The uniqueness of the project and high level of uncertainty associated with construction project makes its scheduling more challenging tasks resulting in the duration of activities overestimated. Hence Critical Chain Project Management Method (CCPM) acts as a handy tool to schedule the project with appropriate duration for each of the activities and providing various buffers to take into account various types of uncertainties that may delay or create overrun for the activities. In conventional scheduling, space or location of the activity is not taken into account except in the case of techniques like Linear Scheduling Method (LSM), Line of Balance (LOB) method. The study is carried out to determine the project duration of an ongoing project taking into account the actual duration of activities with constraints in resources and space available.The study compares the CCPM schedule taking into account the constraints in space with regular CCPM schedule and CPM schedule. The comparison shows that the duration of the project to complete with CCPM with space constraints, conventional CCPM, and CPM works out to 904 days, 854 days and 471 days respectively. On site verification of the project revealed that the project is expected to complete in 930 days, which is closer to CCPM with space constraints.
A good infrastructure is backbone of development of any area and to arrange finance for it is a daunting skill. Infrastructure financing is a complex matter to discuss as the cost & benefits associated with it have an impact of the larger section of economy. Infrastructure development is indispensable to reducing poverty, boosting growth and addressing broader development goals. This paper discusses the issue of infrastructure financing during the year 2012-17 in three parts; Firstly, it investigates the requirement of finance for developing the infrastructure of the country along with sources of finance available to meet this requirement. The second part is based on identification of the gap that exists in funding required to build the infrastructure of the nation. Thirdly, upon realising the fact that there is a gap in funding to meet the infrastructure goals, we have tried to identify measures through which this gap can be bridged.
Evaluating Open Access In The Indian Power Sector Using The Transportation Model
Milind Jagtap
Power is a key resource for the development of infrastructure assets in India. The Indian power sector has witnessed a significant turmoil over the last two decades. It has been providing significant amounts of subsidy to the domestic and agricultural consumers known as Low Tariff (LT) consumers, since long. This conservative strategy of the power sector largely compromised competition in the sector due to the provision of subsidy to the LT consumers. This kind of cross subsidy entails recovering more revenue from the industrial and commercial consumers known as High Tariff (HT) consumers, to make up for the loss of revenue to provide subsidies to the LT consumers. The cost of supply of electricity is the major decision variable. The LT consumer pays subsidized tariff of about 50 to 60 percent of the cost of supply and the HT consumers pay hefty tariffs of about 170 to 180 percent of the cost of supply. In order to encourage competition in the sector, a non-discriminatory open access to the power is allowed for the consumers, wherein it can switch over to a low cost power supplier. This calls for reducing the subsidy to LT consumers and introducing surcharge on HT consumers for switch over to new distribution companies (DISCOM) licensee. The economics of open access system are demonstrated using the transportation model, applied to the power scenario of the state of Maharashtra. The solution reveals an interesting thought process to practise open access in the power sector.
Cost of supply; Subsidy; Surcharge;Tariff; Open access
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Research Articles
Evaluation Of Pavement Condition Index For Flexible Pavement In Rural Areas
Mohd Shoyeb Ansari and A. R. Kambekar
Rural roads play a key role in the development of rural areas since it provides access to various market centres and necessary services. Maintenance of these roads is important to keep them in usable condition and to reduce deterioration and is generally carried out after evaluation of road condition. Therefore, emphasis must be given on evaluation of road condition as inaccurate evaluation may lead to the implementation of improper maintenance measures. This may lead to further deterioration and unnecessary expenditures to prevent such deterioration. Several methods are available for evaluating the condition of road. The proposed study attempts to evaluate the road condition based on surface condition survey. In all, 13 pavement distresses are considered in the study. Surface condition survey is then carried out on five rural roads in villages of Jawhar Taluka, Palghar District, Maharashtra, India. The Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of the road is then calculated which reflects the condition of road on a rating scale of 0 to 100, 0 representing the failed condition and 100 representing the excellent condition. The results obtained from the study can be used for selection of appropriate maintenance strategy and prioritization of roads for maintenance.
