HANDLING OF CONCRETE MAKING AGGREGATES:-THE CASE OF ADDIS ABABA CITY ROADS AUTHORITY

Construction materials management is an important element in the management of construction projects. One of the construction materials widely used in construction projects is Aggregate. Aggregate being one of the important ingredients of many of the construction materials, in addition to its subjectivity to variability, requires a close and thorough care and handling in construction projects. The aggregates, which majority of them occurs naturally, are subjected to a wide range of variability and quality problems. Therefore, with this respect a Case Study is conducted to assess the situation of handling of concrete making aggregate in the Addis Ababa City Road Authority (AACRA) construction projects with a special emphasis given to the material making aggregates. The objective of the Case study is to identify the current situation of the handling of concrete making aggregates and its production process in the AACRA construction projects in general. Also, the goal of this paper is to give recommendation in line with the outcome of the results of the case study. Therefore, in the material test results of fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and rock samples were collected from AACRA quarry sites and analyzed. Moreover, the case study is carried out in different parts of Addis Ababa City Road Authority's quarry sites that were also showed me that the naturally available materials have quite acceptable quality to be used as an aggregate making material. The Case Study is also indicated that the reason why aggregate making materials fail to comply with requirements attributes to the handling of the materials in the construction industry but not to the unavailability of materials satisfying requirements in construction projects. Further, from my observations that made in this construction sites and aggregate production plants in addition to the interviews were made with relevant personnel, that lead me to concluded my case study that the aggregate production in Addis Ababa is my expected result shown in the AACRA standards of materials with respect to quality, quantity and production process. The conclusion drawn from this case study is an aggregate production process and handling of concrete making aggregate in the AACRA construction projects that provides a lesson gained from my case study