Dundee Tramway Project Analysis - Case Study Example

Dundee Tramway Project Report Executive Summary The City of Dundee is among the largest cities in Scotland, ranked fourth, with a relatively small population. However the city is most strategic in the region and provides a way into and through it. The most widely means of transport in the city is road transport mostly because the city is largely populated by a poor population (the City Council Plan 2012-2017). Thus the city is solely responsible for the management and development of the road transport system and in particular the bus system. The committee in charge of these developments is the Roads and Transportation Division of the Council. The Division has set out as part of its strategic plans to provide sustainable transport to its citizens while promoting social and economic development. Currently the city relies on public bus transportation system. The development of the public tram system is expected to provide an avenue for the development of an Eco-Mobility system for the city. The council also expects that the project will also boost the city economically by increasing the access within and through the city. The launch of the project will also see the council provide a good number of the unemployed citizens an employment opportunity. A tram system will also provide a safer means of transport with a significant reduction in the traffic congestion currently being overseen by the Urban Traffic Control System. The City Tram project was suggested as a way to solve the problem of providing an environmentally friendly means of transport to the people of Dundee City whose largest population uses public transport. The project will, be a public tram system and will provide services within and outside the city. Given that the large population of Dundee is the aged, this will provide a better eco-mobility strategy than the bikes and walking. Ideally, the project should take 3 years at most with each phase being completed in each year. The committee responsible for the project has put in place performance measure and management controls systems to ensure that the project runs its course within the stipulated timetable. The environment sustainability issue of the transport system could have been solved by encouraging more people to walk or ride bicycles. However the tram system was chosen over the others because it is more practical and effective in achieving the sustainability goal than its alternatives. Moreover the aged population, which forms the larger population, cannot possibly use these means of transport. The project also has a multiplier effect on the economy of the city and comes with social benefits which the different alternatives do not offer. The city of Dundee will suffer from more costs of repairing roads and the impact of using the polluter buses if the Trams system is not implemented. The cost benefits analysis show that the city will largely benefit from the implementation of the program. Business Case Project Team The trams project is a major infrastructure development in the city hence the need of a team that will manage its implementation to completion phase. The business case project was developed by a team of experts flagged by the transport and strategy division of the Dundee City Council together they form the project board. The board consists of the chairperson who is also the head of the roads and transport division. The other members will be a representative from the public transport Journey planner, who is also responsible for his input on how to incorporate the system into the city’s transport system. role description Name of member Chairperson Coordinating the activities of the team Mr. Neil Gellaty, Chairperson Road and Transport Division Sustainability officer Ensure that the projects adheres to the Eco-mobility policy of the council Ms. Grace Smith, Finance controller Provides expertise on the cost analysis of the project Mr. john smith, Chief Finance Officer Project manager Mange the project Mr. Walter Doe, project manager Problem Definition Problem Statement The city of Dundee has had among its policy the idea to promote Sustainable transport (Dundee City) as designed by the road and transport division. The city has been promoting for the use of bicycles and walking by its citizens, who are mainly the old and students with a good number are poor, to achieve this goal. The demographic of the population therefore does not give an effective solution to the problem of sustainable transport hence the ide to build the tramway. The project is also expected to bring an end to the problem of accessibility within the city and through the city compared to the currently being used means of buses. Community Impact The tramway project is not only meant to solve the sustainability problem but its development will have multiplier effects on the whole community. The population is largely comprised of a poor people, therefore the city council ascertains that the implementation of the project will provide employment to some of the citizens not only as part of the unskilled labor force but there is possibility of the contractors as well and by increasing accessibility to the employment areas. The project will also facilitate the economic growth of the city as it will give the city a means to increase investment into real estate (housing) and other developments. Moreover the economic standings of a majority of the citizens of Dundee, most of them use the public means of transport. The tramways system therefore will provide a high capacity transport system for both the citizens and increase the accessibility of the city thus making labor mobility easier along the tramline. Integration The tramways project will be implemented in two phases. Each phase of the project will take at most a year to complete. The commencement of the project is expected to cause a bit of traffick for the currently being used bus transport. However the council has set out to ensure that the land management is well within the council’s policies and not more than the required land is used. It is expected that the shift from to the tramways system will present a constraint in the accessibility to the city as the construction is going on. However the roads and Transport division of the council have assured the citizens of Dundee that there will be provided an alternative means of transport within that time. The project is intended to have a different route from the bus transport system hence keeping transport in check. The project team will be meeting very month for an update of these developments from the respective persons that will have been contracted to do so. There will however meet to discuss any issues that come up within the project phase implementation. Efficient communication is essential for the smooth transition of the various phases. Project Overview Project Description The objective of the project was to introduce sustainable transport within the city of Dundee and implicitly reduce the burden of public bus transport on the road repairs and provide safety for pedestrians. The project will include the building of a 10km tramway within the city extending all the way to ……. The construction will include the building of the track with overheads cables, just like the tracks used in the construction of Bursa tramway in Turkey. The project will also include the installation of electronic payment systems for tickets, training for personnel for efficient use of the new systems, the procurement of approximately 20 tramcars for use. The tramcars are expected to be fueled using electricity thus maintaining the sustainability objective of the project. Project Objectives The tram way project implementation is mainly built with the objective of providing a sustainable transport system. The project is also an avenue for the city Council of promoting the living standards of the people of Dundee city through providing accessibility to the city and to the various employments locations. If the project is implemented, it will foster the economic growth of the city through increasing