Assessment of fast track construction concepts on building construction projects in Addis Ababa city

Abstract

Impact of delay in construction project is common in construction industry particularly in developing country like Ethiopia. To reduce delay or complete the project within the required time and budget, construction parties agreed to apply various management techniques in the construction industry. Fast track is one of the management technique which is used to shorten duration of the project by overlapping design and construction and by doing activities parallel. This research assessed the awareness of the construction parties about fast track concepts on building construction projects, verify the suitable factors and conditions that enforce the parties to apply fast track construction technique and determine the impacts and significances of fast tracking construction technique. The study subjects were currently active building project in Addis Ababa City. Purposive sampling method was applied for selection of construction companies. The main tools used for collection of data were questionnaires and interview question, the collected data was analyzed by calculating Frequency and relative importance index (RII) also by using Microsoft excel and SPSS software then findings are presented in charts and tables. The findings revealed that 50% of the respondents thought Design Build delivery system and fast track are similar terms and 36.36% respondents though it is management technique and 9.09% said that it is both delivery and management. Based on The contractors, Market condition with RII=0.76 and based on the consultants, project complexity with RII=0.742 ranked at 1st main condition which enforce the construction parties to use fast track. Project team experience with RII=0.84/0.8 and design suitability with RII=0.813/0.971 are the two main factors their RII is based on contractors and consultants point of view respectively which determine the suitability of one project for fast track or not. And reducing time with RII=0.733/0.8 and rework with RII=0.746 are the main significance and impact of fast track construction technique respectively. Lowering cost is ranked at the last by both firms but from the literatures, projects who practice fast track technique are saving their cost by minimizing delay related cost overruns According to the results, it is concluded that by reducing the project duration, it is also possible to keep the project from cost overrun. Therefore, for the purpose of construction industry development companies who participate in the international projects have to act as key national institution in technology transfer.