Causes of Rework and Cost Overruns in Construction of Seawater Desalination Projects in Saudi Arabia - Thesis Proposal Example

? Causes of Rework and cost overruns in construction of sea water desalination projects in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Table of Contents Introduction 2. Problem Statement 3. Research Objective 4. Research Scope and limitation 5. Methodology 6. Literature Review Introduction: Desalination is a very important term, especially for the countries where fresh water resources are scarce. It could be any process that removes a vast amount of salt and other minerals from the water. Habitually, it is known as the procedure of drawing the salts and minerals. It is best to purify your water with the process of desalinated and then use it for drinking and as well as for irrigational activities. This is the same process which is being used by many seagoing ships and sub-marines (Love et. al. 2004). In today’s world, desalination is mainly used for developing cost-effective ways of giving fresh water to such regions of the world where fresh water is in meager amount. If you are intending to do a large scale desalination process then you may also need massively powered infrastructures but it is sure to increase the expense you will pay on the overall project, so it is better to make the usage of fresh water from rivers or wells etc. According to the census performed n April 2010, Saudi Arab had a population of 27,136,977 humans out of which 18,707,576 were recognized as nationals and others were living with no nationality. Due to an overwhelming economic and urban growth of this country, more than 95% of the whole population has been settled down now. Some cities even have densities of more than thousand people per square kilometer. About 50% of the total water used in this country is generated by the process of desalination, whereas the other 40% is extracted from the mining of non-renewable groundwater, the remaining 10% is simply taken off from the surface water. This research will highlight the issues related to desali9nation processes in Saudi Arab which cause cost overruns. Problem Statement: The problem which will be studied in this research is: Causes of Rework and cost overruns in construction of sea water desalination projects in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Research Objectives: There are four main objectives of this research which are listed below: To study existing sea water desalination projects for cost overruns To explore the reasons of rework and cost overruns in sea water desalination projects To investigate low cost alternatives which can control the cost of sea water desalination projects in Saudi Arabia To find ways of avoiding this cost overruns if construction of sea water desalination projects in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Research Scope and limitation: This research will study 2 cases where cost overrun has been reported in construction of sea water desalination projects in Saudi Arab. Due to the constraint of time and budget, it is not possible to study the whole universe in this research. However, the case study selection will be based on the criteria that the projects which represent and can highlight the problems of all existing desalination projects should be chosen. This research is limited in the sense that not every existing sea water desalination project will be studied under it. Also, it is not possible for the researcher to study every aspect of the problem under discussion, so this research is limited to study of aspects of cost overrun. Methodology: For any research, qualitative or quantitative, primary or secondary, the most important part is its methodology. Methodology sets the stage for all further work to be done in any research (Gauch, 2002). Research can be done successfully and the objectives can be achieved if the research methodology laid out to conduct this research is properly planned. As research methodology is what leads any research towards its success, its importance can never be undermined in case of any research (Symon, et. al., 2000). This research is focused basically on primary data collection. A lot of tests and experiments have been conducted to get the required results to prove the point. These experiments are conducted to get a clear picture and correct answer to the questions laid forward in chapter 1 as aims and objectives of this research. For this research, the researcher has laid down a proper research design. Research methodology of this research has been decided based on the requirements and expectations from this research. Research design and research methodology have got integral importance in my entire research process (Goulding, 2002). While research design will perform the entire outline of the research project, research methodology will be one important aspect of research design. Without these two, it would be next to impossible to conduct this research (Kumar, 2010). There are two methods of research that can be used in conducting a research process: 1. Qualitative research 2. Quantitative research Both types of research have their own ways and completely different from each other depending upon the type of research conducted (Marczyk et. al., 2005). For my research, I have chosen an interpretive, quantitative approach with data collection to be done through both primary and secondary resources. Certain aspects cannot be measured in terms of numbers and so there needs to be a better non-numbered alternative to measure this human factor. The approach thus would remain a mix of qualitative and quantitative. However the major focus remains to be on the quantities aspect. Literature Review: Saudi Arab should meet its water inexorabilities by simply doing two things, either piping in water from permissible areas or desalinate the seawater which is preferably the best option available for the government. Jeddah has more than 3.4 million residents. And it is situated around the coast of the Red Sea. The main advantage that this city withholds is the supply of seawater. The Saudi government took note of this natural resource and designed the Al Shuaibah SWRO plant to provide water to the residents of Jeddah. Not only for the sake of people living in this city but also for industries where water plays an important role and is beneficiary to them. We have also heard that Saudi Arab’s supremacy is planning to buy distinct entities to accumulate sterilized water for the residents out there and it is likely to be taken through Saline Water Conservation Corporation (Love and Smith, 1999). The total usage of water in Saudi Arabia is around 2.1 cubic kilometers per year which was calculated in 2004. The agricultural areas are bestowed with 88% of water use and industries are only given 3% which is very lopsided indeed. If Saudi Arab continues to get the fresh water through the process of desalination then no wonder it would never encounter any problems in the future. The natural resources have helped this country largely and this is one secret behind its rapid economical growth in passed few years (AWWA, 2011).  