Project Management: Bandra Worli Sea Link - Case Study Example

Contents Background 2 Site Description 2 Project Requirements 3 Project Outcomes 4 Project Control System 5 Control Techniques 6 Evaluation of Project Control Measures 10 Conclusion 11 References 13 Background Site Description The Bandra Worli Sea Link Project is one of the highly recommended and important projects that were developed in a metropolitan region in the recent years. This real life project was considered to be equivalent to the Golden Gate Bridge. The main intention behind this kind of project management was to make traffic between the western suburbs and South Mumbai to be smooth. This project that was officially considered to be the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link comprises of a cable stayed bridge that is supported by concrete steel viaducts on both the ends so as to link Bandra which is situated in the Mumbai’s Western Suburbs with that of Worli that is located in the South Mumbai. Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation had commissioned this project that had encompassed a total investment of US$270 million (INR16 billion). Hindustan Corporation Company had taken the initiative of building this sea link project. This project forms a part of the proposed project Western Freeway that would link Nariman Point which is the main business hub in Mumbai with that of Western Suburbs. All the eight lanes of the bridge were made opened for the public on an official basis at the beginning of the year 2011. The major objective of such a project was to reduce the overall traffic time in the peak hours between Worli and Bandra from 90 minutes to 30 minutes (Planning Commission of the Government of India, 2007). The bridge comprises of a total of 8 lanes with 2 lanes that are kept for buses to travel between the two junctions. The major features of the bridge comprises of unique design that has made it a unique land structure amongst all the metropolitan regions. The single tower of the bridge supports the long cable stayed bridge of 500 meters at the Bandra Channel and on the other hand the Twin Tower supports the cable stayed bridge of 350 meters at the Worli Channel for each of the carriageway (Planning Commission of the Government of India, 2007). The project is regarded to be an intelligent bridge that comprises of some of the advanced technologies in the form of monitoring of traffic, guidance and information, surveillance, emergency support, instrumentation, etc. Project Requirements The main objective of the government as well as the company being associated with this project was that to better control the traffic and facilitating a unique experience for the public by minimizing the overall travel time. The project was supposedly to be located in such a way so that it can easily connect Western Suburbs with that of South Mumbai. At the peak hours the north western and south corridors are very congested at even gives rise to a bottleneck position in the Mahim Causeway. In order to facilitate much safer and faster traffic dispersal it has been proposed to construct a flyover at the intersection at Lovegrove and a cloverleaf interchange at the intersection at Mahim Causeway as a part of this sea link project. The major requirements of the project were a team of skilled engineers and workers who would effectively implement the designs in real time structures (Hobbs, 2009).The total number of workers who were employed for construction of this project was 2850 and team of 150 engineers was involved in the project development that was constructed over a span of 8years (Kloppenborg, 2011). There were even several teams of technicians and foreign engineers who were considered to be a major part of the sea link project. The professionals who were involved in construction of this bridge were majorly from Canada, Egypt, Switzerland, Singapore, China, Britain, Thailand, Serbia, Indonesia, Philippines and Hong Kong (Meredith and Mantel, 2011). Apart from the workforce the other requirements were a thorough research study that was conducted so as to analyze whether the location to be utilized for the construction of the sea link was suitable enough to hold on the infrastructure for the coming years. The other requirements that were essential for the project was time and the budget that would needed so as to build such a construction. The chairman of Hindustan Group stated that the major objective to undertake such a challenging project was to set new benchmarks in the history of India and at the same time proclaim the infrastructural capabilities of India across the globe. The bridge encompasses effective power systems and even encompasses an advanced toll plaza that comprises of a total of 16 lanes. Project Outcomes The outcome of such an exceptional project was two-fold such as it was able to reduce the overall traffic hours making travelling from West to South Mumbai comfortable for people and on the other hand there were some risky situations that was involved which needs to be well supported so that the project proves to be one of the historical infrastructure in India. The major benefit of the project was that it helped to reduce the overall operating cost of vehicles by an amount of Rs.100 crores annually majorly because of congestion reduction on the roads and lower operating cost of vehicles on the bridge. The travel time is also lowered majorly because of speed increase and less of delays that were caused in the intersection of existing roads. This also facilitates improvement in terms of quality of life as people need not be tensed by moving across long distance in this metropolitan city (Charvat, 2003).The outcome of this project can also be stated in terms of environmental improvement such as reduction in the level of carbon monoxide content, nitrogen oxide and even enhanced reduction in noise pollution in areas such as Worli, Dadar, Mahim and Prabhadevi. The project has been able to reduce the rate of accidents in this city and at the same time it did not encounter any adverse effect on marine life or on fisheries. The project encompasses proper measures of landscaping and promenade along the waterfront so as to enhance the environmental conditions of this area. However the project has encountered limited success majorly in terms of such a project can prove to be beneficial for only small percentage of population and even involves expensive toll fares that need to be paid by people so that the cost associated with the project can be recovered. Project Control System Project control systems can be defined as a mechanism through which the progress versus the project plan is measured. There are various techniques that are involved in terms of controlling the entire operations in relation to the project development. The techniques are majorly associated with data gathering, analytical processes and data management so as to allocate the right time and cost that would be