superior to the control mortar mixtures prepared with distilled water.
Study Of Building Information Modelling Implementation For Sanctioning And Town Planning Procedure
Shadaab Sayyed , Mohammed Aamair Ameen , Gaurank Patil , Vijay Zurange , Ahad Patwekar and Amarnath C. B.
Construction practices and procedures are evolving into complex work flows that require better coordination amongst the stakeholders. BIM is a promising technology that provides better collaboration and control on the project planning and execution also allowing one to be able to easily track and modify the plans to suit the real-time situations. BIM has been incorporated in the workflows of numerous large scale construction projects across the globe and found to have impressive results in terms of increased profits, time savings and faster project delivery. Currently, the construction industry is accelerating with a great pace and it is to be noted that not all projects comply with the regulations prescribed by the town planning authorities. This paper provides a study of the currently implemented technologies such as paper based sanctioning process, Auto-DCR, etc. that were implemented by the government to combat the malpractices and control the growth of the city. The paper also offers a concise overview of the advance IT technologies that could be implemented for the construction projects and town planning authorities to enhance efficiency of the system and avoid miscommunication, malpractices such as corruption and illegal development. The use of cloud system, block-chain and IoT devices in management of town development coupled with AI and machine learning algorithms are the later objectives to be achieved once the concept is implemented as a large dataset will be available to train the algorithm so as to enable autonomous planning & sanctioning. The purpose of BIM is to enhance collaboration and coordination amongst all stakeholders especially the government and the planning authorities which are often excluded and considered an outsider in the project development. This concept is keen on enhancing the inclusive approach and making efficient use of IT in Construction projects.
Building Information Modelling; Advance IT Technologies; Town Planning Authorities; Construction Projects
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Research Articles
Comparative Calculation Of Carbon Footprint Of Conventional Self-Compacting Concrete And Green Self-Compacting Concrete Using Dholpur Sandstone Slurry
Prarthita Basu , Ramesh Chandra Gupta and Vinay Agarwal
Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) is the new generation concrete, which is used globally in the concrete sector. The capability of flow in between narrow reinforcement is the prime reason for its growing popularity. Use of maximum amount of powder content makes this concrete workable and increases its usefulness in congested reinforced concrete structures like column, tunnel, metro, bridges. The primary powder content in SCC is cement. Increasing demand for cement content is directly proportional to increase in carbon footprint. Carbon footprint is a stimulant for Assessment of Life Cycle (LCA) of concrete. Self-compacting concrete may only be accountable as sustainable concrete, when cement content is decreased up to the minimum requirement as per grade of concrete. Introducing other alternative powder material will reduce the cement content along with maintaining fresh properties, strength characteristics and durability properties. Dimensional stones (Granite, Marble, Limestone and Sandstone) are the predominant construction materials since ancient times for plenty of availability from the natural rocks. In different stages of processing of stone, various by-products are generated. These by-products are discarded as waste materials which create environmental hazards. Sandstone slurry waste is used as partial replacement of cement at 5%, 15%, 25% and 35%. In this research, CO emission of 2 conventional self-compacting concrete is compared with self-compacting concrete made with Dholpur sandstone slurry. CO emission stages include production of raw 2 material, transportation of material and production of concrete. In this work authors intend to draw a comparative calculation of CO emission from rich SCC using 2 >550kg/m cement and green SCC using 380-315 kg/m cement with the use of 3 3 sandstone slurry waste as partial replacement of cement in Self-Compacting Concrete.
Sandstone Slurry; CO Emission; Self-compacting Concrete; Carbon Footprint