ASSESSMENT of CONTRACTUAL IMPACT of LINEAR DISTRIBUTION of PAYMENTS for EARTHWORK ACTIVITIES in DESIGN-BUILD ROAD PROJECTS on PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the contractual impact of linear distribution of interim payments for earthwork activities in design and build projects on management of the projects. Furthermore, the study has tried to identify the significant factors influencing the distribution of interim payments for earthwork activity in design and build projects. In most projects, a large amount of money is linearly distributed per unit length of the road, while the workload is not linearly distributed per unit length of the road. Depending on the nature of road sections where the Contractor starts the work, the linear distribution of the payment for the Earthwork activity results in either front loading or delay of some portion of money for the already executed work quantity. Some clauses of the contractual documents; ERA Spec Master and FIDIC are in contradiction to this fact. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to assess contractual impact of linear distribution of payment for earthwork activities in road projects on project management. The study adapts descriptive and exploratory research designs which involve both qualitative and quantitative data so as to describe and examine the findings to come up with conclusions and recommendations for implementation. The result of the study shows that Design and Build Project Delivery Method has advantage over other delivery methods and its application is increasing. On other hand Earthwork quantity is not linear over the length of the project and linear distribution of payment may cause frontloading and delay of payment and this affects both Impact on the Condition of Contract and Ethiopian roads administration Specification Master. The study concludes that both the Condition of Contract and Ethiopian roads administration Specification Master are affected by the linear distribution of payments for earthwork over linear length of the project. The study finally recommends to develop some guidelines for the distribution during tendering and work program evaluation, by computing the quantities prior to the execution of the physical work, or else to employ other project delivery methods than Design and Build.