Sea water desalination projects in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arab has been in the spotlight for building desalination facilities in all across the country, with which the kingdom will be bestowed with fresh water supply. This also includes what has been already awarded as the world's most enormous desalination plant ensconced in Jubail Industrial zone close to the shores of Persian Gulf. But the Saudi government has come up with something else this time and we can call it a decision made up of thoughtfulness. They've decided to build a plant in the country that will actually construct the equipment used in the process of desalination plants; it would definitely make it easier for the workers to construct new water producing facilities that are very much needed (Love and Edwards, 2004). This new plant has been designated as Arabian Japanese Membrane Company and will not only be powered by engineers from Saudi Arab but also from the expertise of Toyobo. These two Japanese companies are looking forward to collaborate with infrastructure developer ACWA which originally holds this project in Saudi Arab. The government has already uncovered the details concerning this project and it will be constructed in the north of city Jeddah (Love, 2002). Saudi Arab is getting these large size desalination plants all over the country through out the year and one of them are the recently introduced Doosan and you will be left stunned if I tell you that how much price the commission has put into this project. Well, it is around US$ 1.46 billion. This is one of the largest seawater desalination plants this country has ever seen and gives out an average out put of 228 MIGF, which is enough to quench the thirst of 3.5 million people living in the capital Riyadh. But there should be some reasons the government pick only Doosan to construct a gigantic size desalination plant. The CEO found out that Doosan's technological level is mastery and it has some mature project management proficiencies (Love and Sohal, 2003). It took only few months for the company to approve it as a suitable place where a desalination plant can be established. And in a very short span of time, the Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction announced that it has been given a letter of award from none other than the Saline Water Conversion Corporation itself to start off with a new desalination project which should be in Ras Az Zawr (Laura, 2006). Obviously, if one is intending to set up a desalination plant anywhere of the world you must know its history and this is where Doosan impressed the project management. The new plant will be constructed 75 KM northwest of Jubail, it is an industrial city located in eastern Saudi Arab. So now it is decided that resident of Riyadh will not encounter any problem because the plant will be allotting purified sea water in all across the capital. Let's hope that Saudi Arab continues to pursue in development and it may never stop making itself a better place to live (Laura, 2006). Causes of Rework and cost overruns in construction of sea water desalination projects in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arab is one of the most developed countries in United Arab Emirates and the rapid growth of this place in past few years have also tallied its value economically. Well, today we will sort out the main reasons of cost overruns in construction of sea water desalination projects in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and what problems are being faced by the contractors and the government to join hands and put desalination plants throughout the country. First, the climate of Saudi Arab has never been ideal for any type of constructional work, it is hot and with a totally dry summer with scare rain falling in winter. The temperature could go to 50C and sometimes it extends from this value too (Cotruvo et. al. 2010). This type of extreme climatic condition causes variety of problems for the contractors and as a result, they are forced to work in the cool hours of the early morning or in evening by the company. The productivity of laborers is palliated and the maintenance cost of equipment rises. It happens because of the high relative humidity in the climate and the laborers are only allowed to work 4 to 5 hours, if not working in early mornings (Cipollina et. al. 2009). The availability of materials and equipments that are mainly used to start off with any desalination projects wouldn’t be called an issue, the country has improved a great deal since the late seventies when there was only an oil boom to be seen all over the place. But this did not have any impact on the country and the government still imports many building materials from abroad (Cipollina et. al. 2009). The main reason of cost overrun in construction of sea water desalination projects in this country is the importing of all kinds of materials and equipment, it would have been a huge thing if the government had owned them previously, so these equipments would have helped them in the long run. The oil boom has no wonder increased the growth of the country economically but at the same time government is facing such type of hurdles while establishing desalination projects in the Kingdom (AWWA, 2011). To be true with you there is no such manpower currently present in Saudi Arab and whenever there is a project to be executed, the government imports it from Asian countries. It is important for any organization to put up the group of people on to work only when they are from the same country and got co ordination. Unlike, Saudi Arab where workers come from all over Asia belonging to different culture and hardly joins hands with each other (Barbar et. al, 2009). So, main power does play an important role when executing a project, be it a desalination project or something else, if your workers are not having that element to execute your work conscientiously then this will over run the cost in many projects. These issues are being experienced by each country in the world but unfortunately Saudi Arab gets the worst of it. We saw China lashing with water crisis in 2010 and its government spent a good allotment of money to get over that problem. References: American Water Works Association. Desalination of Sea Water. American Water Works Association. 2011. Print. Barbar, Patrick, Andrew Graves, Mark Hall, Darryl Sheath and Cyril Tomkins. Quality Failure Costs in Civil Engineering Projects. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management. Vol. 17. Nos 4/5.2000. 479-492. Cipollina, Andrea, Giorgio Micale and Lucio Rizzuti. Sea Water Desalination: Conventional and renewable energy processes. Springer. 2009. Print. 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