Analysis Of The National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 Of India
K. Chandrashekhar Iyer and Soumya Jain
India's first civil aviation policy was released in June 2016. It was formulated after extensive stakeholder consultations, and it received generally a positive response from experts in the aviation sector. With India emerging as the fastest growing aviation market in the world, a comprehensive roadmap for the sector was the need of the hour.The National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 attempts to cover all aspects of civil aviation, with special emphasis on affordability and regional connectivity. This paper examines the policy in the light of current scenario of the sector vis-à-vis its challenges and opportunities. The policy is then analysed on the major themes of the sector, such as regional connectivity, airport infrastructure financing, and airport charges, both at national and global levels. Data sources at the national level will be government documents including previous policies of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA), reports of the Planning Commission, audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and news articles voicing the opinions of airlines as well as other stakeholders. At the global level, data available in various research articles on aviation policies of developed and developing countries, will be relied upon. It has been less than a year since the civil aviation policy was rolled out, and it is too early to evaluate the outcomes. Hence, this paper could only evaluate the rationale behind policy formulation, and its possible implications, on the aviation sector as a whole. The above analysis reveals that focus on affordability and regional connectivity is well-thought out and being implemented appropriately. However, many building blocks to these focus areas such as streamlining of taxation system and infrastructure financing through public private partnership have not been given due attention.
Interrelationship Of The Critical Risk Factors In Construction Projects
Muhammed Ansar P. and Anu V. Thomas
The construction sector in India is a major contributor to economic growth of the nation and provides employment to about 40 million people. The construction industry, however, is plagued by many issues like low productivity, severe skill shortage and limited mechanisation. There is a strong evidence of inconsistent performance in over 60% of Indian construction projects especially on the key performance measures of cost, quality and schedule. Compared with many other industries, the construction industry is subject to more risks due to the unique features of the construction activities. Risk management aims at identifying sources of risk and uncertainty, determining their impact and developing appropriate management response. A questionnaire survey was conducted, in the state of Kerala in India, to identify the risk factors in construction projects and their underlying relationships. 55 critical risk factors were identified from the literature. Among the 55 factors considered, 'tight project schedule' was identified as the most critical risk factor for construction projects. Factor analysis performed on the risk factors categorized the factors into seven groups, namely (1) inefficient project team; (2) poor coordination of project team; (3) improper project planning; (4) environmental issues; (5) delays in obtaining administrative approval; (6) lack of quality of resources and (7) delays in obtaining technical and financial sanctions. The results of regression analysis indicate that inefficient project team is the most significant of all the factors having negative influence on cost performance. This study provides an insight into the problems affecting the successful delivery of construction projects and provides directions in devising solutions and strategies for overcoming them.
Construction sector; Key performance; Risk management; Coordination; Resources
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Research Articles
Impact Of GST On Construction Industry
Nagaraj Mantha and Mohita Maggon
In its form of being a single indirect tax that covers all goods and services, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) may be termed as one of the most radical tax reform which is likely to have a long standing and a remarkable effect on the Indian economy.The GST, once fully implemented in two or three years' time is expected to eliminate the conflicting and cascading tax structures that are prevalent. There is a general ill-feeling that these conflicting tax structures have confounded the entire industrial sector in the past. The GST may impact the construction industry in different terms. The construction material is likely to become dearer. Due to land prices being less, the affordable housing sector may become cheaper. However,the other sectoral components of the construction space like the real estate and commercial sectors are expected to get costlier. In a way high value realty may feel the pinch. As minimal change is only visualized in the overall gross cost of construction, hence the impact on real estate developers and builders may not be significant.The builders and developers can offset the expected increase in the construction costs by virtue of input tax credits on various items homogeneously viz. GST collected on consultant's bill or that on a bag of cement. As regards to the infrastructure sector - Goods and services for infrastructure projects enjoy a large number of concessions and exemptions under Central and State laws, since the sector is of national importance. Yet, the multiplicity of taxes and general construct of contracts give the infrastructure sector a heightened degree of complexity from the perspective of indirect taxes. The key issue for this sector is the continuity of current concessions and exemptions under GST and its plausible impact on credit chains and costing. In this paper an attempt is made to elucidate the impact of GST on various sectoral components of the construction space.