required for the implementation of the project. The information management through project control system technique helps in facilitating effective management systems during the phase of project implementation and at the same time helps to make effective decisions. The control measures take into account all the stages of a project development may that be initial stage of allocation of time, cost and human capital to the project, or forensic analysis that is conducted on the project so as to understand the reasons behind any failure that the project may encounter in the time frame (Schwalbe, 2009). The discipline of project control system encompasses strategies associated with methods and planning of the project sp as to optimize the outcomes of the project in future, project scheduling, cost estimation or initial budget planning, risk management, Earned schedule and value management, performance management of the suppliers, document management, and finally communication ability so as to effectively transmit information related to all the processes that are involved in implementation and development of the project (Heldman, 2011). Control Techniques The initial budgeting and planning that was encompassed in the project were in the form of collaboration between the Hindustan Corporation Company and the State Road Development Corporation of Maharashtra. The plans were set for the on basis of many such engineering works that were implemented in the foreign countries. At the initial stages once the design had been made and approved by all the foreign engineers involved in the project there were proper benchmarks such as completion of the project within a specific time frame and budget that had been allocated for project completion. When the plan for sea link was initially made in the year 1999 the total budget for the project development was estimated to be INR6.6 billion or US$110 million. In the initial stages before the project started to be constructed it was even estimated that the time span for project completion would be five years. Before the bridge had been started being constructed there was proper surveys that were conducted of the seabed. Underneath the sea link the marine geology majorly comprised of volcanic tuffs, basalts, and breccias along with some intertrappean deposits. The sea bed even comprised of residual soil and weathered rocks. The planning for construction of this project was in four parts (Planning Commission of the Government of India, 2007).The first part or package 1 was a flyover construction that was made in Worli in Love Grove junction. The second part was cloverleaf interchange construction that was done at the point of intersection of the Bandra road with that of Western Express Highway. The third part was construction of a solid road on the Bandra side from the interchange to that of Toll Plaza along with that of a public promenade. The most important of all the parts was the fourth part that encompassed construction of central cable stayed spans comprising of southern and northern viaducts to the Toll Plaza that would be located at the Bandra side from Worli. The project was subdivided into four major parts so that a proper control can be exercised over the four dimensions which would facilitate faster development of the project. The major forms of project control systems that were employed were totally based on advanced technological systems like computerized documentation and storage of useful information related to the project that was undertaken and the control technique that is go/no go control measure. The advanced technologies were applied in the form of a monitoring team that was employed for the beginning phase of project development so that they are able to track exactly the success rate of the project and even the cost and time being rightly utilized or not by the workforce. The information management systems that was incorporated in the efficient designing and implementation of the project plan helped in maintaining a work report to serve as a reminder for any changes that needs to be incorporated in the project and also would facilitate project manager to track any form of changes that are made by any specific team for the benefit of the overall project management. The other control measure that was employed for the measuring the activities encompassed in the project was go/no go control. The other form of process control techniques such as that of Phase gated, cybernetic and post control techniques were not employed in this particular project simply because the engineers who were hired for the project development recommended that such form of tools for measuring viability were not suitable for growth of the project. A proper survey was conducted by the research and development team of the company which was not only to analyze the geological conditions but also encompassed developing a time sheet that contained all the details regarding time and cost that was employed in similar projects. There was even setting up of proper benchmark so as to compare and contrast the time and cost that is required by the particular project with that of similar constructions across the globe. The risks that majorly prevailed in context of the scenario of implementation and development of project was selection of proper tools and mechanisms, not exceeding the estimated budget, and to meet the common objective of the project so as to reduce the overall traffic time while travelling from Western to Southern end in Mumbai. The risk control measures that were taken were employing a team of foreign engineers across the globe that were able to analyze well the risky conditions that may arise during the lifetime of project development and adopt the best of precautionary measures to avoid such circumstances. The company maintained diversity in its team of engineers so that more of innovative ideas can be incorporated in construction of the project. This was more of operational risks of the project and the other form of risks that was prevalent was financial risk. The company in joint collaboration with the Maharashtra Government maintained an emergency fund so that any financial crisis can be effectively dealt with and at the same time quality was the major concern of both the bodies which would not be compromised on for lack of availability of funds. There were broadly two parts of the entire project development one was the inspection procedure that were followed on a continuous basis by the engineers and the other was a well proofed plan for maintaining high quality level in the work process. The key performance indicators that were implemented in the project design comprised of proper analysis of the quality level of all the elements that are included within the proposed budget by skilled and knowledgeable quality professionals, and the amount of work that would be completed within the specified time frame (Dayratnam, 2000). An inspection report was one of the