investment opportunities especially in the real estate sector where the city Council is hoping to build more houses for its citizens according to its Council plan 2012-2017. Project Performance In order to achieve its objectives, the performance of the project will be of paramount performance. This is especially important in the completion of the project within its stipulated time and within the budget approximated. The performance measure will include the tools to measure both the use of the resources, services and process. In this project, the most important resources are assumed to be costs and materials. The efficiency of use will be measure using the cost variance method. There is also a scheduled timetable for the implementation of the project; to evaluate this team has adopted the cost performance index. There will also be much need to measure the efficiency of the managers at work and for this the team will use the cost of managing processes to identify if the cost is too high and the efficiency of the manager. To evaluate the use of materials the resource utilization index will give a clear indication of how well the team is using the available resource for the project. Project Assumptions All these performance and objective will be achieved under certain assumptions. The project team in preparing this project assumes that there will be sufficient funding for the project from the council and the government of Scotland at large. There is also an assumption that there will not be any politicization of the project. In terms of the costs and time schedule, the team assumed that the project will take 2 years at most for its completion after altering and that this will only cost the council and approximate of 500million euros for the entire project. The use of technology is also important and the team concurs that the state of technology will not deteriorate and will be better if improves especially for the implementation of the ticket system. These assumptions are however approximated to change as the project is being implemented within its course. Project Constraint and Risks The project assumptions srea taken in order to mitigate the possible risks and constrains that the project team may face in the life of the project. The tramways will be a big project for the City Of Dundee therefore there are risks that come with the funding of the project. The council runs the risk of underfunding, especially since it has been assumed that Transport Scotland and the city Council of Dundee City will be sponsoring the construction. The project also involves a complex technological aspect in the pricing and ticket system, control and performance checks for each tramcar that will stationed at the stops. Due diligence is required on the machines that are being used to ensure that there’s no system failure during or after the completion of the system. Just like the Edinburg tram system, the councils are faced with the risk that the project may not be completed within the required time and within the projected budget expenditures. There is also a chance of the project experiencing environmental risks in which case the weather may not be convenient for the construction. In low temperatures construction can be stopped (Prince Boateng 2015). Other technical risks that the construction can experience include chances that the ground would not be suitable for the construction of the rails. These risks are mitigated by doing a study on the ground conditions and working with the metrology department for better information. The project implementation is expected to follow a schedule outlined as follows: Deliverables Estimated Date Project Charter approval 01/08/2016 Project Plan Review and Completion 01/09/2016 Project start 03/12/2016 Phase I Complete 1/12/2017 Phase II Complete 1/12/2017 Project Completion 31/12/2017 Strategic Alignment The tramway project was initiated by the city Council of Dundee City with respect to its strategic plan for the city. The council has in place a strategic plan for 2012-2017 which outlines the plans the council seeks to achieve for the 5 year period. The council, through the partnership Dundee has set its vision to provide employment to its citizens, promotes social and economic inclusion by providing safer and health services and empowering the people, and improves the quality of life in the city (The Council Plan 2012-2017 p5). The implementation of the project is well within these goals. The goal of providing for employment will be achieved when the project start and he active population is employed in the site while the students will be provided with accessibility to the various employment locations. Given that a good percentage of the Dundee population is ageing (Council Plan 2012-2017 p 8) the council needs to provide a means of travel with much ease for the population. The quality of life will also be improves if the council seeks to implement the project, which is environmentally friendly, in accordance to the requirements of the Scottish Climate Act. The Dundee tramway Project also helps the city achieve its social inclusion strategy by improving the financial inclusion of the people and providing better housing. The project success proves to provide the city dweller with easy and affordable housing while those unemployed will have an opportunity to be financial stable, this reducing the poverty levels in Dundee city. Cost Benefit Analysis The approval of the project is largely, if not entirely, dependent on the estimated benefits that the council and the city will gain over the cost of making it happen. This is the cost benefit analysis that gives the council on the importance of the project. This will determine if the project is at all worth pursuing. The project team estimates that the total cost of the project implementation including the procurement of materials will be 500 million. This includes the cost of procuring the 250 capacity tramcar at 1.5 million each (Prince Boateng 2015) and the general construction. The benefit the city intends to achieve from the construction of the tramway is largely qualitative and their monetization cannot be done to the full extent. However the revenues estimates for the council Roads and Transport division will be greater including the reduction in the cost of repairing the road. The finance committee estimates that with these benefits put together, the implementation will give a cost benefit ratio of 1:1.54. That is for every unit amount spent on the project the city will gain 1.54 euros. Alternative Options The city council of Dundee has been promoting various means of transport for which the sustainability goal can be achieved. However the committee saw it fit not to implement these alternatives for various reasons. The alternative options are walking, biking and horse riding. This option is advantageous because the demographic of the city does not allow its success. The majority of the people are poor who cannot afford to purchase a bike for daily use while those who are financially stable are the old folks that can neither ride the bike nor walk or use the horses. Moreover these alternatives cannot be used for those that are traversing the city to other towns, hence restrict use and accessibility to other areas. It is only the tramway system that effectively solves this problem while adding on the multiplier benefits in line with the city Council’s strategic plans. Approvals The signatures of the people hereunder imply the understanding of the content of this document and its approval of the project and the next necessary steps can be taken for the implementation. The approvals are from the Roads and Transport Committee Approver Name Title Signature Date Mr. William Stone President Mr. John Bill Executive VP Ms. Stacey Smith CFO References Edinburgh Tram Network: A Megaproject case study compiled by Prince Boateng February 2015 The Council Plan 2012-2017: Dundee City Council Dundee City Council Roads and Transportation Division: Sustainable Transport [online] available from: www.dundeecity.gov.uk/citydevelopment/sustainable [Accessed 25/7/2016] Read More