GST; Real estate; Infrastructure;Taxes; Construction
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Research Articles
Modelling And Simulation Of Earth Air Tunnel Heat Exchanger
M. Mubashshir Naved and Amol M. Andhare
The Earth Air Tunnel Heat Exchanger (EATHE) is an efficient technique used to reduce the cooling load of a building. In the past years, many researchers had developed analytical and numerical models for the analysis of EATHE systems, but were unable to recast into design equations, and had used the trial-and-error method for the analysis. This paper focuses on modelling and simulation of the EATHE system for geographical conditions, with average day temperature ranging from maximum 45°C for Nagpur [21.14° N, 79.08° E]. The method to calculate the Earth's Undisturbed Temperature (EUT), and more recently developed correlations for friction factor and Nusselt number, are used to ensure higher accuracy in the calculation of heat transfer. The developed equations can be utilized to calculate heat transfer, convective heat transfer coefficient, and length of pipe of the EATHE system. A longer pipe of smaller diameter buried at a greater depth with lower air flow velocity results in increase in performance of EATHE. In this paper a simple Excel based mathematical model has been developed in order to design the EATHE. This model helps in determining characteristic dimensions, air flow rate, selection of blower and economic investments in an EATHE system.
Earth air tunnel heat exchanger; Effectiveness of EATHE; Nusselt number; Cooling load;
Pressure drop
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Factors Affecting Productivity In Indian Construction Sector
Santhosh Kumar , Sachin Batra and Jai Sai Tenepalli
It is significant for the contractors, clients, and consultants to check the productivity levels for construction jobs, as this in turn, will help to estimate the time and cost of the construction projects. The productivity rates vary considerably based on the complexity of the structure, project site constraints, and other technical, managerial, social and cultural factors, etc. Predicting the effect of these factors will improve the ability of the stakeholders for optimum utilisation of resources. This research aims to estimate the most significant factors that affect the productivity of the main construction activities namely: excavation, formwork, reinforcement, concreting, block work, plastering and tiling. The research focuses on the construction industry in India. An extensive literature review was carried out on construction productivity which led to the identification of two factors affecting productivity: External (Environmental) and Internal (Organizational, Group, and Individual) factors. A questionnaire was used as a survey instrument to collect data.The study was conducted to establish the significant factors affecting productivity in Indian construction industry. The results revealed that the critical factors which affect productivity were timing, competency of supervisors, salaries, materials, systems and procedures, and group dynamics.
Impact Of Automation On Employee Behaviour In The Indian Construction Industry
V. Pramadha
The construction industry in India contributes to 7.74% of the National GDP amounting to 2184.66 billion INR (as of the last quarter of 2016). The government's initiatives like “Make in India” and its investments in infrastructural development illustrate an upward growth in revenues from this sector. The construction sector worldwide and especially in India is highly labour intensive. The rapid pace of growth demands that the work should be performed at a better speed encompassing lesser risk and improved quality. Research studies reveal that the technologies available today can automate up to 45% of all the activities performed by human beings and they have resulted in automation of 60% of all the occupations in the world today. Application of automation results in reduction in human efforts, increases productivity at the construction site, reduces time, augments construction safety and results in improved quality of work. Large volumes of construction orders require skilled workforce in huge numbers. Despite the fact that India is the world's second largest manpowered nation, it still experiences the shortage of skilled workforce. Automation also indemnifies the wastage and poor quality of work done by unskilled labour. However, automation is not always welcomed by the employees as they consider it as a replacement of their services and do not understand its role as an important supplement in the era of mega and fast-track construction. Even the most advanced countries like Japan and Australia had to face the wrath of the employees, during the initial implementation of automation. The prime objective of this paper is to understand the obstacles in implementing automation in the Indian construction sector and its impact on the behaviour of the employees
Automation; Manpower; Skilled workforce; Fast track construction; Employee behaviour
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