indicators that included the details of the percentage of work being completed within the specified time frame and the expenditure that is associated with completion of that work percentage and the budget left in hand. The major aim of the key performance indicators was to analyze the profitability rate of the project in comparison to the budget that has been allocated for completion of the project. The work schedule of the project were maintained with the support of information systems that was reviewed on a regular basis by the project head and his team so as to ensure that the desired quality level of all the elements included in the project is being maintained . The other form of industrial control measure that was employed in this particular project was Earned Value Analysis. This type of analysis tool is usually implemented so as to detect the progress of the project with the support of the planned value of the significant project, the actual cost that is being incurred with respect to the budgeted cost, and finally helps in estimating the project earned value. This standard method as a project control measure helps to determine various forms of variances such as cost variances, time variance and schedule variances in an appropriate graphical format as shown below- (Kloppenborg, 2011) Evaluation of Project Control Measures The project had encompassed all the possible control measures so that it is developed within the specific time frame. The company even adopted the best quality control tools and each phase of construction was properly inspected so that there is no such loophole in the entire process. However the project has certain criticisms that have limited the success of such an initiative. Though the company has undertaken the best of equipments and engineers but there were certain engineering challenges that were faced in the project development. The first major challenge was in the form of variations in the geotechnical conditions from high strength rocks to that of volcanic material that poses a threat to the foundation of the sea link. The other challenges were majorly in the form of the shape and structure of the bridge that was needed to be constructed. The diamond shaped structure of the bridge needed to be supported with strong base. Though the control measures were strong and were at par with the industry but the engineering challenges were not properly addressed. The data and the timesheet record were maintained in the information systems and there were no such back up that was maintained by the company. This form of control technique is not suitable for large projects as any form of failure in the system would result into loss of data and information that ultimately would cause delay in the project development (Myrvoll, 2003).The earned value analysis however proved to be one of the effective tools as it clearly stated that the estimated budget for the development of the project was far low then the actual cost that would be involved in designing the project. The total cost that was associated with this project development was US$270 million (INR16 billion). However the increase in cost was not due to any form of operational change but the expanded time frame for the completion of the project by 5 years which was majorly due to mitigation of public interests (Nicholas and Steyn, 2008).The company was not able to adopt the best of control measures and though it was able to maintain high quality but the cost exceeded the budget line and even the project was not able to be completed within the specified time frame. There has been delay in the development of the project but other measures such as security and monitoring has been taken proper care by the company and it eliminates much of the issues that were related to traffic controlling. Conclusion The project has been considered to be the engineering model of all the metropolitan regions in India. The major aim of the project was to reduce the overall vehicular pollution in the proposed region but while achieving its aim it has been violating the ecological regulations of the region. The major flaw in the project was that the extensive research that was carried by the company could not analyze the impact of the project on the ecological conditions in terms of mangrove forests, marine ecology, and coastline of the site. The most influential aspects of this project were its gigantic size and the use of mega equipments sourced from across the globe so that the project can efficiently be developed. The project of Bandra Worli Sea Link also serves as an example for most of the engineering companies located across the world in terms of its innovative design and efficient management system. The control measures that had been employed for designing as well as development of the project encompasses information system, go/no go control systems, key performance indicators and earned value analysis. All of these tools were aligned with the common goal of the project that is to execute all of the operations within budget and also within the specified time frame. Such control measures also serves as an effective lesson as it helps in analyzing how the progress record of a project is tracked and what are the measures that are taken by any engineering company so as to meet the variances that are formed during the project lifecycle. The energy saving illumination system and devices that are employed by the project authority clearly depicts that they ensure all forms of possible protection towards the environment through their business operations. The project has been able to address much of the issues related to traffic congestion all that it needs to consider is proper risk management techniques so that the sea link proves to be one of the most exceptional infrastructure not only in India but also across the globe. References Charvat, J. 2003. Project Management Methodologies: Selecting, Implementing, and Supporting Methodologies and Processes for Projects. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Dayratnam, P. 2000. International Conference on Suspension, Cable Supported, and Cable Stayed Bridges. Hyderabad: Universities Press. Heldman, K. 2011. Project Management. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Hobbs, P. 2009. Project Management. UK: Dorling Kindersley Limited. Kloppenborg, T. 2011. Contemporary Project Management. USA: Cengage Learning. Meredith, J. R., and Mantel, S. J. 2011. Project Management: A Managerial Approach. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Myrvoll, F. 2003. Field Measurements in Geomechanics. Netherlands: CRC Press. Nicholas, J. M., and Steyn, H. 2008. Project Management for Business, Engineering, and Technology: Principles and Practice. Canada: Elsevier. Planning Commission of the Government of India. 2007. Maharashtra Development Report. New Delhi: Academic Foundation. Schwalbe, K. 2009. Information Technology Project Management. USA: Cengage Learning. Read More