in Transport Infrastructure Projects
SECOND EDITION
By Michal Vondruška, PhD
Department of Construction Management and Economics
Faculty of Civil Engineering , CTU in Prague
Thakurova, Czech Republic
Abstract
Project crisis management is a sub-category of project management whose principles cannot be clearly defined on the basis of exact research. In finding the best way to bring the project out of the crisis, we must start from the essence of the best practice method – ie generalization of best experience. However, this path is very difficult because no reasonable subject is interested in sharing information that his project is in crisis and the project management system has failed. Therefore, we are often forced to resort to the reverse procedure, by analyzing the worst practice. Opportunity to search for possible crisis management procedures for transport infrastructure construction is the crisis of the key public contract of the Czech Republic – “D1 modernization – section 12, EXIT 90 Humpolec – EXIT 104 Větrný Jeníkov” worth EUR 69 million. The crisis of this unfinished public contract consists in the departure of an international consortium of contractors from construction due to unresolved disputes.
Key words: project, crisis, management.
JEL code: M11, D21
Introduction
An increasing pressure on speed, safety and comfort of transportation necessitates the provision of relevant quality of transport infrastructure and the associated allocation of sufficient funding for the realisation of road and motorway structures.
Financial support from EU funds for the transport sector in the Czech Republic in the 2014–2020 program period is realised specifically by the means of the Operation Program Transportation (OPT). OPT is the largest EU operation program in the Czech Republic – it accounts for EUR 4.695 billion; that is roughly 20 % of all funding for the Czech Republic from EU funds for 2014–2020.
The right balance needs to be struck between the available funding the Government and EU plans to invest into the transport infrastructure and the achievement of the desired objective, which is the provision of relevant technology and quality standards of road and motorway structures.
Besides allocation of funding, the key prerequisite to achieve those goals is also to improve the legislation framework in order for the building process to simplify, accelerate and make the contractor selection process more transparent and quality Project management.
There are proven EU standards for allocating sources of finance and is seamless. The opposite is in the preparation and implementation of constructions. Although the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic accepted the use of models of FIDIC international contract terms and recommended methodologies for their use, there are still problems in implementation and procurement. This paper will try to briefly analyse the issue of the D1 motorway modernisation crisis project and look for a possible starting point for solving other projects using the best practice method.
Research results and discussion
Case study- Crisis of Project D1 Motorway modernisation in section No.12
The D1 motorway, connecting Prague, Brno and Ostrava, is the busiest road on the entire motorway network in the Czech Republic. Intensities in both directions in 24 hours: almost 100,000 vehicles near Prague. The total length is 366 km. The main section between Prague and Brno has been in operation since the age of 80. of the last century, other sections have been completed in the last 30 years. The need to modernise the oldest Czech motorway is obvious when driving through the unrepaired sections. The Portland cement concrete pavement shows defects in the form of ruptures and vertical shifts of cement concrete slabs, which reflects in uncomfortable bumping. The asphalt concrete surface also shows tracks worn by vehicles and surface disintegration. Local repairs of those defects are no longer effective plus they do not tackle the shift of cement concrete slabs. Most of the bridges are in very bad technical condition, parameters of exit lanes and connecting lanes are in violation of technical regulations and do not meet safety requirements. The condition of rest stops is also inadequate; they are missing in some places and are obsolete in others.
More…
To read entire paper, click here
Second Editions are previously published papers that have continued relevance in today’s project management world, or which were originally published in conference proceedings or in a language other than English. Original publication acknowledged; authors retain copyright. This paper was originally presented at the 9th Scientific Conference on Project Management in the Baltic States at the University of Latvia in April 2020. It is republished here with the permission of the author and conference organizers.
How to cite this paper: Vondruška, M. (2020); Possibilities of Crisis Management in Transport Infrastructure Projects; presented at the 9th Scientific Conference on Project Management in the Baltic States, University of Latvia, April 2020; PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue X, October. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/pmwj98-Oct2020-Vondruska-crisis-management-in-transport-infrastructure-projects.pdf
About the Author
Ing. Michal Vondruška Ph.D.
Prague, Czech Republic
Michal Vondruška is a graduate of the Technical University in Brno 1990 of the Faculty of Civil Engineering; Certified authorized engineer in the field of civil engineering since 2000; In 2013, Ph.D. in economics and management in construction at the Czech Technical University in Prague.
Since the early 1990s, he has worked in the field of project management for large construction projects. He was a partner and director of a large construction company in the field of reinforced concrete monolithic structures and concrete production. He did business independently in the field of development and consulting in the field of project management. Since 2010 he has been working as a Senior lecturer at the Department of Economics and Management in Construction at the Czech Technical University in Prague and as a consultant for major state institutions.
Contact: michal.vondruska@fsv.cvut.cz
