Role of project management in road and bridge construction claims

In Sri Lanka most of the road and bridge construction works are handled by a contractor and supervised by a consultant. Road Development Authority of Sri Lanka (RDA) is the client organization for the National roads operating directly under the Ministry of Highways. Most of the road and bridge construction works are handled by the Road Construction and Development Co. (PVT) Ltd., (RC & DC) which is the main contractor organization and the subsidiary of the Road Development Authority. Some of the road and bridge construction works , mainly the foreign funded works are awarded to the independent consultants and contractors through tenders. Claim situations rarely arise with RC & DC as the contracts handled are negotiated contacts between RDA and RCDC . However, claim situations are common in contracts given on tenders to parties out side the RC & DC where independent consultants administer the works of independent contractors. Appointment of a separate Project Manager to look after client's interests from the inception is one of the arrangements used successfully in contract administration. In this research it was considered the Project Management approach could be used to administer the road and bridge construction works. Main objectives of this research were to establish the relevancy of the project management concept to road and bridge construction work and to study some cases and evaluate how this concept could be applied in road and bridge construction claims. For the purpose of achieving the first objective a literature survey and an opinion survey was carried out. Results showed the necessity of a separate Project Manager for the road and bridge construction work and the requirement of an independent Project Manager for large Projects. Five case studies were carried out in view of achieving the second objective. Results of these analyses showed the significance of management inputs to projects which could be utilized to minimize the claim situations